West Tennessee group makes another push for Ford to negotiate a community benefit agreement • Tennessee Lookout

A coalition of labor and faith leaders from West Tennessee is urging Ford Motor Co. to sign a community benefit agreement ensuring environmental standards, local hiring and affordable housing investments before opening its new factory.

The organization, called BlueOval Neighbors and supported by the advocacy group Tennessee For All, has been trying to engage with Ford for two years, meeting the company at a couple public events, but continues to run into problems forging a pact, according to Rebekah Gorbea, a spokesperson for the group.

“Ford expressed concern over the ‘legally-binding’ part of a Community Benefits Agreement,” Gorbea said in an email to the Lookout.

The group sent a letter to a Ford vice president and held a news conference in Mason last week trying to force the company to the table.

Jessica Enoch, a spokesperson for Ford, said that company was engaging directly with the West Tennessee community, having spent “more than 1,000 hours meeting with community members and learning about their priorities.”

“With the help of the Equitable Growth Advisory Council, we are working on a Good Neighbor Plan to address barriers that might prevent residents and local businesses from participating in upcoming economic growth,” Enoch said.

Black farming community fights to get fair deal as state takes land for Ford plant roadways

Community benefit agreements have become increasingly popular across Tennessee as a way for advocacy groups to make sure locals benefit from major projects.

Tennessee lawmakers in 2021 committed $900 million in incentives and infrastructure upgrades to attract Ford to open an electric vehicle and battery plant on a 3,600-acre state-owned property known as the Memphis Megasite.

The property is about 50 miles east of Memphis, closer to Brownsville and Jackson, in an area with a higher percentage of Black farmers than anywhere in the state.

Since the announcement, state officials have used eminent domain to force several Black farmers to sell their land for a new highway to the Ford facility. The farmers previously told the Lookout they believed the state’s offers would be below the market value when accounting for the increased demand once the nearly 6,000 workers for the plant are hired.

During the same period, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office attempted to force the city of Mason to relinquish its charter. Mason is a largely Black, majority Democratic community, and if dissolved, its governance would fall under Tipton County, which is predominantly white and Republican.

The Comptroller’s push stemmed from Mason’s history of fraud and mismanagement by past elected officials, causing it to fall under financial oversight from state. But the Comptroller backed down from its demands to dissolve the city after community pushback.

The eminent domain actions and the potential dissolution of Mason prompted Tennessee For All to start organizing in the communities around the new facility. These efforts eventually led to the creation of the BlueOval Good Neighbors organization.

BlueOval neighbors letter to Ford

BlueOval neighbors letter to Ford

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