DSW grad highlights hope in award-winning documentary about the Mississippi Delta

Cora Jackson was born and raised in Shaw, Mississippi. She never dreamed of having a doctorate degree. As a teenager in a 2,000-person town, she nearly dropped out of high school due to an unplanned pregnancy. But in the trailer for the award-winning documentary Rising Hope, she holds a headshot – herself, in full regalia, preparing to receive a Doctor of Social Work degree from Tulane School of Social Work.

“I want this degree for my community,” she says in the film. “This is for Shaw.”

Rising Hope follows the hardships and hopes that come with life in the Mississippi Delta. Filmed over the course of five years, the documentary highlights the impact of systemic poverty in the rural Gulf South – and how community members are working together to fight it.

“Across rural America, things are not getting better for people. A lot of times, rural communities are forsaken. They're forgotten. That's why we have so much poverty and so much need.” Jackson said. “Nobody’s coming to rescue us, so we have to find ways to develop strategies that will support the needs of our own community. If nobody else comes, we're prepared to help ourselves.”

At Tulane, Jackson developed a strong foundation in community development methods like asset mapping, social and capital investments, program evaluation, and grant writing. Now, says she’s using that knowledge “to connect communities and help them develop in ways that we never thought was possible.”

Jackson is no stranger to helping communities grow and thrive. Delta Hands for Hope, a nonprofit she co-founded, has been providing education, resources, and skill-building curriculum to children in Shaw for more than a decade. In fact, one of the main characters in Rising Hope, Roderious Phillips, participated in Delta Hands for Hope’s programming as a child and is now pursuing his dream career as a filmmaker and travel photographer.

Now, with Rising Hope screening at film festivals, museums, and universities across the United States and even internationally, Jackson believes her impact can grow beyond Shaw.

“There are millions of people who will never come to Shaw. There are thousands of people who will never visit a rural community. This documentary is a way for them to hear our concerns. Hearing first-hand accounts about how we have experienced life can touch people in ways that other kinds of advocacy can't.”

Jackson hopes the film will help create a space for children to grow and thrive in Shaw and other rural communities. “We want to build the capital of our individuals, our young people, to encourage them to stay here. But if they're not going to stay here, we want to teach them how to give back to the community, whether that be coming back to support programs and services or providing financial support.”

She also wants Rising Hope to act as a reminder that every person has the power, and the responsibility, to create change.

“This film is a call to action: we have to put our prejudices and our ignorance aside,” Jackson said. “When we come together, we have more similarities than we have differences. If we can just talk through those differences, we'll find that the next person is equally capable, equally loving, equally passionate. Then, we can build a bridge to cross over together.”

Jackson, who has been teaching undergraduate- and graduate-level social work courses for 14 years, encourages her students and anyone who watches Rising Hope to learn as much as they can rather than rushing to act. It’s not possible to implement sustainable solutions to a community’s problems, she says, without first gaining a true understanding of its people, culture, and history.

“Don't talk as much as you listen. Be patient with people, because just because you see the need for change doesn't mean people are ready for it,” Jackson said. “We've got to walk at their pace and not at our own.”