Ms. Joy Moten-Thomas, the 2022 recipient, has over 25 years of experience working with diverse minority audiences, inclusive of youth and adults throughout Georgia.
She is a strong community advocate, which has shown brightly through her outreach efforts. Her work to link local government to both financial and non-financial resources like rural and economic programs (for example, Stronger Economies Together), helps to strengthen the community. This is also evident in her spearheading educational efforts in representing the needs of the college and constituents served and supported by the 1890 Land-Grant mission at the nation’s capital with Georgia’s congressional leaders.
Ms. Moten-Thomas’ extensive grantsmanship experience has benefited the limited resource clientele she serves, with over $5 million secured. Within the last two years, amidst the pandemic, she secured more than $1.4 million to benefit the needs of the state’s socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
In addition to service to her state, Ms. Moten-Thomas has also been instrumental in providing leadership across the Southern Region and nationally. She has chaired both the Southern Rural Development Center’s advisory committee and the Southern Region Community Development Program Leaders’ Committee. Nationally, she serves as the 1890 Liaison for the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals, as well as a seasoned grant panel reviewer and panel chair for several of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s competitive funding opportunities.