Sustainability & Partnership Guide Ward 3 Board Member, Felicia Tripp, As A Community Leader

If there is one idea that sums up Felicia Tripp’s involvement with Jackson Association of Neighborhoods, it is optimism. Jackson is a glass half full, and Tripp aims to fill it to overflowing, serving on JAN’s Board of Directors as a representative of Ward 3 and chair of its Sustainability Committee.

Tripp was born and grew up in Jackson’s Virden Addition neighborhood on Bailey Avenue, just across the bridge from the Jackson Medical Mall. A successful product of Jackson Public Schools, she has spent much of her adult life working to strengthen the same community that raised her so well. 

The function of JAN’s Sustainability Committee is to help neighborhoods prepare for and sustain themselves through emergencies and disasters. Tripp views her work with JAN as one of the fruits of her long professional background in emergency management. Her interest in community work blossomed at a young age.

“A man named Wendell Paris brought me into an urban gardening project connected with [then] Mayor Harvey Johnson that aimed to place a garden in every ward.”

Her experience on that early project blended with her growing interest in environmental and climate justice in Jackson, and set her on a now decades-long journey of community action. Much of her professional life has been spent in emergency management.

“I worked as a trainer for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and took part in FEMA courses. I also completed certifications at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland.”

The work took her across the South and beyond—responding to and training others for disasters in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and New Jersey.

“Having the opportunity to travel to a lot of places and spaces and then coming home gives you the opportunity to appreciate more where you are,” Tripp said. “I’ve always looked through a lens of possibility…and I just see nothing but potential and possibility in Jackson.”

There’s that brimming optimism. Tripp’s emergency management experience eventually expanded into volunteer community training. She partnered with the NAACP and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists through their CARAT team (Community Action and Response Against Toxins), teaching free CPR, AED and basic disaster preparedness classes to faith groups, labor organizations and everyday residents. This commitment to practical readiness is what introduced her to Jackson Association of Neighborhoods. She met board member Andy Frame through Revitalize Mississippi’s blight-removal work. The first abandoned house to be torn down was on Sears Street in Tripp’s own neighborhood. Frame, who rolled off the board in 2025, naturally introduced her to JAN and she was invited to join the board as Ward 3’s representative.

“The Jackson Association of Neighborhoods really brings it home as to why local matters,” Tripp said. “Knowing the people next door to you and being willing to work with them creates a different type of nucleus… You’re more likely to advocate, demand and stand up for the betterment of your city when you have that.”

Tripp speaks with clear-eyed optimism about Jackson’s parks, green spaces and history of stronger neighborhood standards. She points to places such as Grove Park and the more than 300-acre Buddy Butts Park as “nuclei of opportunity” for the communities around them.

“I know a lot of people will fall into a state of thinking that it’s the worst… but I’ve had the fortune of seeing the best and worst of so many places,” she said. “I see each thing… as being a nucleus of opportunity for the communities that surround them.”

Tripp harbors a deep appreciation for the invitation that brought her into JAN’s orbit, and looks forward to many years of working to make Ward 3 and the city of Jackson stronger and better. In her eyes, Jackson’s future is shining brighter than ever, and the sky is the limit.

Interested in strengthening your neighborhood? Join the Jackson Association of Neighborhoods and become part of a citywide network of residents, neighborhood associations, businesses and community partners working together to build stronger communities. JAN members receive access to leadership training, resources and toolkits, funding opportunities, networking, collaborative programs and other programs.