Photo: Image of Higher Purpose, Co.’s in progress Main Street building; support their mission and vision at: https://higherpurposeco.org

Earlier this month, DoPT visited the Mississippi Delta, along with our partners at the Center for Rural Strategies. During this time, we visited with Tim Lampkin, Founder of Higher Purpose, Co. in Clarksdale, MS! Tim is the October Beyond the Clock Guest and he will be sharing a bit about the work of Higher Purpose, whose mission is to build community wealth with Black residents in Mississippi by supporting the ownership of financial, cultural, and political power through solutions based organizing.

During our time with him, he will invite us to consider the questions: How do we continue to elevate the significance of artists as it relates to making our communities whole? How do we move beyond viewing artists as only contributing to the economic sector, but to see artists as healers, shaper, and thought partners in our community work? Check out this brief interview with him below! And, please join us on October 19th at 4pm! Register HERE!

*Excerpts from an interview between Ashley Hanson and Tim Lampkin on October 5, 2022 in Clarksdale, MS. Listen to the audio file, here!

Ash: What are the joys that you feel in this work?

Tim: The joy I get in doing this work comes from the visible and practical impact that I see. I think it is one thing to see us helping businesses go from an idea to opening up a physical location, but I think it’s the practical piece; now, they have a business and that allows them to do other things that they thought they couldn’t do. The power of business ownership allows them to make different choices in their lives and think about their potential in a different way. It is almost like the intersection of being underestimated and their potential colliding. I think that is where I get joy. I am excited to see people realize that and I can see it in real time. It’s not something I have to wait forever to see. We create the environment for that to exist. That brings me joy. And, the way that I am able to do this without compromising who we are. There is a realness to us. Just showing up is enough - we also show up with all these great resources and good energy, but, individually and collectively, what brings me joy is that we can show up as ourselves. That allows the other parts to really thrive. That’s the joy.

Ash: What are the tensions?

Tim: The tension comes from trying to describe what we are and what we are not. That can be tension locally, state level and even talking with funders about what we are and what we are not. And, I think because the need is so great, particularly in a place like Mississippi, when organizations have the type of reach or presence that we have, it can be not necessarily a gateway, but like people want to modify our mission. Because we have access to so many people and so, they say since you are already doing this, can you also do this… around workforce development or housing or these other things and try to persuade us to mission creep because of the presence that we have. The tension becomes trying to stay true to our mission, articulating the why, and the why behind why we are not going to sway away from it and still trying to maintain that relationship with whomever I am talking with. You don’t have to agree with me to understand where I am coming from. We can agree to disagree that this is not a right fit or not a right partnership, whatever the case may be. In the spirit of that, having some understanding around that. That is a tension point.

Ash: What is your personal soul cry?

Tim: My soul cry… there are so many! One I can focus in on - and I hear this often - I don’t know if it is just a Mississippi thing or a rural thing or whatever, but I think in most cases, I would cry out very loudly and say: “Stop believing or thinking what you know about Mississippi, particularly as it relates to black people, and come visit and help us do the work.” That right there, will take away a lot of the preconceived notions, a lot of the “oh I read this in the paper, or I saw this on national news.” And, it’s less about us wanting folks to come save us, cause that is also like, we don’t subscribe to that. It’s like we are doing this work with or without you. And, if you are coming, make sure you come to support what we’ve already started. Not to tell us how to do it. I think that’s a common thread.

Interview with Tim Lampkin of Higher Purpose, Co.!