Page 12 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 1 - Winter 2023

Through
THE DIRT
Reimagining the Legacy of Black Landownership in Georgia
By Martel Sharpe
“Plant seeds that will grow
trees whose shade you may
never sit under,”
is the personal motto of Jay Bailey, 46, the president and CEO of the H.J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) in Atlanta,
GA, and a member of the Georgia Forestry Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Bailey, who leads an organization named after the founder of the largest minority- owned real estate and construction business in the United States, applies this motto
to his platform that he uses to promote entrepreneurship, financial literacy and wealth building to the Black community.
Ironically, when this city boy with country roots began using the phrase, he didn’t know that he would literally be planting
and harvesting trees.
10 | GEORGIA FORESTRY