TOWARDS
A NEW PHILANTHROPY:
Threading the genius of
BLACK-LED CHANGE
TOWARDS
A NEW PHILANTHROPY:
Threading the genius of
BLACK-LED CHANGE
Principles of Engagement
To honor one another, the spaces we will visit, and the spirit of Black-led change, we ask each participant to adopt the following principles of engagement.
We respect and honor each site. While this may be our first time visiting, we intend to return with our community, friends, and family to continue supporting Black-led change.
We acknowledge we have a full itinerary today. We will work together and help one another during our journey including helping our neighbor getting on and off the bus to keep the schedule moving forward and looking out for one another as we make each transition.
We will take care of ourselves during the journey physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This may include sitting if needed, taking deep breaths, and asking for help.
We understand some parts of our journey such as the weather and road conditions are out of our control, we will adapt as needed ensuring safety above all.
While our schedules may be full, we will do our best to be fully present during the journey.
Additional information
If a participant needs to use the restroom, please take the opportunity at the beginning of our visits at HEAL Mpls or Black Garnet Books. Please do not wait until the visit is over as this will hold up the schedule, go as soon as we enter the space.
We won’t have time for you to make purchases at our sites, we ask you to plan on returning and making a purchase in the future.
Phone/photos/and videos are permitted!
If an unexpected circumstance arises on the journey , please let Lulete know and we will do our best to help accommodate.
First Stop,
Honoring
George Floyd Square
We begin our day by visiting George Floyd Square to honor the uprising against racial injustice that changed the world and challenged and inspired us to move and act at our most courageous. Here, we recall, reflect, and root our time together by never forgetting the life of Brother George Floyd, the many like him, the people’s powerful demand for change, and each of our roles in creating a new just world.
Second Stop, Healing
HEAL Mpls, a vision of the Zen Bin
We will then continue the journey by visiting The Zen Bin’s HEAL Mpls, a Northside ecosystem and restaurant space that centers on herbal medicine to support a holistic lifestyle as well as beautiful and nutritious plant-based food intuitively curated. Founder and spiritual entrepreneur Sierra Carter, who we will hear from, was encouraged to expand her calling of providing accessible spaces of healing and holistic wellness after the demand surged in 2020. Today, HEAL Mpls exists as a place of exploration of self through intentional eating, comm(unity) healing experiences, and personalized health goal support.
Third Stop, Dreaming & Storytelling
Black Garnet Books x Aya Collective
Amid the 2020 uprising for racial justice, Dionne Sims, Owner of Black Garnet Books, Minnesota’s only brick and mortar Black-owned bookstore, tweeted “Minnesota doesn’t have a black-owned bookstore, I think that’s my new dream.” 14,000 social media shares, a touring pop-up shop, and over two years later, Black Garnet Books opened its doors. Black Garnet Books’ shelves are curated to focus on literature by authors and illustrators of color, ensuring that any purchase made directly supports the continued telling of stories by Black people, indigenous people, and people of color. Dionne will share a few words on her dream realized with us.
While visiting Black Garnet Books, we will also hear from the Founder of Aya Collective, Ebony Adedayo. The Aya Collective is a Twin Cities based collective of Black women focused on changing harmful narratives through writing and producing texts that counter dominant messaging. As the Aya Collective puts it “What happens if we, as Black women, insisted that truth is not only found in sacred texts like the Bible, but is also found in us, within the depths of our experience? What happens if we collectively insisted that our lives, our bodies, are also sacred texts that need to be studied and taken seriously?”
Our Speakers
Repa Mekha
Co-Founder Black Collective Foundation MN | President & CEO, Nexus Community Partners
Lulete Mola
Co-Founder & President, Black Collective Foundation MN
Leslie E. Redmond
Our Journey “Threader” & Community Leader
Chanda Smith Baker
Co-Founder Black Collective Foundation MN | Chief Impact Officer and Senior Vice President
Sierra Carter
Spiritual Entrepreneur & Founder, The Zen Bin & Heal Mpls
Dionne Sims
Founder, Black Garnet Books
Ebony Adedayo
Author & Founder, The Aya Collective
Jai Winston
Director, Knight Foundation