Auburn University Celebrates 30 Years of Rural Community Partnership

With support from Regions Bank, Auburn University Rural Studio helps people in under-resourced communities thrive today while building generational wealth for tomorrow.

By Candace Higginbotham

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / September 18, 2024 / Auburn University Rural Studio has had much to celebrate so far in 2024.

It commemorated its 30th anniversary earlier this year and announced it had received grant funding to create affordable housing to aid tornado recovery efforts in Selma, Alabama. Regions provided matching funds for the Selma affordable housing initiative and has been working alongside Rural Studio for much of its three-decade history.

Rural Studio: Citizen Architects

In 1993, Auburn University architecture faculty members Samuel Mockbee and D.K. Ruth cofounded Rural Studio, a design-build architectural education program headquartered two and half hours from campus in Hale County, Alabama. The program, part of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, was built around the concept of community service learning and aligns with the university's mission as a land-grant institution.

The program encourages students to use their skills to better their communities - to become citizen architects. Rural Studio and its projects have been featured in thousands of publications, honored with prestigious awards, and have been shown in museum exhibits across the world.

But more importantly to faculty leaders and students - and communities throughout the South -Rural Studio has built more than 220 projects in Alabama's Black Belt and educated more than 1,200 students about sustainable, healthful rural living through both housing and the vital systems that ensure communities thrive.

Regions is proud of our long history with Auburn University's Rural Studio, and we continue to support their innovative work to solve the unique challenges of providing attainable, sustainable homes for people in rural areas.

Leroy Abrahams, Head of Community Engagement for Regions

And thanks to relationships with community organizations, public and private companies and local, state and federal government agencies, Rural Studio programs have expanded beyond the state to assist individuals and families who may not have otherwise had the opportunity for homeownership.

According to Regions Head of Community Engagement Leroy Abrahams, Regions Bank is pleased to be part of that journey.

"Affordable housing is key focus of our community engagement strategy," Abrahams said. "Regions' 15-state retail footprint includes many areas that are several miles from the nearest city, and serving rural communities is an important part of our business.