May 23, 2018
The Voqal Fellowship is an investment in a new generation of social entrepreneurs interested in launching their next “big idea” aimed at increasing equity for those who are least well off politically, economically and/or socially. This month we look at 2018 Voqal Fellow Jeremiah Smith and his project For the Record.
Jeremiah Smith is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Rosedale Freedom Project. His project, For the Record, is a program designed to empower underserved students in Rosedale, Mississippi to tell the story of their community with a critical eye toward systems of oppression. For the Record gives students access to the tools and training necessary for documentary storytelling, and to help them use their work to engage their community in social change.
Originally from Virginia, Smith traveled to the Mississippi Delta with Teach for America in 2012. Working as an English Teacher at the High School in Rosedale and inspired by the work of the Sunflower County Freedom Project (SCFP), Jeremiah became convinced that, if given the right opportunities, students in Rosedale could compete with students from America’s most prestigious schools. In that spirit, he worked for two years as the Director of Literacy Programming at the SCFP and worked to open the Rosedale Freedom Project for its first Freedom Summer program in 2015.
Smith is also completing his Master’s degree at Delta State University as a member of the TFA Graduate Fellows program and continues to live and work in Rosedale.
Learn more about the Voqal Fellowship and the 2018 Voqal Fellows here.