J4NF leader Mindy raising funds for water & power
Help Mindy hook up her water and electric!
She is taking on the rich and powerful in eastern Kentucky. She knows that folks living in trailer parks, and all tenants in the state, deserve better. She's been fighting for us. Now, let's have her back!
Help build the bench of organizers fighting for what's right in Kentucky!
Support a stronger movement by contributing any amount so that Mindy can FINALLY relocate. She was displaced due to unjust eviction. The rich and powerful wiped her neighborhood off the hillside, but she's pushing back. Will you chip in?
Photo: Mindy Davenport, on her beloved porch at her trailer prior to the mass evictions in North Fork Mobile Home Park.
“We have always worked, those people [public officials and developers] have never worked for what they have. Our mayor has never dug a ditch, cleaned a house, cleaned a toilet or whatever for minimum wage to raise her kids. She had her money handed to her. But I’ve worked 3 jobs [for] years and years and years to raise my kid. And they call me the blight? No! I’m not the blight, they’re the blight.”
- Mindy Davenport, eastern KY trailer park resident & leader in the Justice 4 North Fork campaign
Photo: Mindy, with bullhorn, and her neighbors taking action outside of Atty. Truman Dehner's office in Morehead, KY. Dehner represents the landlord, Fraley Commercial Properties, LLC, who sold the property to Lexington-based developer Patrick Madden.
Mindy Davenport lived in the North Fork Mobile Home Park in Rowan County, KY for decades. Due to a ultra-rich developer in Lexington, who worked along side local public officials, the trailer park has been wiped off the map.
The rich and powerful got a rude awakening when Mindy, alongside her neighbors, started pushing back.
In August 2020, Lexington-based developer Patrick Madden came to the City of Morehead with a proposal to get Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money for a scheme to replace the North Fork mobile home park with a celebrated strip mall. He wanted to get rid of homes, so he could make money on a development. And he wanted the local government to offer him a sweetheart tax deal to wipe a neighborhood off the hillside.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a gravy train for the rich, and devastating to everyone else. TIFs take all future tax revenue and give it to developers as a subsidy. What that means is that developers get a continuous stream of revenue that is paid for by your tax dollars.
The "North Fork TIF" is the law that was passed and signed by both the City of Morehead so they could offer public dollars to Patrick Madden and get rid of one of the longest standing trailer parks in the county. The City Council meetings where this was discussed, with essentially no public knowledge, were held on: 9/14/2020, 12/7/2020, and 12/14/2020. Patrick Madden attended some of these meetings.
At these meetings, Madden recommended a speedy public engagement process. He promised to add 250 jobs to the area while eliminating a “blight,” as he called the North Fork neighborhood. No public official questioned the logic of trading 250 crappy wage jobs for the destruction of both an entire neighborhood and nearly 100 units of KY affordable housing.
And make no mistake, Rowan County does NOT need another strip mall. As Olive Hill resident Tonya put it, "We have too many empty spaces now in Morehead for shopping center. Why take people's homes just to make more empty spaces?" Folks from across the community can see straight through the smokescreen from Madden and local officials. Ben, of Morehead, says "this is just flat out WRONG. There are plenty of other spots for businesses to set up shop without forcing this whole group of people to relocate and burden them any further financially."
The full TIF agreement is 111 pages long. In all 111 pages, it does not address current residents, displacement, or relocation at all. In 111 pages, residents were not considered AT ALL. And everyone who worked together to secure this tax deal and the destruction of a neighborhood knew what would happen.
What they didn't expect was residents to come together and push back.
Photo: Mindy Davenport (center) joins with her neighbors and members of the Justice 4 North Fork campaign at an organizing meeting. At the meeting, folks planned on taking action together for what we all know is right.
As former North Fork resident Brenda put it, "We deserve to be treated fairly and like humans just because others look down at trailer parks doesn't make you better than anyone."
Justice 4 North Fork is the campaign led by former residents of North Fork mobile home park who were displaced because of impending development.
It took months for residents to get the truth about the pending sale of their neighborhood. Amid the misinformation campaign from the powerful, that took neighbors working together to get the truth on the record. North Fork residents were "kept in the dark ." Instead of going quietly, North Fork residents banded together. This took a lot of work on top of an already challenging situation .
“It’s bad. I mean we definitely were having financial issues,” said Crystal Barnett , a former resident of seven years. “We have been in a pandemic. People have been laid off. I’m lucky I have not. However, I do have a child and it’s very hard.”
