Community Spotlight: Nayla McClure
Bridging policy and community through water justice
For Nayla McClure, the path to advocacy didn’t begin with a grand plan to change the world. It started with a willingness to listen, adapt, and act.
This Utica, MS native was recently recognized for her work on The People’s Water Project. This is an initiative designed to address water accessibility in Utica and neighboring communities while building a blueprint other towns can follow.
When McClure first joined the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Advocacy Institute, her project had nothing to do with water. “When I first started at the institute, I had a completely different project. I actually switched to this project probably like a week or two before we were supposed to present.”
The change came after reflecting on the dire needs of her community. Mississippi’s ongoing water crisis has made national headlines, but McClure realized she didn’t need to solve it on a massive scale to make a difference. “When I first initially thought about doing something dealing with the water issues, I thought large scale and I was like, I’m not going to be able to handle this,” she explained. “But then I started thinking about it from a micro level. What is the basic need that can be addressed in the now? And so that’s how I got to The People’s Water Project.”
The Water Project aims to provide immediate relief by ensuring residents have access to clean, safe water. But McClure is also thinking long term. She is developing an impact report and a Water Justice Toolkit, designed to bridge the gap between policy and community. “I hope that by doing those two things, it’ll be a way for policy to bridge with community. So that other communities facing these issues can have some guidance into how to address it, as well as to hopefully raise awareness,” she said.
Rural challenges, urgent needs
For McClure, the work is personal. Communities like Utica often lack the funding and infrastructure needed to sustain basic services. “In small rural communities, sometimes the funding isn’t always there to support infrastructure needs,” she stated. “Updating it can be a really expensive project to take on. That’s where you see communities that sometimes don’t have broadband, don’t have proper water or even face issues with water safety.”
These inequities, she added, highlight the need for equitable resource allocation. “Even though they’re not large urban areas, rural communities still need the same support to deal with these issues.”
From intern to national policy analyst
McClure’s journey has been shaped by both academic learning and hands-on experience. She began as an intern with the Mississippi Public Service Commission and now serves as a full time policy analyst with national reach. This shift in perspective has been eye opening, McClure added.
“It’s different when you’re living in a community dealing with those issues. You think change should happen immediately. But when you’re working in a policy space, you see the background work of laying the foundation for change. That’s given me a different perspective and helped me bridge the gap between what I am learning in school and putting it into action.”
Inspiring the next generation
McClure hopes her story resonates with other young leaders. “I hope they get to see it as a way to know you don’t have to be a certain age or have a certain title to get up and do something,” she said. “To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to win the grant. I thought I was too young and not experienced enough, but this was the reminder I needed that everything I need is truly within. Everything I have learned and experienced was part of the plan, for me to get these funds to help my community.”
As Mississippi continues to grapple with aging infrastructure and ongoing water challenges, leaders like McClure remind us that solutions don’t always come from the top down. Sometimes they start with listening, adapting, and acting. One community at a time.
