Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.
Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.
Rural Recovery
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Neighbor Works

SMHA's History

1969

  • SMHA won a decision from a three-judge federal panel to "free association" with farm workers as guaranteed by the US Constitution.



  • SMHA began self-help, low-income housing efforts, including the first neighborhood association called "Rabbit Hill" in Abbeville, Louisiana. From SMHA's successful renovation of 30 homes, Abbeville obtained the first Community Development Block Grant for rural communities, soon duplicated in dozens of other rural communities in Louisiana. SMHA's Self Help Housing Program subsequently built 49 individually owned new homes for sugar cane farm worker families.

    • 1971

  • SMHA started adult basic education and job training with culturally adapted materials for plantation workers. A graduate went on to receive a masters in rural development from University of Massachusetts, become executive director of a community action agency, organize farm workers around legal issues, become housing director at SMHA, and be honored at the White House as one of two outstanding VISTAs in the country.



  • SMHA started the first rural dental and medical clinic for farm workers. Over 10,000 farm worker visits were made in the first year alone.

    • 1974

  • Federal District court issued a landmark decision in the Freeman vs. Butz case where the wages of farm workers were illegally frozen by Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz. Two SMHA farm worker board members filed and won a class action suit for collection of back wages. As the Court-appointed inspector, SMHA examined all the growers' books to determine the amount owed to the workers. The Court froze over 60 million dollars in grower subsidy payments and awarded plantation field workers over one million dollars in back wages.

  • SMHA started the first Plantation Adult Education Program. This program is still in existence today as PEPI (Progressive Education Program), located in New Iberia.

    • 1978

  • CBS broadcast a "60 Minutes" documentary with Morley Safer on the work of SMHA on sugar cane plantations, revealing the conditions of thousands of field workers "behind the cane curtain" to a national audience.

    • 1980

  • SMHA won a favorable US Supreme Court decision in the "Itinerant Workers Law" case. SMHA filed suit against the State of Louisiana and St. Mary Parish for enacting a worker registration ordinance which required all persons applying for a job to be photographed and fingerprinted, answer personal questions, and pay $10 for the privilege. The Court ruled the ordinance unconstitutional and ordered compensation.

  • A third woman joined SMHA's senior staff. An agricultural and rural life specialist from the Midwest, she brought with her an understanding of broad-based strategies to bring whole communities together on "common ground."

    • 1981

  • The plight of sugar cane workers and SMHA's determination to help the workers "help themselves," was the topic of Patsy Sims' book, Cleveland Benjamin's Dead! A Struggle for Dignity in Louisiana's Cane Country.

  • SMHA relocated to its present address in New Iberia after barging a cypress, pre-civil war plantation home down the Bayou Teche.The organization purchased the home and land along the bayou with money from a successful lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, for improper defunding of a farmworker health and dental clinic.

    • 1984

  • SMHA published Plantation Portraits: Women of the Louisiana Cane Fields in celebration of the courage and strength of women farm workers and their contribution to the South Louisiana community. Presentations of the book and a performance that was adapted from it brought the invisible presence of women field workers to light.

    • 1989

  • SMHA staff member was appointed the first woman to the State Pesticide Commission. Her work provided a forum for citizens to organize around pesticide exposure and brought farmers to the realization that changing their methods of pesticide use was in their best interests. The publicity led to pressure from the EPA for the enforcement of Federal pesticide laws in the state.



  • Fifteen women living in the community of Four Corners responded to SMHA's challenge to organize themselves into a self-help housing association. The previous rapid mechanization of the sugar cane industry had displaced them along with ninety-eight thousand field workers and family members. The self-help group subsequently grew to a four-community Federation of Self-Help Associations. Members have invested over $1 million in sweat- equity hours and are leaders in their communities' comprehensive development.

  • SMHA's work was featured on CBS's "Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt."

    • 1990

  • SMHA began working in partnership with sugar cane growers. Family farmers faced rising costs and mounting debts, depletion of soil, and contamination of Louisiana water ways. SMHA co-founded the 13-state Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group to redirect land grant resources and USDA policy to support sustainable agriculture and family farmers.

    • 1991

  • A sugar cane farmer donated the land for the Federation of Self-Help Association's Community Development Center.

    • 1993

  • Hurricane Andrew devastated southern Louisiana, destroying all housing work in the Federation area, including the Community Development Center. SMHA's capacity was sorely tested. The staff and self-help communities rallied and drew strength from each other and the upwelling of community support to recover and overcome.

  • SMHA's work was featured in a New York Times article.

    • 1994

  • SMHA developed "From Plantation Colonies to Prosperous Communities," an economic and human development action plan for ten rural communities, as a result of 56 meetings with community leaders, local businesses, school officials, local and state government agencies, and other non-profits.

    • 1995

  • The Louisiana State Legislature passed Bill #1316. Under the guise of protecting the fisheries, the legislation prepared the coast for sports-recreational development. Thousands of traditional commercial fishing businesses were shut down almost overnight. SMHA recognized the importance of the fishers' unique cultural heritage, their role as stewards of Louisiana's coastal waterways and marshes, and their impact in the state's $2 billion seafood industry. SMHA began working with family fishers to develop economic alternatives.

    • SMHA was selected as one of nine community development organizations in the nation to pilot the Rural Home Loan Partnership (RHLP), a multi-million dollar initiative for revitalizing rural America. the RHLP creates opportunities for low-wealth families to own their own homes. SMHA has designed a blended mortgage product through innovative partnerships with local banks, the USDA Rural Housing Service, Rural LISC, and others. Through human and community development, SMHA attracts investors to low-income rural communities.

    1998

  • The Fannie Mae Foundation awarded SMHA one of ten National Sustained Excellence Awards for a decade of continued excellence in housing.

    • 2000

  • SMHA announced the creation of Southern Mutual Financial Services, Inc. (SMFS), and its plans to incorporate as a community development financial institution (CDFI.) SMFS provides affordable capital and development services to marginalized rural families to improve the quality of their lives. IBERIABANK kicked off a $3 million capital campaign with a $200,000 donation to the proposed CDFI.

    • 2001

  • SMHA co-founded SEA Corp (Sustained Excellence Alliance) and hosts the first SEA Corp conference and tour.


  • SMHA hosted the national Rural LISC conference, bringing nearly 300 non-profit practitioners to southern Louisiana. Conference attendees traveled through the area, learning about the challenges and successes of SMHA's work with low-income housing, family fishers, and environmental asset building.


  • SMFS continued to grow as Oxfam America provides leadership to foundations in the financial support of SMFS' capital campaign -- followed closely by a grant from the F.B. Heron Foundation.

    • 2002

  • Southern Mutual Financial Services received a $400,000 capital investment matching award from the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund of the United States Treasury.

    • Return to top of page

    In 1974 SMHA started the first Plantation Adult Education Program. This program is still in existence today as PEPI (Progressive Education Program), located in New Iberia.
    In 1989, 15 women living in the community of Four Corners responded to SMHA's challenge to organize themselves into a self-help housing association.
    In 1990, SMHA began working in partnership with sugar cane growers. Family farmers faced rising costs and mounting debts, depletion of soil, and contamination of Louisiana waterways.