“All aspects of your life, the heartaches and the joys, have brought you to where you are now,” Dr. Penny Brown Reynolds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s deputy assistant secretary for civil rights, shared with a group of USDA 1890 national scholars at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore prior to an open fireside chat with campus and community members.
“Use those experiences to fuel you to do the many things that you want to do, not just the one thing you want to be when you grow up,” she said. “We (the USDA and university) want you to be intellectually curious. You’re special; you’ve been given an opportunity (to attend college) that some other young people don’t have.”
Brown Reynolds’ Sept. 12 talk, sponsored in part by the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, was incorporated in the university’s Founders’ Week (Sept. 10-16) celebration. The juris doctor shared her experiences as a state trial court judge, executive counsel to Georgia’s governor, educator, clergy member and business woman, pointing out that civil rights and social justice have been embedded in all that she has done. Social justice, she said, is a part of everything in life.
She was called to work for the USDA a year ago, bringing over 30 years of experience in law, public service, civil rights and justice to help address issues of equity that the Biden-Harris Administration made a priority in 2022 with the Investing in America Agenda. Secretary Tom Vilsack created the position, Brown Reynolds said, to take a look at processes and bring about change. She is tasked with helping assure everything USDA touches is equitable. “Trust, once broken, is hard to get back.”
Brown Reynolds cited $67 million is available through the Heirs’ Property Relending Program to help resolve heirs’ land ownership and succession issues on agricultural land. She also noted funding for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021, referring to the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program. The application deadline for which has recently been extended to January 13, 2024.
Her advice to the audience most of which were college students: “Your duty and responsibility is to leave this world better than you found it. Start where you are, with yourself, and always give back.”
Cameron Geddy, a junior general agriculture major at UMES and an 1890 scholar, took meeting Brown Reynolds to heart. “I love what she had to say. What she does is right up my alley. Protecting civil rights, especially Black youth and farmers, is what I want to do.”
The 11 students who are 1890 scholars at UMES are also employees of USDA through sponsorship and summer internship experiences hosted by various USDA agencies. Among them, Sarah Kuykendall, Almazi Matthews and Eris Owens are part of the 97 students selected this year. The USDA/1890 National Scholars Program provides full tuition, fees, books, and room and board for selected students from rural and underserved communities who are studying food, agriculture, natural resource and other related sciences at an 1890 land-grant university.
At top:
Pictured from left to right, are: (front row) Cameron Geddie ( junior, general agriculture), Kayla Winn (sophomore, marine sciences), Dr. Penny Brown Reynolds, Eris Owens (sophomore, pre-vet), Almazi Matthews (junior, general agriculture), (second row) Hannah Whitelock (sophomore, engineering), London Harris (sophomore, pre-vet), Sarah Kuykendall (freshman, agribusiness), Kevin Armstrong II (sophomore, marine sciences), Lisa Purnell (USDA Maryland liaison), (top row) Lauren Garba (J.D., USDA senior advisor) Fenyang Stewart (USDA equal employment specialist) Dr. Marshall Stevenson (UMES, dean of the School of Education, Social Sciences and the Arts), Dr. Stephan Tubene (professor and acting chair of UMES’ Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences).
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications and media associate, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photos by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, tdudek@umes.edu.
