Mississippi Education Organizing Alliance (MEOA) strives to strengthen communities with public education reform at the heart of its work. Founded in 2020, the organization operates across Mississippi, with an ambitious scope that ranges from providing low-income families with emergency support to guiding young people into elected leadership roles through mentoring. Regional organizer, Dr Antionette McKay, explains that MEOA’s efforts are interconnected: “One thing bounces off another in deprived neighborhoods. We’ve mentored kids, got them clothes for school, helped pay families’ bills. We help get them through school and pitch in wherever we can.” This extends to environmental disasters, like the devastation wreaked by tornados in Tunica county in March 2023. Collaborating with 20 other groups in the southeast, MEOA provided relief, sending “clothes, water, diapers”. While MEOA maintains education as its core focus, it also looks beyond the classroom to consider the environment in which communities live.
Organizers involved with the MEOA partner, Black Voters Matter.
With more than 100 volunteers across the state, many of them parents of school-age children, the group’s leadership and body reflect the diverse communities they serve. “Right now, we’re fighting to stop Tunica’s Dundee Elementary School from closing down, despite being one of the higher performing schools there,” says Dr McKay. MEOA also campaigns for public education to be fully funded: the state of Mississippi has some of the highest levels of poverty in the US, and societal inequalities in the state are compounded by its low rate of per-pupil spending, which lags far behind the national average. Deprived areas are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards, including air and water pollution, which has a further knock-on effect on educational outcomes. As part of their fight for the state’s children and young people, MEOA members read and track legislation and pressure lawmakers to enact educational reform.
The Southern Partners fund has also been a supporter of MEOA.