Built Different: What Community Made Possible

What happens when community leads—and resources follow? 

In this episode, we spotlight what became possible through Tzedek’s 2025 Community-Led Grantmaking process, where five local community members helped move $500,000 into Western North Carolina through a strategic funding partnership with Dogwood Health Trust, which matched that investment dollar for dollar.

The priorities were clear: People are craving connection, support, and spaces that help move beyond survival mode.

The response? Community built the answer. What emerged were solutions and visions already alive in the region, now resourced to grow:

• The People’s Place AVL is building civic fabric across lines of difference through relational dinners that spark reflection, collaboration, and action.
• LoveJoyLiberation Community Relations Firm is leveraging youth-led, intergenerational play as a tool for joy, healing, and belonging.
• Aflorar Herb Collective Climate Resilience Hub brings together climate resilience, herbal care, and rest through a grassroots model rooted in sustainability and collective healing.
• YWCA of Asheville is advancing inclusive infrastructure, digital access, and expanded safety while reimagining community care.

The result? Real connection. Real care. Real momentum.

This episode is a reminder that the people closest to the challenges are often closest to the solutions. When communities are trusted with resources, they don’t just imagine better futures; they build them.

🎧 Press play to hear what community made possible.

MEET THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS

David Greenson is a longtime grassroots organizer, bridge-builder, and co-founder of The People’s Place AVL. With roots in Oakland, New York City, and now Asheville, his decades of movement work center racial justice, accountability, and helping people connect across lines of difference to build shared power.

alexandria monque ravenel is a creative, spiritualist, and independent educator whose work centers empowerment, culture, and community connection. A native New Yorker now rooted in Western North Carolina, she co-founded The People’s Place AVL and Noir Collective AVL, a Black-owned boutique, art gallery, and bookstore featuring Black entrepreneurs, located on “The Block” within the retail spaces of YMI Cultural Center, one of the oldest operating African American cultural centers in the United States.

Dr. Amieris Lavender (“Dr. L”) is a visionary strategist and founder of LoveJoyLiberation Community Relations Firm. A storyteller, creative, gardener, and community builder, she specializes in turning bold ideas into people-centered systems and joyful public experiences.

Sarah Nuñez, PhD, is a cultural worker, educator, and community organizer based in Asheville. She is a co-founder of Aflorar Herb Collective and is leading the development of its Climate Resilience Hub, in collaboration with Sarita's Healing Hub. Her work weaves herbalism, healing justice, art, and movement-building to strengthen community care networks.

Diana Sierra is the CEO of YWCA of Asheville and its first Latina and openly gay leader. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she brings experience across direct service, county government, and nonprofit l

We'll see you same time, same place next month. Until then, peace.

Transcript

Welcome & Intro

Intro 0:04

We're profoundly, profoundly interconnected. We don't always live that way, we don't always acknowledge it, but if we're going to feel, we have to live it, experience it, and create institutions that celebrate. And we create a week when no one's on the outside of it. Welcome to The UPlift with Tzedek, Real Talk for Real Change. Before we jump in, a quick reminder of why we're here and what we hope to achieve. We're here to build authentic community relationships and help fuel social transformation in Asheville, North Carolina. We believe collective liberation is not only possible but probable as we share, listen, and learn together. We're here for the process. However, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.

Community-Led Grantmaking Puts Money To Work

Community Events

Michael 0:49

Thanks for tuning in. Today's episode is all about what happens when community leads and resources follow. In 2025, Tzedek's Community-led Grantmaking Committee moved $500,000 into Western North Carolina thanks to a powerful partnership with Dogwood Health Trust, which matched our investment dollar for dollar. But this wasn't your typical grantmaking process. Guided by Tera Coffey, our Director of Community-Led Grantmaking, a committee of five local impacted community members went straight to the people, conducting research to understand what's really needed right now. And what came back was clear: Folks are craving connection, support, and spaces that help move beyond survival mode. From that, two priorities emerged community events and community resource hubs. And today we're highlighting the four initiatives bringing that vision to life. Listen in as our executive director, Libby Kyles, sits down with each of these awardees to talk about what community made possible and what's next. All right, let's get into it. First up, we'll hear from the People's Place AVL and Love Joy Liberation Community Relations Firm sharing their visions for community events centered on joy, connection, and belonging.

