Who We Are

Friends of Hale County is a 501(c)3 non-profit formed in 2003 to direct efforts to meet the needs of our neighbors in Alabama’s Black Belt. At first, we geared toward helping just Hale County, but soon expanded our efforts to surrounding counties, and the effort continues to expand today: 25 counties in Alabama, plus two in Mississippi.

The “Black Belt” includes an area in the central and western part of the state of Alabama. While the name actually comes from the dark, rich soil of this area, the Black Belt is home to a large proportion of Alabama’s African American population, at or above 50 percent in each county, giving the term “Black Belt” an entirely new meaning.

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The region, in general, typically includes low property taxes, high rates of poverty and unemployment, low-achieving schools, and high rates of people moving out. It is known for a high number of single-parent households, high teen birth rates, and limited access to health-care services. When Friends of Hale County was formed, eight of Alabama’s 10 lowest-scoring school systems on the Stanford Achievement Test were in Black Belt counties, and, according to then-Alabama Governor Bob Riley’s Black Belt Commission, 12 of these counties ranked in the poorest 13 percent of counties nationally.

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Because a county’s health is not limited to its residents’ physical well-being, FOHC decided to undertake projects that spanned the spectrum of a county’s existence. We partnered to facilitate educational opportunities and to improve housing, medical care, the arts, recreational activities, and the churches of the Black Belt (and what a story that is!).

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At one time, we estimated that we’d spent around $8 million in these counties.

In all these efforts, the Friends of Hale County Foundation maintains its primary goal of demonstrating Jesus Christ’s commandment to love your neighbor and thereby glorify God.