Director of Organizational Grantmaking & Philanthropic Partnerships

Having spent much of her adult life in the South, Jennifer Langton was engaged early in efforts to leverage and expand funding for LGBTQ equality work in the region. Jennifer’s collaborative work includes Astraea’s LGBTQ Racial Justice Fund and Funders For LGBTQ Issues’ Out in the South Fund. She is a board member of community choir Womansong, and of the Movement Advancement Project. Jennifer applies principles of trust-based philanthropy to her management of grant processes, in her relationships with grantee partners and other funders, and in how she advocates for more transformational systems within philanthropy.

Executive Director/Director of Organizational Strategy & Practice

Libby Kyles is the former CEO of the YWCA of Asheville and the founder of Changing LENS Consulting, which focuses on racial and educational equity, and professional and personal coaching. Libby co-founded Youth Transformed for Life (YTL) in 2014 and served as the Executive Director until June 2019. Libby continues to work in the community as the Chair of the Board for Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust and Vice Chair of the Board for Asheville PEAK Academy Charter School. She is also the Chair of The Buncombe County Women’s Commission and contributes to local social justice movements aimed at the liberation of Black people.

Director of Communications

Michael Hoeben is a queer trans man, husband, father, and human rights advocate committed to community welfare optimization by shifting how we engage and interact with human beings on all sides of this shared experience. In 2020, Michael and his wife, Myela, launched OUTthINK Studio, a queer-centric digital arts studio, believing in the power of seeing and celebrating the “Other” as critical in breaking down the biases and barriers that continue to divide the human family. Michael’s passion is intersectional social justice work, knowing that a values-based lens is critical to correcting the systemic wrongs that continue to impede meaningful representation and inclusion for all people. 

Tera Coffey kickstarted her career as an organizer focused on creating impactful messaging and building strong community-driven outreach while leading Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign operations during the 2016 Presidential election in Florida and the 2020 election in Detroit. Her government experience includes legislative policy analysis and strategy, communication development, and constituent and organizational relationship building in Texas at both state and county levels.  As the founder of Tera Coffey Consulting, Tera offers strategic guidance in community engagement, communication, marketing, and fundraising for political and non-profit organizations. She brings her passion for racial equity and relationship cultivation to her philanthropic service, consulting with Western North Carolina-based funders as a facilitator and thought partner in building grant systems and accountability measures necessary to drive deep, systemic change.