Libby 2:04

We are here at Noir Collective talking to David and Alexandria of People's Place. Can you guys tell us a little bit about People's Place? What is that exactly?

Alexandria 2:13

People's Place is a people-powered movement organization. We believe that we can make change in the places where we live just by gathering people together, learning about our similarities, our differences, and working together to make change in the change here in Asheville.

Libby 2:31

Awesome. And how long have you all been in existence?

David 2:35

We have been around for a couple of years, starting in early 2024, I guess was the when we launched, had our first big event, had our big public launch. Is that right? Or is it 2023?

Alexandria 2:51

Um no, I think it was 2024. It's just that I that's not where I would have begun the story. Because I think we've had a couple of iterations where we got to that launch as people's place. We started off as as a dinner series where we invited activists to come in for rejuvenation and to kind of, you know, make sure that we stay in the work by staying connected to each other.

David 3:16

True, true.

Alexandria 3:17

And I would say that that was the start and that would have been,

David 3:19

That's going back to 2018. Yeah, so we've been doing this kind of work for a long time because we've long believed that the way to change our our world in our region is together across lines of difference, respecting those differences, but not letting that stop us from determining together how we can make a change. And and it's hard work, and so people need the respite of coming together and and connecting with other people who also have that passion. So that's what our events have always been about. So going back to before we even had this name, we were still doing this work. But we had this vision that going back a few years that that we really there should be a place in Asheville that is dedicated to this work. And we are still looking for that permanent place. But meanwhile, we make the people's place wherever we happen to be. So we do events to bring people together in a variety of venues. And we had one uh in the first quarter that was uh our first iteration of uh the work that Tzedek granted to us.

Libby 4:23

So I'm gonna back up a little bit so we can talk about that part. In November of 2025, you all were granted through Tzedek's community-led grant making. Can you tell us what you were granted for and then go into that first event?

David 4:36

Totally. So the the project that we pitched, that we were very excited that uh the Zeddick Community Grant-led process uh uh granted to us was to do regular quarterly dinners where we brought people together across different lines of difference to have these conversations over a meal about how we continue to transform our region in the direction of more inclusivity and justice. We we wanted to be able to expand those. We wanted to add a youth component, and and so we were excited. We asked for the funding to be able to do them quarterly uh for the next few years, and we're excited to get the approval of the of the deciders on that.

Alexandria 5:19

Mm-hmm. And so we had our first one a couple of months ago um at Grace Covenant Church, and we had about 50, maybe 60 participants who showed up, and we did a relational kind of dinner. So there was a conversation David led with four different nonprofits in the area, and they talked about how they got into the work that they are in. And this focus was about housing and what's happening in housing in Asheville. And the others got to participate by answering questions and doing a quiz. But we had a meal together and we're able to get into conversations. And the point was not just talk about housing, but to give the people in the audience an opportunity to know who's doing the work and to learn how they could be involved.

