Ford, with its joint venture BlueOval SK, is building an EV and EV battery plant in West Tennessee called Blue Oval City. Ford is receiving more than $2 billion in state incentives to build the facility, and a $9.2 billion loan from the Department of Energy. The plant is being built in Stanton, a town of only about 500 people in majority Black West Tennessee.

With large-scale developments like Blue Oval City, there are sweeping impacts in our West Tennessee communities. One of the biggest impacts to our neighbors are the rising cost of housing like rising rent and property taxes. Ford has a Good Neighbor Plan that has invested less than 1% of the 11 billion taxpayer dollars that they've received into our communities. They have a housing assistance program through Vision Haywood but it only covers a 15 mile radius outside of Blue Oval SK and its concrete outcomes are unclear. Instead of donating to various non-profits, Blue Oval SK can invest, through a Community Benefits Agreement, in our local governments to provide free legal representation for tenants facing eviction, relocation allowances for folks who are forced to move and call on lawmakers for subsidies on rising property taxes and make a commitment to local hire to West Tennessee residents so they get a shot at the higher wages at Blue Oval City. West Tennesseans are excited about the economic growth of Blue Oval City but we want to make sure that everyone can benefit and nobody is pushed out of the process.

Blue Oval SK, can you invest in our communities and affordable housing today so we aren't pushed out tomorrow?