Opportunities to act, support, attend, and learn:

Divest from Police/Invest in Community

From the Racial Justice Coalition: “In early June, Asheville’s Black community came together to develop Black Asheville Demands, the first of which was to divest from the police by at least 50%, and invest that money into the Black community. City officials at the time insisted that they needed time to develop a new budget. They promised to engage the community in a transparent process. They promised that big structural changes to the Asheville Police Department were coming.

Now, almost two months later, City Manager Debra Campbell and many members of City Council have not offered a clear response to the divest/invest demand. Are they prepared to commit to divesting at least 50% from the police department in order to invest more deeply in the Black community? We’re joining with our friends at BeLoved Asheville to ask city officials to take a clear stand. Will you join us in reaching out to City Council and the City Manager? Click here for instructions on contacting city officials.

Another key ingredient for meaningful change in our city is transparency. So far, no detailed draft budget has been released, so the community has had no opportunity to weigh in on how the city is planning to spend our money. Once again, we are proud to stand with BeLoved and ask: Where is the detailed budget we were promised?

As City Council prepares to meet on Tuesday, July 28th, we need to demand that they commit to a fully transparent budget that divests from the police and invests in the community. Click here for instructions on reaching out to city officials.“

AVL (nonstop) Renaissance

Starting this Thursday, July 30 at 6 pm and running until Saturday, August 1 at noon: “AVL (nonstop) Renaissance: A virtual block party put together by members from the Black AVL Demands (BAD) collective and sponsored by YTL. This three day event is centered around the financial impact families have faced because of Covid-19. Thanks for joining us here at our official Facebook event page…where we will dance, sing, and vibe to performances brought to us by local artists. In the meantime continue to invite people to the page and head over to and drop some love offerings to those families. And no you don’t have to be Asheville based to join this virtual block party come one — come all! Community care is an active form of resistance and a necessary part of the movement for liberation! Let’s show up and show out! Asé”

Umoja Health, Wellness and Justice Collective Official Opening

From Umoja Director Michael Hayes, “Saturday is Umoja Health, Wellness and Justice Collective’s official grand opening. Food, vendors, dancing, and an opportunity to meet our amazing staff and board members. We will also discuss our services as well as our partners. We look forward to seeing you there and please share with your network. Creating Community through Connection and Culture. Yes…we are adhering to all social distancing guidelines.” Saturday, August 1, 4-9 pm, 441 N. Louisiana Ave., Suites E, J, K

Noir Collective Asheville

“In partnership with the YMI Cultural Center, Noir Collective emphasizes economic and community growth and development, enrichment of youth experiences, and bringing our community Black businesses back to South Market Street and the surrounding areas.” Located at 39 S. Market Street, Suite C, they will be be holding a pop-up shop on August 8, with a grand opening scheduled for August 17.

Spiral of Transformative Change: A Liberatory Approach to Racial Equity Webinar Series

“Tepeyac Consulting and Ambrose Consulting are excited to announce the launch of our foundational racial equity workshop as an open registration webinar series. During this time of uprising and momentum, there has been an incredible surge of interest in understanding structural racism and racial equity strategies. While this is undoubtedly an exciting opportunity to reach more people and organizations across the country, it is also calling on those of us in the field to be intentional and strategic in how we move our work forward in ways that advance the cause of liberation. The Spiral of Transformative Change: A Liberatory Approach to Racial Equity, a three-part racial equity webinar series is one of our responses to this call.

For the last several years, our firms have worked in partnership to build a racial equity framework and toolkit that reflects the culmination of our experiences working within foundations, organizations and institutions; our personal histories organizing within frontline communities; and our lived experiences. Through this webinar series, you will gain a foundational understanding of structural racism and racial equity work; apply a trauma and equity lens to group dynamics and accountability practices; and continue finding meaningful steps you can take on the spiral path of transformative change. We are clear that none of us are going to ‘workshop our way out of structural racism’ but we firmly believe shared frameworks and language are a foundation upon which individuals and organizations can begin building their strategies and actions. It is one step of many we must all commit to undertaking in our collective work to dismantle structures of racism and oppression in our lifetimes.”

 The series begins on August 20. Register at spiraloftransformativechange.com

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