David 6:04

And I think also our dinners are we always want to lift up important work that's happening. We want to give people action steps, but we also want to make it an opportunity for reflection and dialogue. And so the theme was the the value of home, the importance of having a home. And so it was a way for everyone to reflect on what does home mean to you? Where in your lifetime have you felt at home? What do you imagine needs to be there for you to feel that you're at home somewhere? That was the conversations we wanted to generate. And then we wanted to tie that to the issue of housing and access to housing and you know, lifting up the important work people do to give access to more housing to people. And we had uh guests from Grace Covenant, we had uh Marcia Mount Shoop speaking on behalf of Grace Covenant, which is doing a lot of important work around rental assistance to keep people housed, and also has an amazing vision for how to build affordable housing on their uh on their campus. Um, and we also had uh Christian from Safe Shelter, they're also a great organization providing temporary housing that also aspires to do some long-term uh affordable housing. We had the Center for Participatory Change, Tiffany DeBollett talking about the work they're doing in collaboration with other organizations around mapping the housing situation. And then we had uh uh Vicky Meath from Just Economics, uh, which has a long history advocating around housing issues. So those were our four key panelists, and we tried to just have a conversation ourselves about sort of why we keep doing this, why we believe it's possible to make change, because uh it can get discouraging, and a lot of people um don't don't know that there's a way that things can be better.

Alexandria 7:46

You use the word panelists, and and I think it's a fine word, but I don't think it accurately describes what happened that evening, right? So there's a relational piece that you've introduced to our community where we are truly in conversation with one another. And what happened during that dinner was that it was more like a fishbowl. So those folks were in conversation with each other, sharing their own stories about the their value of home and what that looks like. And we all on the outside got to witness that. And it really stirred up something, I think, deeper than watching, you know, this back and forth QA kind of thing that we normally see with panels. And what I heard from people in the audience, especially as they were talking to their neighbors, it allowed them to go deeper too and to share things they didn't know that they had inside of them. And and these collaborations started happening within that dinner within the audience. And I think it was really brilliant.

Libby 8:45

So what's next?

David 8:46

Yeah. We're we're planning one uh most likely April or May. We haven't yet zeroed in on a date or a location yet. Do you want to say more about it?

Alexandria 8:54

No, actually, I was thinking about uh Michael Hayes and UMOJA as a youth component. I think that's the piece I'm looking most forward to.

David 9:02

Yes.

Alexandria 9:02

We said it's something we wanted to do, and what does it look like to have youth involved in this process of visioning a future, but also understanding what are the issues that they're gonna be facing in just a few years? And for some of them, what are the issues that they're facing right now? So um the youth component will allow the youth to interview some of the adults so they're not on on the spot, they're actually carrying carrying that information and then figuring out a creative way then to share it back with the audience. So that that's a part I'm looking forward to.

Libby 9:33

Awesome. Why are these conversations important?

Alexandria 9:37

I think I think people are having these conversations anyway. They're having them in pockets, right? And in silos, as Dwayne would say. And I think what's important about these conversations is that we're bringing all of those, those micro conversations together in one place so we can actually activate change. And that to me is the most important thing. Like we can complain all day long. I know I spent some time doing that myself. But what happens when I meet someone who actually cares about what I'm caring about and I learn about them and what they care about, and how do we see how we can affect together? So I think that I think it's important that we do it this way. It's it's everyday conversations that people are already having. We're just bringing it together under one roof.

David 10:22

Yeah, I think we we see ourselves as trying to rebuild the civic fabric, if you will. Uh, we really want to create space for coming together to talk about and to care about what we share in common, um, including this place that we all live, and how do we make it a place that works for everybody? That's that's really our our larger mission.

Libby 10:42

Last question. Where can people stay abreast of these events and get more information?

Alexandria 10:47

Mostly on the website. So peoplesplaceavl.com.

Libby 10:52

Peoplesplaceavl.com.

Alexandria 10:54

Yes.

LoveJoyLiberation's Play For The City

David 10:55

Yep. There's a place there where you can subscribe as well as information about upcoming events. Uh, but it you can just go right to the I think stay engaged tab and sign up, and then you'll get our newsletters and different information that's coming out. You can also follow us on social media if you search for People's Place AVL, you'll find us on Instagram and Facebook too.

Libby 11:16

Dr. Lavender, thank you so much for being here with us today. How are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. All right. Well, we're going to talk a little bit about a granting process, our community and grant making, and you and your firm are recent recipients, Love Joy Liberation Community Relations Firm. Yes. Can you share with us what were you granted to do?

