Nourishing Community and Lowering Energy Burdens in Dewey City: A Climate Digest Interview

Chapters

00:00 Meet Earl Williams and Katie Chastain 

00:39 Introducing the Thomasville Community Development Corporation 

02:20 A Drawdown Georgia Grant for Plant-Based Meals and Solar Energy 

04:34 What Is Energy Burden, and Why Does It Matter in Dewey City? 

09:05 Rebuilding Community Through Local Food and Bartering 

16:19 The Biggest Challenges TCDC Faces 

20:00 A Closer Look at the Plant-Based Meal Program 

21:16 What’s Giving Earl and Katie Hope

In the heart of South Georgia, the Thomasville Community Development Corporation (TCDC) is planting the seeds of community resilience. With deep community roots and an eye toward climate justice, TCDC is doing more than improving housing or access to local produce, they’re restoring a neighborhood’s spirit.

Supported by a 2025–2026 Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant, TCDC is making bold moves in Dewey City, an underinvested neighborhood rich with history and untapped potential. In this edition of the Georgia Climate Digest interview series, host Eriqah Vincent sits down with Consultant Earl Williams and Special Project Director Katie Chastain to talk about how TCDC is bringing climate solutions home to Dewey City.

How Is TCDC Using Its Drawdown Georgia Grant?

TCDC’s grant funds two connected projects: a plant-based lunch program for seniors, and a push toward solar energy alongside a 52-unit low-income senior housing project already underway. “Neighborhood development is resiliency work,” Katie says. “And that’s what we want for our neighborhoods.”

What Is Energy Burden, and Why Is It So Pressing in Dewey City?

Energy burden refers to the percentage of a household’s income that goes toward energy bills, and in Dewey City, where many residents are seniors on fixed incomes, it’s a defining challenge. “People are paying as much in an energy bill as they are in rent or a mortgage,” Katie explains. Through an EPA Community Change Grant, TCDC is combining large-scale weatherization with an eye toward rooftop solar to bring those costs down.

How Is Food Rebuilding Trust in Dewey City?

TCDC is delivering plant-based lunches to 40 to 50 seniors four times a week, sourced entirely through local entrepreneurs: produce from Black farmers sold through a recently reopened neighborhood grocery store, meals prepared by a local caterer, and delivery handled by another local business owner, all graduates of the Spark Entrepreneurs Program. “We’re teaching entrepreneurs how to work together and keep the money within their community,” Earl says.

Why Does Dewey City’s History Matter to This Work?

Earl walks through Dewey City’s significance as one of the first places Black families could own land after slavery was abolished, home to a historic baptism site and the county’s first Black high school. TCDC’s approach centers on surfacing these existing assets rather than treating the neighborhood as a problem to be solved, including making sure renters, not just homeowners, benefit from home improvement investments.

Whether you work in community development, clean energy, or simply want to see what climate solutions look like outside metro Atlanta, this conversation is a reminder that rural Georgia has a vital role to play in the state’s climate future.

What You’ll Learn

• How TCDC is combining a plant-based meal program with a solar energy push through one Drawdown Georgia grant.
• What energy burden means, and why it hits hardest for seniors on fixed incomes in Dewey City.
• How TCDC’s food program keeps every dollar circulating among local Black entrepreneurs.
• Why Dewey City’s history as a historic Black landowning community shapes TCDC’s approach.
• Why rural communities are often left out of climate funding, and why that needs to change.
• What gives Earl Williams and Katie Chastain hope about the work ahead in Thomasville.

Continue reading in our companion blog to learn more about how TCDC is leveraging Drawdown Georgia climate solutions to build community and resiliency while preserving the history of Dewey City.

Download the Interview Transcript

Prefer to read the conversation instead? Download the complete PDF transcript of this interview with Earl Williams and Katie Chastain to explore their insights on energy burden, community-led food systems, and honoring Dewey City’s history.