This all went down in a pandemic. When there was supposed to be an "eviction moratorium." But North Fork residents were evicted! That is because the moratorium wasn't written to prevent evictions caused by development projects and the schemes of folks like Patrick Madden.
Organizing is never easy. It's that much harder when the roof over your head is on the lines. North Fork residents leaned in and took action. They knocked on doors, called their neighbors, attended public meetings, held marches and rallies, protested, held press conference, and got others to join in! Nearly every resident had never taken action like this before. 
Photo: Mindy alongside her North Fork neighbor Randi, takes the bullhorn for the first time outside of the April Morehead City Council meeting .
Anytime there is an injustice, you can always look and find folks who are taking action to demand what is right. North Fork was no exception. At the same time, it felt to Mindy and everyone involved that something was rising. That pushing back against grifters, landlords, developers, and local officials in the City was a bit unprecedented.
North Fork residents' fight for justice ended up gaining the attention of Kentucky , regional , national , and international press. This is because residents are building power, together. They are becoming a force to be reckoned with. They put the powerful on notice.
Photo: Mindy at a Justice 4 North Fork press conference held in North Fork on the date Fraley Commercial Properties LLC told everyone they had to move or face eviction.
As injustices kept piling on their backs during the spring and summer of 2021, residents stayed rooted. Mindy faced an attempt at FORCING her out of her home with bravery on May 17th of this year.
Mindy did not have a "forcible detainer" filed against her in court. Mindy had worked out an arrangement with then-landlord Fraley Commercial Properties LLC to move her home after the move-by date that the company's attorney had given her. This opportunity to have more time in her home was WON as the result of the collective power that residents had built, NOT the generosity of the landlord or the developer.
However, the company that was to move her trailer, ONCE MINDY WAS READY, showed up unannounced on May 17th. While she was having her morning coffee, they were hooking up her trailer WITHOUT PERMISSION and without any authority to do so without Mindy's consent.
Mindy stood up for her self . She was not forcibly moved that day because she took action to stand in her dignity and the dignity of her neighborhood. Powerful folks think they can push us around without consequence. That did not happen on May 17th because Mindy is a powerful leader.
The rich and powerful frequently use tactics like this to steal the homes of poor people and people of color. North Fork resident Sue said that straight up and clear as day to local City officials. We are not going to tolerate that in Rowan County any more. Mindy and her neighbors are leading the way!
Photo: Mindy (2nd from right) alongside her neighbors at a Justice 4 North Fork organizing meeting prior to the mass eviction.
What's at stake?
Rent is just plain unaffordable. Everywhere. Morehead is no exception. Landlords and public officials mistreat and abuse tenants. Everywhere. Morehead is no exception.
Living in a mobile home park is an option that sometimes fits in a family's budget. At the same time, even though you may own your mobile home, you have to rent the land where your house sits. That brings with it all the challenges that face tenants in KY, and then some.
Trailer parks are being obliterated by mega-corporations, out-of-town developers or cutthroat landlords. There are more than 60 registered trailer parks in Rowan County. That's a lot of trailer parks for one county in KY. Across the country, Wall Street and hedge funds are bragging about extracting huge profits from working people across who deserve safe housing. Our laws, policies and government fail to protect folks who live in trailer parks.
It goes even further than that. Our laws, policies and government roll out the red carpet for ultra-rich developers. This happens by design at OUR expense. Patrick Madden is making a ton of money. Millions coming from Morehead tax dollars. He already makes over $60 million per year in income. Local officials think he needs more and that we should give him tax dollars. So he can build an unneeded strip mall in a town full of empty storefronts.
As Jason, former 10-year resident of North Fork, put it: "I don't know if they would outwardly say poor people don't matter, but we live in a society where it's pretty obvious."
These are big issues. Our lives, our homes and our livelihoods are at stake. We know that making a difference means winning power among working families. That way we have enough power to take on the greedy and win a safe and stable home to come to at night when we lay down to rest.
It can feel like a tall order. In a way it is. But folks like Mindy are leading the way. There isn't really a secret to this. Our future depends on neighbors banding together and fighting for what's right. Mindy does exactly that kind of work.
But doing that kind of work when you face challenges making ends meet is difficult. Doing that kind of work when you need water and electric hooked up in your home is difficult. Not to mention, the rich and powerful aren't very happy when we take on that kind of work.
Mindy has stood up, with her neighbors, for all of us. It's time we stand up for her.