Dr. L 11:35

Yes, um, Love Joy Liberation Community Relations Firm was generously awarded a fund for Play for the City. Play for the City is six community events, each with their own theme focused on intergenerational multicultural play.

Libby 11:50

And you've had one event already. Can you tell us about that event?

Dr. L 11:52

Oh my God, we had so much fun. It was recessed. We were at Montfort Park, and we just took over the entire park. It was so wonderful to see people playing, standing at the top of the hill there. We had arts and crafts and mural making, basketball and picket pickleball. The playground was full of kids, jump rope and double dudge, as well as kickball, youth and adult yoga, and kites.

Libby 12:17

Oh my goodness, why are these types of events important?

Dr. L 12:20

Oh, I mean, there's so many reasons why play itself is important. It inspires joy and creativity. You know, being with community is so powerful. But as I've been planning and talking to folks, something that's just become so clear to me when I tell young folks about the project, like elementary school kids, they go, adults don't play. And it has crystallized something in me that it isn't just about uh young folks coming to play or multicultural communities coming together. We need to be in a community where folks know that joy doesn't stop when you get older and that young folks need to see adults playing. And more importantly, there are um games that we are at risk of losing by adults not playing. Like I was so surprised to see that some uh elementary age kids here had never played kickball. And there were, and I was out there trying to teach double dutch. Meanwhile, I'm a rope turner. I don't know how to double dutch. And folks hadn't jump roped. And these are large group games that if we, you know, you need a lot of people to play kickball. So if you don't have this big community, maybe you've never played outside of the schoolyard. And if you don't have the two double dutch ropes and no one's ever taught you, like we're literally losing games. And so I think it's important for us to see our place in community as a part of play and not just like social justice or protesting, but play as a human right and play as something that connects all living beings on this planet.

Libby 13:45

Like rest is resistant, so is play.

Dr. L 13:48

Absolutely. And I would say, especially in this moment where folks are teetering on the edge of despair, it is very important to resist that in community by having fun with your neighbor, by having fun with people that you might not know and be connected to and creating that with each other. This is actually the beloved community.

Libby 14:07

One more thing. So the thing that was really interesting to me about what you're doing is it's youth-led. Yes. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dr. L 14:14

Young people are righteous, man, and they totally get it. And so the young folks are that are a part of the project are helping facilitate the games or leading the game. So if you come to a Play for the City and we do hope to see you there, there will be teenagers teaching you how to play or supporting the play in the games. And they're also a part of the outreach. And something that's unique about this project is that we're really relying on canvassing and flyering techniques, good old word-of-mouth advertising so that, you know, the young folks that are part of the project can, you know, hear about other ways that you connect in your community. I can also say that when I go out and I'm flyering, I feel more rooted in community. I've discovered restaurants that I didn't know. I've met people I would have not met before. I think exposing youth to other ways of connecting with community helps bolster and build their toolbox so that they can lead the next generation of movement building wherever they go.

Libby 15:08

So, how do we stay abreast of what's happening with these events?

Dr. L 15:11

Yes, you can always uh learn more about our work and this project at lovejoyliberation.com. Our last event this season will be on May 31st at Walton Park, and that's play in the dirt. So we'll be focusing on getting our hands in some soil, planting seeds, and just connecting to Earth.

Libby 15:30

I'll be playing in the dirt with you. I'm so excited. Thank you again for joining us.

Dr. L 15:34

We are so excited to support your work. Thank you. Thank you for the community-led grant making process that made this possible and for all the community members that will come take part in it.

Michael 15:45

Next up, Aflorar Herb Collective Climate Resilience Hub and the YWCA of Asheville are on the mic, detailing plans for community resource hubs rooted in access, care, and sustainability.

Libby 15:58

Sarah, just wanted to take a moment. You were granted through our community at Grant Making. Can you tell us about your project?

