Rural Community Alliance - Helping rural schools and communities in Arkansas

Board Members and Organization

Rural Community Alliance is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors representing different regions of Arkansas. Board members are elected by other board members for four-year terms and may be re-elected without limit. Operational activities are carried out by an Executive Director, who oversees staff, organizing, finances, and membership; and a (part-time) Policy and Education Director, who writes brochures and newsletters, creates organizing and advocacy packets, writes grants, and oversees formulation of policy. Rural Community Alliance has two part-time organizers, who establish new chapters, assist existing chapters with local issues in education and community revitalization, and facilitate local chapters to participate in state-wide advocacy efforts. Each chapter has a local volunteer chapter leader.

Rural Community Alliance Board

	President – Lavina Grandon. A retired teacher with 32 years of experience in rural schools, Lavina Grandon led the opposition to Governor Mike Huckabee’s effort in 2003 to consolidate all schools in Arkansas with under 1500 enrollment. She lives in north central Arkansas and serves as a board member for the national organization, The Rural School and Community Trust. Grandon is the founder of Rural Community Alliance and has been a board member since 2005.

	Treasurer – Kerry Cunningham. Kerry Cunningham is an educator in a rural school district in the Ouachita Mountains of west central Arkansas. She helps organize chapters in central and west central Arkansas. She has been a board member since 2005
	Secretary – Candace Williams. Candace Williams is a senior and majoring in Family and Consumer Science at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. She is from the small Delta town of Elaine, Arkansas. She has been a board member since 2007.
	Member – Dorothy Singleton. Dorothy Singleton is a retired telephone company employee and community activist. She serves on the Board of Altheimer Working Together in Altheimer, Arkansas, and since 2004 has organized community members to support small and rural schools across the state. Singleton serves on the board of the Jefferson County Single Parent Scholarship Fund. She has been a board member since 2005.
	Member - Erma Brown of Stephens is the Ouachita County Administrator for Arkansas Department of Human Services. She holds a MS degree in Counseling. Currently she is the Region 13 School District Representative of the Arkansas School Boards Association and is a member of the Stephens School Board, serving as Vice-President. She has served on the Arkansas Child Abuse Prevention Board, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, as board member for the Camden Chamber of Commerce, and as president of the Women’s Crisis Center. Brown joined the board in 2009.
	Member - Beverly Cothran is a media specialist at Bruno-Pyatt school in the Ozark Mountain School District and contributes many hours to organizing Frontier Days, serving with the Mid-Marion County Rotary as Interact leader, Marion County Youth Leadership sponsor, and working with children at Pyatt Baptist Church. She was Arkansas Rural Teacher of the Year in 2005 and has earned similar honors at the school and county level. She is a National Board Certified Teacher. Cothran’s term began in 2009.

Staff

Executive Director – Renee Carr. Renee Carr is a Certified Public Accountant and is working on a Master’s Degree in Community Development. Her duties include maintaining records of chapters and members, handling budget and finances, scheduling meetings and events, overseeing day-to-day operations of staff, overseeing implementation of strategic plan, and articulating mission and vision of the organization to the public.

Policy and Education Director (part-time) – Lavina Grandon. Lavina Grandon is a former teacher with a Master’s Degree in English. She is the founder of Rural Community Alliance and has been involved in education and community advocacy since 2003. She produces newsletters and brochures, creates organizing and advocacy packets, writes grants, and oversees formulation of policy.

Lead Organizer (part-time) – Dorothy Singleton. Dorothy Singleton is a former telephone company employee who has been active in community organizing and advocacy since her retirement in 2001. She has worked and volunteered for such organizations as ACORN, Arkansas Single Parents Scholarship Fund, and the Arkansas Good Faith Fund. As lead organizer for Rural Community Alliance, she works with communities in south and east Arkansas and trains and mentors other Rural Community Alliance organizers and volunteers.

Organizer (part-time) – Danny Eckert. Danny Eckert is a pastor and community activist who works with communities in western Arkansas. In the past he has run for school board and city alderman, and he led a successful effort to change the method of city government in Camden, Arkansas. His duties include establishing new Rural Community Alliance chapters and servicing existing Rural Community Alliance chapters by helping them meet local goals and carry out Rural Community Alliance’s overall mission and objectives.

Volunteers

Rural Community Alliance Chapter Leaders are local community people who volunteer to lead an Rural Community Alliance chapter. They enlist members, hold meetings, lead local advocacy efforts, participate in leadership training, serve on the Policy Council, and carry out the Rural Community Alliance mission and vision in their communities.

Policy Council – Made up of Chapter Leaders, the Policy Council meets once a year to assist the board in identifying the organization’s mission, vision, and goals and to determine policy issues the organization will pursue for the coming year.