Bridge Builders Award

Alice Coles, Executive Director, Bayview Citizens for Social Justice and Stephen Parker, Director, The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Coast Reserve for their leadership efforts in creating a new town by advancing both human needs such as housing, sewage, job training and childcare with the need to protect the ecological system of the region. Their dedication in this combined pursuit has not only benefited the low-income residents of Bayview but has helped to sustain one of Virginia’s poorest, rural villages on the Eastern Shore.

Imagine a small town on Virginia's Eastern shore without indoor running water or sewer hook-ups, a town of tar-paper shacks that modern society seemed to have forgotten. Imagine too, that UNESCO has designated the area that this small village is in as a “Man and the Biosphere” Reserve.  Thanks to the efforts of Alice Coles of the Bayview Citizens for Social Justice (BCSJ), and Stephen Parker of the Virginia Coast Reserve division of The Nature Conservancy, efforts to raise the living standards of Bayview residents have come in tandem with the preservation of the landscape their families have called home for generations. The land that the State once wanted to house convicted felons on will now house local residents in a new sustainable development called Bayview Rural Village.  A rural town rich in history dating from the Emancipation of its first African-American residents is now rich in opportunity and renewed hope.

With the guidance and support of Parker at The Nature Conservancy, Alice Coles of BCSJ applied for the community’s first grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate their well water pollution problem.  Thanks to their partnership, the village of Bayview has been able to obtain further funding to build a new sewage system, provide safe drinking water for the community and develop a master plan for new housing, childcare, and a community center.

Stewardship of the surrounding ecosystem has remained a top priority throughout this transformation. Community-wide clean-up efforts, starting with the removal of over eighteen tons of trash, reflects the residents’ belief in the sacredness of the land and the importance of being stewards of their environment. As part of the economic revitalization, 130 acres are protected by a conservation easement and dedicated to farming with greenhouses and other agriculture plans in the works. As a result, Alice Coles notes that residents will now be able to "teach our children their history and to protect the environment."

The partnership created by Alice Coles of the Bayview Citizens for Social Justice and Stephen Parker of The Nature Conservancy has helped transform a small poor community without compromising the health of the flora and fauna of Virginia’s Eastern Shore and barrier islands. Together, they have shown the state, indeed the entire country, how improving the human condition and protecting the environment are part of the same dream of healthy vibrant communities.