Since it was founded in 1969, Southern Mutual Help Association (SMHA) has helped people develop strong, healthy, prosperous rural communities in Louisiana. Our special focus is with distressed rural communities whose livelihoods are interdependent with our land and waters. We work primarily with agricultural and pervasively poor communities, women and people of color. We help build rural communities through people's growth in their own empowerment and the just management of resources.

SMHA's foundation was - and still is - our strong commitment to ending poverty and a passion for justice.

SMHA's $150 million Teche Ridge development is designed to change the face of affordable housing in the Acadiana region of Louisiana by integrating affordable units among market-rate units in such a way that the affordable homes are indistinguishable from the homes surrounding them.

In response to the devastation wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Southern Mutual Help Association created a hands-on Rural Recovery Task Force and is working to build a $30 million Rural Recovery Fund to help rebuild Louisiana better than it was before.

SMHA's West End Redevelopment Initiative was launched in the Fall of 2008 in partnership with the City of New Iberia and a private donor who was born and raised in the district. The "West End" of New Iberia, is a historically African-American area of the city that has great importance in New Iberia's history.

Visit Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc. at www.SouthernMutualHelp.org