Community offers love, hope, healing, inspiration, and purpose.

Transformational Community-led Initiatives

Below are transformational community-led initiatives, community media, and consultants, all of which I am or have been engaged with at some level. There are many other incredible local efforts worth supporting which are not listed here – this list is a starting place for discovering the power and potential that exists in WNC and the South. ~ Ami

Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust (ABCLT)
A community-led effort that was formed to address the injustices of urban renewal and the increasing cost of living in our area. I’m specifically involved in the Montford & Stumptown Fund of the ABCLT.

Center for Participatory Change (CPC)
Igniting Collective Power. Transforming Systems of Oppression. Healing in Community.

Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción (CIMA)
CIMA connects, strengthens and organizes communities to take action for immigrants’ rights in Western North Carolina.

CoThinkk
CoThinkk is a giving circle that invests its time, talent and treasure to accelerate positive changes in communities of color in Asheville and Western North Carolina. I am proud to be a founding member.

Hood Huggers International
The Art of Resilience: Rebuilding Affrilachia. Tours of historically African American neighborhoods (Hood Tours).

JMPRO TV
JMPRO TV produces live programs, reports, cultural notes, and interviews about issues such as racial equity, immigration, education, health, etc. Topics are reported by the people most impacted. The cover photo of this page – of one of CPC’s celebrations – is by JMPRO.

Raíces Emma – Erwin
Raíces Emma – Erwin (formerly Nuestro Centro) is a Latinx-led organization providing cultural programming for children and youth “to transform our reality empowering those directly affected by injustice by developing leadership, self advocacy, and action towards liberation.”

PODER Emma
PODER Emma Community Ownership is a neighborhood-based organization that fights displacement through community organizing and cooperative development.

Umoja Health, Wellness and Justice Collective
The Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective is a grassroots organization that was formed to address trauma, healing and resilience through creating a community of connections. We provide a range of programming including peer support for re-entry and recovery.

WNC Workers Center
WNC Workers’ Center builds power among workers of color through organizing, education, and direct action, from an intersectional standpoint, to promote worker justice.

Youth programs: Youth Transformed for Life (YTL), Delta House, My Sistah Taught Me That, My Daddy Taught Me That, Christine Avery Learning Center, and Word on the Street/La Voz de Los Jovenes. The Colorful Pages Coalition donates diverse books to classrooms.

Community Media

JMPRO TV
See above.

Slay the Mic
Slay the Mic’s mission is to celebrate culture, community, and creativity by amplifying voices from local artists, activists, and by providing new, old, underground, and mainstream Hip Hop and RnB music in the Asheville community.

The Urban News
Black-owned monthly newspaper.

WRES 100.7 FM
Black-run low-powered radio station.

Consultants 

Marisol Jiménez, Tepeyac Consulting
Tamiko Amborse-Murray, Ambrose Consulting
Desiree Adaway, Adaway Group
Libby Kyles, Changing LENS Consulting
Tracey Greene-Washington, Indigo Innovation Group
Marsha Davis, Davis Squared Consulting