Habitat dedicates Americus headquarters in honor of Clarence Jordan
Habitat for Humanity dedicates Lamar Street location to honor impact Clarence Jordan had on organization
By Tessa Green
AMERICUS — In 1942, Clarence Jordan established the interracial Koinonia Farm Christian farming community in Americus. That act that would later inspire the founders of Habitat for Humanity.
In recognition of his groundbreaking actions, Habitat for Humanity has .dedicated its Americus headquarters in honor of Jordan.
Jordan was a Southern Baptist pastor as well as a farmer who dedicated his life to advocating for those living in poverty and fighting for equality of all people. He created Koinonia Farm to be a community where people from all different groups could work together for the common good. It was a place where everyone was treated equally. He would use his agricultural knowledge to teach other farmers new techniques to increase profit and help end the cycle of poverty he found in his community.
Bryan Thomas, the director of Public and Media Relations for Habitat for Humanity, said that Jordan founded Koinonia Farm to be a place of hospitality.
“It is a special place that was established as a spiritual organization,” Thomas said. “It was designed to illuminate racial and financial disparities as well as focus on hospitality.”
Koinonia Farm is still very much alive and running and, according to Bren Dubay, the farm’s director, continues to expand on Jordan’s original missions.
“The mission of the community is to live this life together, and out of that comes the need to serve others,” Dubay said. “Now we practice sustainable farming, conduct internships and continue to be a house of hospitality.”
Some of the recent work of the farm includes visiting the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, where residents provide bags of necessities for those about to be deported from the U.S. They also visit Harvest of Hope in Americus once a week and are running a Peace Builders summer camp for kids aged 11 to 15.
Thomas said that without Jordan and his work, there would not be the Habitat for Humanity there is today. In fact, it can even be stated, he said, that Koinonia Farm inspired the mission of Habitat. Thomas said that the founders of Habitat for Humanity, Millard and Linda Fuller, moved to Koinonia in 1965 and were inspired by the work of Jordan and his farming community. In 1968, they partnered with Jordan and his wife to start a new project that would provide decent and affordable housing to low-income people in their community.
“The Fullers were pretty successful and wanted to pursue the service of helping others,” Thomas said. “They met Clarence, and together they started a ‘partnership housing’ program that became the foundation that Habitat was built on.”
Since the Fullers started Habitat for Humanity in 1976, it has grown from a small-town Christian housing organization to a leading global nonprofit. Habitat is now stationed and helping local communities in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries.
The organization participates in different types of work to benefit communities in need, including building safe and affordable homes for families in need, revitalizing neighborhoods, helping with disaster response and providing financial education. Thomas said that all of this would not have been possible without the work of Jordan, which is why it was important to dedicate the Americus headquarters in his honor.
“We really consider him a spiritual father for Habitat,” Thomas said. “It’s hard to sum up, but his legacy had an enormous impact on communities all over.”
Habitat decided now was the time to dedicate their Lamar Street Headquarters building, originally known as the Rylander Building, in honor of Jordan, since the organization is in the process of selling their original headquarters building. The original location was in the Clarence Jordan Center on West Church Street. Habitat officials did not want to lose the connection they had to Jordan. Now anyone who walks past the front doors of their location will know about the impact Clarence Jordan had on Habitat and the legacy he left behind.
For more information on Habitat for Humanity’s mission and how to get involved with the organization, visit their website at habit.org.
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