Magazine honors Stuff In The Bluff founder
Kim Jones Sneed, founder and publisher of Stuff in The Bluff, is featured in the February/March/April edition of URBANE Magazine.
Jones Sneed of Pine Bluff is featured as a member of Black media who successfully created and sustained a communications platform in Arkansas. She launched Stuff In The Bluff, an award-winning advertising, marketing and promotions business — which is anchored by its website www.stuffinthebluff.com — in April 2003.
Feb. 1 marked the fifth anniversary of the Little Rock-based URBANE Magazine. In a segment titled “Black Arkansas Media Worthy News,” Dianna D. Donahue-Holley, editor and publisher, honored the legacy of Black media outlets, platforms, and publications created and sustained in Arkansas, according to StuffinThe Bluff.com.
“Black media in Arkansas didn’t start with social feeds, podcasts, or glossy covers. It started with Black Arkansans deciding that our lives, our politics, our faith, our businesses, our tragedies, and our joy deserved to be documented by us, for us, in real time,” Donahue-Holley wrote. “As early as the Reconstruction era, Black Arkansans created their own newspapers and communication channels to document their lives, defend their rights, and speak truth in a state that often attempted to silence them. These early outlets were more than sources of information; they were instruments of survival, advocacy, and self definition. They recorded births and deaths, church news and political movements, business openings and injustices, ensuring that Black life in Arkansas was preserved in our own words and on our own terms.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Jones Sneed was honored to be spotlighted.
“It was a pleasant surprise to be included in this historical anniversary edition,” Jones Sneed said. “What an honor and a blessing it is to be recognized in this manner. I am so used to interviewing people so it’s always different when I am interviewed. Dianna asked me all kinds of really great questions and as I answered them, we made the pleasant discovery that our paths were very similar. In the end, I believe that we became iron sharpening iron while encouraging one another as Black women entrepreneurs in media.”
Jones Sneed also expressed her appreciation to Debrah Mitchell, executive editor of Arkansas Black Vitality, a statewide, Black-owned lifestyle magazine.
“Debrah told Dianna not to forget about including Stuff In The Bluff in her commemorative issue. Although Dianna was not previously familiar with me or my brand, she trusted Debrah’s suggestion, for which I am very grateful,” Jones Sneed said.
Donahue-Holley gave insight on the focus of her article.
“These stories explore not only impact but also process — what it takes to build, maintain, and protect Black media in Arkansas amid shifting economies, technologies, and cultural moments. Together, they serve as both tribute and record: proof that Black Arkansas has always had storytellers, and that our media has functioned as an infrastructure that preserves history, shapes culture, and ensures our stories are neither misrepresented nor forgotten,” Donahue-Holley wrote.
To learn more about URBANE Magazine, visit their website.
Christian alliance offers scholarship
The Unified Christian Alliance Inc. is accepting applications for the 2026 scholarships from area high school seniors who plan to attend the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Students who attend Pine Bluff High School, Watson Chapel High School and White Hall High School are urged to apply for the scholarships. Applications can be obtained from the school counselors, according to a news release.
Applications are due April 4 and guidelines must be met. For more information, contact Jennifer Lee, Unified Christian Alliance president, at jenniferlee1321@yahoo.com.
USDA offers Specialty Crop farm aid
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins recently announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is providing $1 billion in assistance for specialty crops and sugar, commodities not covered through the previously announced Farmer Bridge Assistance program.
These one-time bridge payments will help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, persistent inflation, and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices that impede exports. Specialty crop producers have until March 13 to report 2025 acres to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), according to a news release.
The assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program is authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and will be administered by FSA. ASCF payments are based on reported 2025 planted acres.
Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by 4 p.m. Central Time on March 13. Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by the end of March. Crop insurance linkage will not be required for the ASCF Program. However, USDA strongly urges producers to take advantage of the new One Big Beautiful Bill Act risk management tools to best protect against price risk and volatility in the future.
For details, visit here or contact the local FSA county office.