our mission
Our Jackson Home (OJH) celebrates and shares the voices of our neighbors through storytelling, public art, and community events to highlight the city we all love: Jackson, Tennessee. Our Jackson Home is a community-driven program housed under the umbrella of theCO for the purpose of fostering cohesive community engagement centered around the culture of Jackson, Tennessee, through community placekeeping initiatives. Through these program activities, we intend to bring Jacksonians together, foster local pride and identity, and improve public spaces.
The program's core objectives are:
01. Storytelling: Our team of artist contributors tell the stories of those who live and work in Jackson through print and digital media that reflect our diverse community
02. Events: We host events throughout the year that are centered on building community pride by elevating arts and culture
03. Public Art: We install public art through thoughtful community engagement that represents the people and history of Jackson
04. Community Partnerships: We partner with local businesses, organizations, and government entities to create collaborative content for Jacksonians
our team
Our Jackson Home is a project of the CO, and is a non-profit organization run by our Program Director and Editor-in-Chief with the support of theCO staff, and made possible by the contributions of our volunteer contributors.
Lizzie Emmons
Program Director
Maddie Steele
Communications Manager & Editor-in-Chief
Advisory Team
The Our Jackson Home Advisory Team is a group of dedicated individuals who provide guidance and ensure sustainability of our community-driven program.
Ontoni Reedy
Darin Hollingsworth
Ashley Akerson
Darren Lykes
Ginger Williams
Anthony Kirk
our story
OUR STORY
Our Jackson Home began in September of 2014 in the living room of former Jackson transplant Luke Pruett, just a half-dozen friends gathered around to pull together their talents and passions to create a podcast about the city they loved. Three months later, a few more folks had joined the conversation, and an accompanying blog was launched on Christmas Day, along with a growing social media presence. And a mere four months after that, later Founding Editor Katie Howerton was selling the first copies of the Our Jackson Home journal, a Union University graphic design senior thesis gone terribly right.
Since that summer of 2015, Our Jackson Home has grown tremendously, thanks to theCO - the non-profit coworking space for entrepreneurs, makers, and creatives in West Tennessee where Our Jackson Home is owned and operated - as well as the hard work of previous Program Directors, Katie Howerton and Courtney Searcy, current Program Director, Lizzie Emmons, current Editor-in-Chief, Maddie Steele, and countless community volunteers throughout the years who make our grassroots programming a reality.
The key to the authenticity of Our Jackson Home is the fifty-something past and present local artists who continue to seek stories to share. Our blog and social media pages are viewed by thousands of people a year; our journal is published two times annually; events like Made in Jackson, 731 Day, and Porchfest continue to foster community pride; and our public art partnership with the City of Jackson supports artists and beautifies our shared spaces in new, fresh ways that continue to uplift our collective history and culture.
We are proud to call Jackson home, and we invite you to celebrate and collaborate with us.
FOUNDERS
Luke Pruett
Anthony Kirk
Jim Wilhelm
Kevin Adelsberger
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Katie Howerton 2015-2020
COURTNEY SEARCY 2020-2023
GOT A STORY TO TELL?
contributors
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