JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for
Heirs' Property Preservation™ and the Mississippi Center for
Justice today announced the Mobile Basin Heirs' Property
Support Initiative,
a two-year program designed to help
historically underserved families in Mississippi protect
and keep their forestland; build generational
wealth; and promote productive,
sustainably managed forests. With support from World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Kimberly-Clark, the new initiative
will provide a combination of legal
services, information, and assistance accessing financial
resources to help Mississippians resolve land title
issues that disproportionately affect Black
families and often lead to loss of land, wealth, and
forest resources.
Heirs' property is land passed down informally from generation
to generation, often because landowners died without a will. In the
absence of a will, the land is considered jointly
owned by all heirs, split between multiple people regardless
of whether they live on the land, pay the taxes, or
have ever set foot on it. This
fractured land leaves owners vulnerable to
developers and timber harvesters, tax sales, and forced partition
sales. Owners are faced with the decision to either give
up their land or go through the complex
and costly
legal process of resolving title issues. In
Mississippi, this also contributes to an increasing rate of forest
loss, compromising the region's important freshwater habitats
and drinking water supply.
"Families and individual landowners with title issues clouded by
undetermined heirs or absent heirs can result in loss of land held
for generations through tax sales, court-ordered partition sales,
or even a 'taking' of the land by adverse possession,"
said Mississippi Center for Justice
President and CEO Vangela M. Wade. "These harmful
effects—which have persisted for decades—have been particularly
acute for families of color and low-income families in Mississippi. It is currently estimated that
heirs' property accounts for 1.6 million acres valued at
$6.6 billion across
the southern Black Belt."
The new initiative is based on a successful model developed by
the Center for Heirs' Property Preservation™ in South Carolina. This model has helped
South Carolina families resolve
more than 275 titles, building family and community wealth and
ecological restoration in marginalized communities.
"We are delighted to entrust our heirs' property resolution
knowledge and expertise to a well-established public interest law
firm to address the complex problem of land loss by increasing
access to the tools and resources these landowners need to resolve
title issues and develop working landscapes," said Jennie L. Stephens, chief executive officer, the
Center for Heirs' Property Preservation™. "This partnership will
help build and sustain a landowner movement that has the power
to unleash the cultural and natural resources of land in
marginalized communities toward family wealth creation and to
ecological restoration."
The initiative will also provide landowners
with forestry education and access to additional funding
for forest conservation and responsible forest management.
This support can help families make income from their
lands while protecting wildlife
habitat and water sources.
"There is no sustainable future without addressing racial and
social injustice," said Kerry
Cesareo, senior vice president for forests at WWF. "Only by
preventing the exploitation of families and their land can we
prevent forest fragmentation and loss in this country and mitigate
the worst effects of climate change. Forests are a source of
health and wealth, but the burdens and benefits of caring for
forests have not been shared fairly. We need to do everything we
can to address injustice and support people who have helped all of
us by caring for forestlands for generations and who are themselves
more likely to bear the brunt of nature loss and climate
impacts."
The initiative will be piloted over two years with property
owners across the Mobile Bay watershed. In addition to providing
direct assistance to Mississippi's
underserved landowners, the program's goals include raising broader
awareness about the benefits to both people and nature that can
come from removing barriers for historically marginalized
communities to secure land rights in the southern United
States and beyond.
"Southern U.S. forests that Kimberly-Clark relies on to make our
essential products are being lost to unsustainable
development at an increasing rate, and heirs' property is
particularly vulnerable to that trend," said
Lisa Morden, vice president of safety, sustainability
& occupational health at Kimberly-Clark. "Helping heirs'
property owners secure clear title to
their ancestral land enables them to protect, care for,
and benefit from that land, and we are honored to support the
Center for Heirs' Property Preservation, the Mississippi Center for
Justice, and WWF in advancing this important work."
Morden added: "We know the issue of insecure land
tenure and its links to forest loss and degradation is not unique
to the U.S. southeast. As the world continues to address the
climate and biodiversity crises, we must also look to support the
land rights of Indigenous and other marginalized communities who
steward many of the world's most carbon- and biodiversity-rich
forests. To that end, this initiative supports our
ambition to improve the lives and well-being of 1 billion people in
underserved communities around the globe by 2030, with the smallest
environmental footprint—and is part of how we deliver our purpose
of better care for a better world."
About the Center for Heirs' Property
Preservation™
The Center for Heirs' Property Preservation™ has been protecting
heirs' property through legal education and direct legal services
since 2005. In 2013, the Center began promoting the sustainable use
of land through forestry education and services to provide
increased economic benefit to low-wealth family landowners. The
Center provides legal and forestry services in Allendale, Bamberg, Beaufort, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Dillion, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Hampton, Horry, Jasper, Lee,
Marion, Marlboro, Orangeburg, Sumter and
Williamsburg
counties.
To date, the Center has provided 3,260 persons with free,
one-hour "Advice and Counsel" (A&C) with 777 clients receiving
direct legal services to clear title. A total of 1,225 simple wills
have been drafted at free, community Wills Clinics; more than 451
families (who collectively own in excess of 26,000 acres)
have benefited from various levels of education and expert
resources to develop and implement sustainable forestry management
plans and 286 titles have been cleared on family land with a
total tax-assessed value of $16.7 million. Visit www.heirsproperty.org to
learn more; follow @Heirsproperty on
Twitter and https://www.linkedin.com/company/center-for-heirs-property-preservation/mycompany/ on
LinkedIn.
About the Mississippi Center for
Justice
Now in its 18th year, the Mississippi Center for Justice continues
to be one of the most well-respected civil justice organizations in
the South, known for the strategic nature of its advocacy and the
high impact of its work. MCJ is a non-profit, public interest law
firm committed to strengthening racial, social, and economic
justice in Mississippi by
dismantling the systems that strip opportunity away from
historically disadvantaged Mississippians. MCJ does this through a
potent combination of direct legal services, strategic policy
advocacy, targeted community education, and media
outreach.
MCJ works to create a better future for Mississippi through dedicated legal campaigns
centered around health and public benefits, fair housing, consumer
protection, education, immigration, disaster recovery, and impact
litigation. MCJ works across such a diverse array of issues because
addressing the root causes of poverty and inequity are inherently
intersectional. MCJ confronts a wide range of challenges facing
low-income Mississippians and has an exceptional track record of
making real and positive change. Learn more
at www.mscenterforjustice.org.
About World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF is one of the world's leading conservation organizations,
working for 60 years in nearly 100 countries to help people and
nature thrive. With the support of more than 5 million supporters
worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions
to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the
degradation of the environment, and combat the climate crisis.
Visit worldwildlife.org to learn more; follow @WWFNews on Twitter
to keep up with the latest conservation news; and sign up for our
newsletter and news alerts here.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its trusted brands are an
indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries.
Fueled by ingenuity, creativity and an understanding of
people's most essential needs, we create products that help
individuals experience more of what's important to them. Our
portfolio of brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Scott,
Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex,
Pull-Ups, GoodNites, Intimus, Neve, Plenitud,
Sweety, Softex, Viva and WypAll, hold the No. 1 or No. 2
share position in 80 countries. We use sustainable practices that
support a healthy planet, build stronger communities, and ensure
our business thrives for decades to come. To keep up with the
latest news and to learn more about the company's nearly 150-year
history of innovation, visit kimberly-clark.com.
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SOURCE Center for Heirs' Property Preservation; Mississippi
Center for Justice; World Wildlife Fund; Kimberly-Clark