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of the end of slavery in the U.S., and will be featuring free food, live entertainment, educational speakers, historical documents and artifacts, fun activities for children, raffle prizes, and more!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

Tim Wise is speaking at UNC Asheville next Wednesday, April 16 at 6:30 pm in the Humanities Lecture Hall as part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism. Wise is a nationally recognized antiracist writer and educator who articulates issues of white privilege in very powerful ways. I highly recommend this event – it will be an uncomfortable but important talk. Continue reading Tim Wise at UNCA April 16

I received this announcement from InterActivism (photo from Spirit House): Hood Talk is a series of cultural organizing events rooted in addressing the issues and concerns communities of color face in Asheville.  All events are FREE with childcare provided. Join us is growing this movement and helping people help themselves and affirm their voices. Upcoming events at the Burton Street Community Center, 134 Burton St.: “The House I Live In” film showing Discussion on the War on Drugs and the Prison Industrial Complex Friday, March 14th 5-7:30PM Spirit House (from Durham) Workshop Training and cultural organizing for communities on police violence and … Continue reading Important Conversations at the Burton Street Community Center