Sarah 16:03

So we're uh Aflorar Herb Collective Climate Resilience Hub, a residential hub in West Asheville on a half acre of land uh in a beautiful place. Um it's springtime, and so the trees are just about sub bud. And uh we're surrounded by a whole lot of birds, if you can hear them, a lot of herbs here in the garden. And so, Aflorar Herb Collective um distributes grows and distributes herbs on the front lines of political threats and climate catastrophes across the area and um Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Libby 16:38

Okay. And the project that you were granted for, what what can you tell us a little bit about what's gonna happen on this land?

Sarah 16:45

Yeah, so if you can see over here through this window, uh to the right of the porta john, and in between the space, that'll be a downstairs um basement, which will be a two-bedroom, one and a half bath space that we'll have to be able to host uh community events, have community come through uh to uh work, play, gather, uh come and rest and relax. And so we'll have a practitioner's room uh so we can have like massage therapists or um any kind of practitioner or social workers post up and be able to provide one-on-one support in a private setting. And then we'll have an overnight stay for social justice warriors, folks who are coming through town who want to be in a place that's um in the city on the bus line, right? Like right here in community in the city of Asheville, where what what do we see, right? Like tourism and gentrification, a lot of it, and a whole lot of people making a whole lot of money. Uh-huh. And this is this is not about that, right? This is more about being able to provide a place for rest and relaxation and healing for communities of color, our trans and gay and LGBTQ community, yeah, as well as our spiritual or interfaith communities, you know, a place for people to come that's, you know, not I mean, it's a huge gap. Like you don't have really anything like this. There's places you can go and spend $150 an hour.

Libby 18:02

Or more.

Sarah 18:03

Or more. A lot more than that, you know. And so the this phase one of this project is gonna help us have um both education space, start um figuring out how we're gonna dance the water around the land. Because unfortunately, what we're see is still Hurricane Helene and the the the impacts of that are still here, and yeah, we want to be sure that our land is secure for the next hurricane. And so we'll start uh excavating and continuing to sort of build out what the land will look like down here, but then we'll a hundred percent finish that that downstairs basement.

Libby 18:34

Why is this important?

Sarah 18:36

Yeah, well, I'm tired. Are you tired? I am tired, yeah.

Libby 18:40

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah 18:42

So we need a place to grow, we need a place to learn, to flourish, to love, to be together. Place that like uh like what we call the third spaces or as Grace Lee Boggs called them, liberation zone. But we need places like this to gather, to be able to just take off our, you know, shed our skin a little. Yes, yeah, and not have to worry about, you know, like who's gonna show up in that space and whether they're gonna be, you know, safe for us. Right. And it would be really great for people to feel inspired and to see, like, oh, I could do a project like this, or I could support in this way, or I can grow these plants too. Yes. You can do this. Anyone could do this from right in their back porch. We wanna be able to provide people the tools to be able to do that from their home. So we do plant free plant giveaways every uh spring to inspire folks to uh, and Gaia Herb supports us with that to uh get folks uh the herbs in their hands to be able to grow at home too.

Libby 19:34

Beautiful. How can people support? Where where do we go to get more information and to support?

Sarah 19:40

Yeah, so we're working on our website. We're in growth stages as an organization. We've been around for six years, okay, but we spent a lot of time just doing the work and being scrappy and not necessarily like building infrastructure. Right. But the hurricane told us the infrastructure is actually really important to have. So we're working on getting some of those things built up through our fiscal sponsor, which is Southern Vision Alliance. And so uh we'll the website will be coming soon, but for now we have our Instagram that has a link tree on it. There you can sign up to volunteer. You can read our newsletters, you can donate. If folks have dried herbs they want to donate, we can take those donations. Um, if people have supplies like Epsom salts or beeswax or high-proof alcohol or glycerin, we can use those to make herbal goodies. What we do is we distribute those herbal goodies to 10 spots across the community every single month. So wow. Like your office has some teas, but so does like transmission has some herbs and youth outright has some stuff, and we go and we pop up at Campaign for Southern Equality and PODER Emma and La Milpa and Swan nanoa Communities Together. Yeah. Uh we do some pop-ups with Tierra Fertil. So there's all these groups get these herbs every single month. So we need to constantly have supplies donated so that we can continuously serve folks because we're still in recovery. Are you over the hurricane?

