Jennie Stephens is executive director of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation, a nonprofit protecting heirs’ property and promoting its sustainable use to provide increased economic benefit to historically underserved families. With Heirs since its inception in 2005, she is responsible for overall strategic planning, revenue generation, financial management, and organizational development. Stephens has spent over 25 years in the nonprofit field; previously, she was fiscal director, sponsored programs director, and senior program director at the Coastal Community Foundation. She is a 2018 Business Alliance for Local Living Economies Fellow and presented her talk, “Heirs Discover Money Does Grow on Trees,” at TedXCharleston 2016. Stephens is participating in the Aspen Ideas Festival as a 2019 Scholar.
Previously
Rural America has come to the nation’s attention. But much discussion in the media and coffee shops, at conferences and dinner tables, relies on incorrect or no data, largely...