Organization and community: Jackson Medical Mall Foundation (Jackson, Mississippi)

The Prosperity Street neighborhood, adjacent to the Jackson Medical Mall, has been key for the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation’s exploration of different methods for health and wealth building beyond the Mall’s boundaries. So far, the organization has constructed the East Village Estates townhouses, offered the financial structures to increase homeownership, constructed a public park with neighbors, and participated in biannual clean-ups. Their next project, Real Possibilities, will be an intergenerational community space for art-making, community gatherings, entrepreneurship opportunities, and financial literacy consultation. The project will connect the arts, community-based organizing, and asset and wealth-building. Facilitated by artist daniel johnson, the space will be the home base for:

• A weekly mobile art station traveling around the Prosperity Street neighborhood on Saturday afternoons;
• Facilitated artmaking sessions led by teaching artists using a problem-based learning methodology, which focuses on the individual and their own interests and ideas;
• One-on-one consultations for artists; and
• Jackson Medical Mall Foundation arts programming, including workshops, performances, and multi-day camps.