Carrie F. Fulghum is passionate about working with the residents of Gainesville to preserve its history and to improve the quality of life for all. An accomplished strategist, her vision and expertise have helped to promote community well-being. Her varied leadership roles include serving as: Mayor of Gainesville; General Manager of Panola Land Buyers Housing Development Corporation (PLBA-HDC); a Board Member of The Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF); Chapter Coordinator of the Mandela Chapter of 21 Century Youth Leadership Movement; Secretary of The Alabama Conference of Black Mayors (ACBM); the North Sumter County Industrial Board NSDA; and as President of Gainesville’s Commission of Southern Rural Black Women Initiative (SRBWI). She helped to create the Gainesville Health & Wellness Center of West Alabama and the Gainesville Senior Citizens Program. Mayor Fulghum’s mission is to help the people in her community to become as healthy as they can be and live long productive lives. She has received many awards during her exceptional career and is known to many as the “Village Mother”.
The fund now welcomes funding from a broad array of donors to continue to support rural Black community self determination throughout the Black Belt region.