Meet CCI member and Excutive
Director Hugh Espey
Accidental
activist Espey
accents solutions, justice
The Des Moines Register
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
A little
background: Hugh Espey is director of the nonprofit, grass-roots
group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. The name sounds innocuous,
but Espey’s organization is a feisty thorn in the side of
questionable lenders, shady politicians and agricultural polluters.
Among other things, the group helps poor people achieve home ownership.
Members are known for lively protest rallies and marches, behind-the-scenes
pressure and occasional legal maneuvering.
In the
news: Espey, 50, this month won a $115,000 national leadership
award from the Ford Foundation. That money will help Iowa CCI expand
its work with Hispanics in Marshalltown and Des Moines and boost
the campaign against corporate agriculture, he said.
Ford picked 18 winners from 1,000 applications.
The winners were recognized for “tackling some of the nation’s
most difficult social problems.”
Q: Where
did you grow up, and how did you get into citizen advocacy work?
A: I grew up in Quincy, Ill. It’s about a half-hour south
of Keokuk. I got into citizen advocacy just by accident. I went
to college and graduate school, and when I got out I saw an ad for
CCI in the Council Bluffs newspaper for a neighborhood organizer.
It was just being in the right place at the right time. It sounded
interesting and fun and exciting.
Q: When
you get up in the morning, what is your goal for the day?
A: I want to enjoy myself. I want to have fun while I work. I want
the work to be productive and make a difference in the community.
Q: Much
of your work in recent years ahs been fighting what you call corporate
agriculture. What background do you have in agriculture that makes
you an authority on these issues?
A: I eat, therefore I’m involved in agriculture. I wasn’t
raised on a farm. In this organization, you learn fast about the
ins and outs of farming. I rely on our members who are farmers to
be our experts. What I bring to the organization is the methods
to get action. The techniques are the same, whether the target is
predatory financing or farm issues.
Q: Some of your critics in the
agricultural groups consider you a rabble-rousing, communist tree-hugger.
Would you agree with that view, or describe yourself in another
way?
A: I do like trees, but I don’t hug them. What we focus on
is democracy. We promote grass-roots people having a voice in government.
We help them find solution and find justice. It’s as American
as apple pie and baseball. People working together to make things
better.
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