Despite political gains and the lowering of social barriers, most Southern blacks still face formidable economic obstacles. More than half of rural Southern black families are living at or below poverty level. Efforts to improve their lot have included a number of cooperative and self-help community programs. The Southern Cooperative Development Fund, the Mississippi Action for Community Education, and the Southeast Alabama Self-Help Association are among those receiving large scale assistance from the Ford Foundation. The common goal of the three organizations is to enable those who wish to remain in the South to do so by providing a social and economic environment in which people can live and work with dignity and security. Their combined efforts include: funding to establish consumer, agricultural marketing and fishing cooperatives and credit unions; scholarships and other types of educational assistance; lobbying efforts; advancement of civil rights; demands for equalization of community services; creation of ombudsman agencies for the rural poor; establishment of health care services; and economic development of manufacturing, housing, construction, and financial services. This document reports on the growth of each of the three organizations and describes specific projects undertaken to provide opportunities and a better life for the South's rural poor. (DS)