This Sunday, August 24 from 1 – 8 pm, Date My City will be hosting the “Date My City Lounge” at Big Love Fest. It’ll be a great place to hangout and connect! Stop by for a free massage, sweet tea, games for grown ups and balloon art for the kids. There will be tours to the YMI Cultural Center to see the “Cash Crop” exhibit leaving the Lounge 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm. Date My City is also hosting performers on the AshevilleFM stage. Most importantly, the Date My City Lounge will showcase minority entrepreneurs, activists, writers, and artists … Continue reading Date My City Lounge at Big Love Fest this Sunday

The Asheville Blade (ashevilleblade.com) is a new online media outlet, which has already covered crucial stories and added important perspectives to community conversations. With a slogan of “cutting to the point,” the Asheville Blade is a bold and necessary voice for our town. Two recent pieces of note are: Red Lines – an investigative journalism piece by Asheville Blade founder David Forbes “Racist government programs shaped Asheville’s ‘urban renewal,’ demolishing homes and pushing out thousands. The results still haunt the city today.” and ‘Diversity’ is the New Black – an opinion piece by Sheneika Smith “Asheville’s current approach to diversity … Continue reading The Asheville Blade is an Asset

The Public Housing Advocacy Coalition (PHAC) is a new Asheville group comprised of public housing residents, representatives from community organizations and concerned citizens (including me). One of the things that frustrates me about Asheville is the general lack of awareness about our public housing communities. I am hoping this group will be able to contribute to increased awareness and support.  Click here to follow PHAC on Facebook. The main focus of PHAC right now is getting the word out about the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville’s (HACA) plan to shift their funding to HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program … Continue reading Public Housing Awareness and Advocacy

This Saturday, June 21, from 8:00 am until 4:30 pm at the YMI Cultural Center, UNC Asheville students from the State of Black Asheville course will present their research on the status of Black Asheville in several public policy areas such as: education, health care, housing & economic development, criminal justice, and culture. The event is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided. If you have questions, email stateofblackasheville@gmail.com. Click here for the Facebook event page. Continue reading State of Black Asheville Presentation

  From the Women’s Wellbeing & Development Foundation: Hey everyone, the fourth annual Juneteenth celebration is taking place on Saturday June 14th from 11 am – 4 pm in the field at Hillcrest! Juneteenth is a celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S., and will be featuring free food, live entertainment, educational speakers, historical documents and artifacts, fun activities for children, raffle prizes, and more! This is a free public event and is very family friendly, so come on out and celebrate! We are looking for the following items to borrow: popup tents, folding tables and chairs, hoses, … Continue reading Juneteenth Celebration this Saturday!

This week I thought I’d share a few opportunities… Volunteer Opportunities The Mountain Xpress recently featured this great volunteer opportunity… “For the past three summers, Nicole Hinebaugh has led a group of children from Asheville’s public housing neighborhoods down the hiking trails of Western North Carolina. This year, she needs extra help from volunteers to keep the program — the Trailblazers Outdoor Adventure Club — going strong. Most of these children have never seen the luscious greenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and Hinebaugh cites this as one of the main reasons why local nonprofit Women’s Wellbeing and Development Foundation … Continue reading Opportunities

The Ujamaa Freedom Market will hold a kick-off party this Thursday, May 15 at 9 pm at The Millroom, 66 Asheland Ave. Admission is $10 at the door. Performers include DJ Anne-Marie on the 1’s & 2’s, Santos, Juan Holiday & Big Dave of Out the Gutta Ent. The event will help support the organization’s mission to “to promote social, economic, environmental, and food justice by serving as a model for self-sufficiency while inspiring healthy relationships with food in order to strengthen the quality of life, health and well being of the community.” Click here to read an article about … Continue reading Ujamaa Freedom Market Kick-Off This Thursday

The Minority Medical Mentoring Program HOPE Banquet will be held on Thursday, May 22 from 6 to 8 pm at Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), Blue Ridge Room, 121 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC. Tickets are $50 each and go to support the Minority Medical Mentoring Program. Click here to reserve your tickets. The Minority Medical Mentoring Program allows high school seniors to shadow medical providers as student interns. Why is this program so important? Here is some background information from the event invite: There are 974 physicians actively practicing medicine in Buncombe County; only two percent (2%) are underrepresented … Continue reading Minority Medical Mentoring Program

The cover story of this week’s Mountain Xpress, “Hidden in Plain View,” is about the WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition (WNC DEC), and the work they are undertaking to promote racial equity in Asheville. If you are interested, the article is well worth reading. The WNC DEC is comprised of representatives of six of the area’s anchor institutions: Buncombe County, Asheville City, Mission Hospital, UNC Asheville, AB Tech and MAHEC, in addition to other concerned community members. The purpose of the group is to address the economic disparities that exist between whites and people of color in our community. (The Xpress … Continue reading WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition

There are a few events coming up over the next week that I’d like to highlight: Thursday, April 24 at 6 pm – Hood Talk at the Burton St. Center Saturday, April 26 at 7 pm – Date My City Professional Mixer at Club Eleven Monday, April 28 – Stand Against Racism event at AB Tech, 8 am (see flyer below). You can find out more in this recent article in the Asheville Citizen-Times about the Stand. Continue reading Upcoming Equity-Related Events