Keep on Marching!
Everyone who lived at North Fork Mobile Home park has relocated. And many are STILL living with financial burdens they have been FORCED to take on to find a new place to live. Neither the developer, the landlord, nor the local governments have stepped up to support residents. Mindy and others have retained an Attorney to file a lawsuit against the City for their role in pushing the TIF deal that led to residents' displacement.
More than pinning their hopes for justice SOLELY on a lawsuit, they continue to organize! Organizing is where working people build and unleash OUR power. Mindy has been calling neighbors across the county and knocking doors to get others involved. If working families have a bright future on the horizon in Rowan County, it will be because working families band together and WIN it!
Photo: North Fork block party and celebration! Residents and supporters came together to be in fellowship and strengthen our resolve.
YOUR CONTRIBUTION DIRECTLY SUPPORTS MINDY! WILL YOU HAVE THE BACK OF SOMEONE WHO IS BUILDING A STRONG MOVEMENT WITH HER NEIGHBORS?
Mindy has moved her trailer to a new lot in the county. But she is still not able to live there. Moving a trailer is very expensive and complicated. We call them "mobile homes," but these trailers aren't really that mobile.
If trailers can move at all, they are frequently damaged in the process. There are so many expenses associated with moving a trailer as well. It isn't just paying a moving company to load your home onto a truck. You also have to pay for electric, water, and sewer hookups once your home has been relocated.
Anyone who lives in a mobile home could tell you that. As a Berea, KY mobile home owner Ronni put it: "It costs thousands of dollars to move one, and that's assuming you have somewhere to move it to. This is violence against these mobile home owners."
Mindy needs money to pay for the proper inspections and hookups to get water and electric in her home. As of right now, she has been unable to live in her home because it sits on the new lot, but does not have water and electric at the moment. Will you chip in to help Mindy pay to have her water and electric hooked up so she can finally move back to her house?
Your contribution is not charity. You are investing in Mindy. When you invest in Mindy and your neighbors, you are investing in a stronger movement in Kentucky so nothing like this happens again in another neighborhood. A contribution of any size will help us reach the goal of raising $1,000! Together, we can meet this goal.
Photo: North Fork residents and neighbors taking action outside of Morehead City Hall after being ejected from the City Council meeting in May 2021. WMMT's Katie Myers live tweeted the City Council meeting.
A Change is Gonna Come!
After you make a contribution, get involved! We need all hands on deck to win the future working families in Rowan County deserve. Will you join us?
Photo: Mindy's friends and neighbors joining together to stand in power and dignity as the Justice 4 North Fork campaign!
Kentuckians! Take action:
ROWAN COUNTY RESIDENTS!
Many kids and families across Rowan County are facing hard times. It doesn't have to be this way. We deserve better.
Our voices matter more than ever before because we have the power in our hands to turn things around for working families. Many rich folks make money hand-over-fist while the rest of us suffer. It doesn't have to be this way.
Are you tired of feeling hopeless about the problems we face? Do you want to be a part of solving them? WE can build a healthy community for working families, but only if we listen to each other and work together. Join us!
Sign up to join with the Rowan County Listening Project to join with your neighbors. Together we fight for what is rights and build a future for working families that is worth fighting for and worthy of our dignity and power. Sign up to take action with us here.
- KENTUCKIANS! If you are a tenant in KY who is ready to get involved in the fight for our future, sign up for trainings with KY Tenants , a project of Root Cause Research Center . Having problems with your landlord? Think tenants should have control over the places where we live? Want to do something to make a change? Join the Kentucky Tenant Organizing Training series, hosted by tenant-led organizations across the state, to learn how to build power with your neighbors https://www.rootcauseresearch.org/tenanttraining
You can learn more about the Justice 4 North Fork campaign by watching this video about the resident-led campaign.
You can hear more about the situation in Morehead KY in Mindy's own words by watching this video.
Solidarity! Just like a tree that's standing by the water, we shall not be moved.
We deserve, and we have the power, to shape a bright future for renters. That will only happen when working families band together. It takes stepping out of your comfort zone to band together. Mindy doesn't ENJOY singing in public, but together we sing songs throughout our campaign and organizing. Singing puts a lot of us outside of our comfort zones. But we do it because, as North Fork resident Penny put it "because we're united." And as Mindy reminds us, singing shows us that we are strong and resilient.
Check out this Justice 4 North Fork campaign video by North Fork resident Penny and the Root Cause Research Center