Libby 20:57

No.

Sarah 20:57

I ain't either.

Libby 20:58

It gonna be a minute.

Sarah 20:59

I haven't I can't even walk the river yet.

Libby 21:01

You know.

Sarah 21:01

Right? Yeah, we haven't walked the river. Yeah. So it's, I mean, we have so much recovery to do.

Libby 21:07

Yeah, it's a long, it's a long haul.

Sarah 21:09

It is. And I don't know, I'm not sure we all know how to do that. And so this might just be one you know, little nugget or gemstone to give to this larger need that we have as a community as a whole, right? So it's Aflorar Herb Collective, is our Instagram.

Libby 21:27

Awesome! You have any event coming up, anything like that?

Sarah 21:31

The spring, yeah, we're doing, May, uh, we're giving our free plants away.

Libby 21:35

And that's a good way for people to come and meet you all and learn a little bit more.

Sarah 21:39

That's right, May 16th.

Speaker 4 21:40

So folks can join us on May 16th at Southside Community Garden for our herb uh giveaway, plant giveaway. Come pick up free herbs. We'll have about probably 15 to 20 different herbs folks can get from yarrow to chamomile, Tulsi, parsley. Pick up for free at Southside, May 16th, 10 to 4.

Libby 21:58

This is beautiful.

The YWCA of Asheville

Sarah 22:00

Thank you so much. It's so much labor, but it's such a I have so much fun doing it.

Libby 22:05

Diana, thank you so much for being here today. We're so excited to have this conversation. Can you tell us who you are and what organization you're with? Absolutely.

Diana 22:14

Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here. My name's Diana Sierra. My pronouns are she her eye. I'm humbled to serve as a CEO at the YWCA of Asheville, which is located on South French Broad.

Libby 22:25

Well, you all just received the grant from Tzedek through our community-led grant making. Can you tell us a little bit about the project for which you were awarded?

Diana 22:33

Absolutely. We're so thrilled to receive the support that we're getting from Tzedek, specifically from the community grant-led making process. Our grant is unique in that it's it's actually supports a couple of different projects. The biggest uh item it supports is an all-gender locker room, which is a part of our pool renovation. This project will be really kind of the first of its kind in our community, in that it'll be an all-gender locker room space with six individual pods centered around a locker space and changing area. It'll be a space where anyone can go and access, but it'll be particularly a special way for us to live into our values with gender inclusivity and creating spaces for trans and non-binary folks to work out and feel secure in doing so. The other part of the grant is leaning more into being a community hub. So we're rolling out a computer lab and our women's empowerment space, allowing for digital access and resources on site for folks to access the internet and seek out job opportunities and access educational programming through our computer lab. And we're also going to be doing a variety of community events that really center BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities.

Libby 23:48

Thank you so much. I'm so glad to hear all that because one of the questions I wanted to ask, the YWCA is a community hub. So why are these changes that you're making important to support that effort of being a community hub?

Diana 24:00

The reason why these endeavors are so important is the last kind of part of the funding also includes us increasing our security at our front desk and throughout our campus. We're in a time where our mission is under attack. Our mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. And there are folks that are in our community that are not about that. And so creating spaces that are affirming, that are welcoming, that allow for all community members to be seen, to feel secure as they're working out or accessing child care or seeking other economic advancement opportunities that we offer is important. So creating safe, physically safe spaces, spaces that are prepared for in the event that if law enforcement or ICE or any other entities might come to our building that we're prepared for that, that we have protocols and processes that allow them to then kind of know that they can have fun and they can lean into building relationships and connections and joy and seeking a space where they can, you know, pursue their own thriving. That's why it's so important.

Libby 25:06

That just made my heart a smile. Thank you so much for that. Can you share where you all are in terms of your renovations and what's your timeline for when you think all the pieces will be flowing together?

Diana 25:17

Absolutely. So all of the funded scope of the project for our security improvements have already been completed. We've added updated uh panic buttons at the front desk. We've treated all of our front windows with shatterproof film so no one can just go up and shatter it and break in. And we've added um fob doors to our child care wings so not just anyone can walk into those wings. They need to have the proper badge access in order to access their children in that space. The other part of the project is uh related to our pool renovation. So we are on track to start demolition this summer. This has been two and a half years in the making. We have to raise three and a half million dollars for this project. It's a comprehensive project with the pool and the all gender locker room, but we are on track to have the pool reopen by first quarter of 2027. We are really excited about the all-gender locker room space because that's gonna be the one locker room space that you can actually access from the pool deck. And the pool renovation will allow for better ADA compliance, better sustainability. So improving our solar use and reducing our utility costs. And we're actually gonna be adding additional pool deck space so we can have dry, what they call dry land classes uh before kids get into the into the actual water and a spectator area with bleachers because we're gonna be rolling out a swim team, a pretty non-competitive entry-level swim team for fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders so that when they go on to high school, they're ready to compete and pursue their swimming.

Libby 26:57

That is so awesome. I'm so excited about all those things. What do we need to go? What do we need to do to stay on top of the progress and what's happening with YWCA? And if people just want to get more information or donate.

Diana 27:08

Absolutely. Thank you so much for asking that. There's a couple different ways folks can stay connected. They can go to our website where we have an updated blog on our progress for the pool and all gender locker room renovation. We have real-time photos, we do monthly updates. We also have some really beautiful archive information about the rich history of our pool. We were the first pool to integrate in all of Asheville. So this pool, especially being a deep water pool, has a lot of history that's especially important for our BIPOC community here. In addition, folks can join us for an empower hour. We offer a free walking tour of our building where we share impact stories. We serve a healthy lunch that's made from our very own nutrition team. That's every Tuesday at 12. And you can also sign up on our website. You can pop, you can pop in. You can stop by. We offer free drop-in tours if you're interested in a gym membership or just want to learn more about our programming. So there's lots of different ways folks can tap in and support and donate.

Libby 28:07

Thank you so much. Diana, what other resources are available at the YWCA?

Diana 28:11

We got a lot going on in our in our building. We're probably most well known for our health and wellness programming. So we have a gym, pool, and group fitness offerings, sliding scales. We want to be accessible for anyone who wants to work out with us. We also have free community classes. So anyone in the community, even if they're not a member, can come work out with us. We offer about six or seven of those classes every week. And then we're also probably best known for our early learning program. We have about 100 children in our program right now. That's a full-time five-star licensed child care program. But I do want to highlight some other uh resources that I think are really important for our community. So we offer one of the only programs of its kind, which is called Empowerment Childcare. It offers up to 12 hours of free childcare for families who are getting on their feet, trying to seek employment, maybe seeking outpatient services or fleeing domestic violence, just anything that would warrant needing a safe and nurturing environment to bring your child while you try to advance yourself as a family. We also have a robust uh women's empowerment department. We have a getting ahead program, which offers financial literacy for low-income women and offers a year and a half of case management and support. We have Mother Love, which offers support and resources in case management for pregnant and parenting teens and young adults. We also have Lightopath, which is our newest program. That's a program that offers yoga and mindful movement for folks that are incarcerated. So we're in the women's correctional facility here in Buncombe County, and we're in the Buncombe County Jail. And folks can volunteer with that program if you are a yoga instructor or can teach other group fitness classes. And lastly, we have our racial justice programming. We offer every month we offer free racial justice workshops to our community. You can also sign up for that online. Thank you so much.

Libby 29:57

It sounds like a lot of amazing work is happening at the YWCA, and we are happy to be a part of it.