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Since the completion of Tzedek’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, the Grantmaking Team has been exploring ways to use a reparations lens to redistribute a portion of Tzedek funds. Currently, we are focused on making new grants to entities that redistribute land and money to the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities in our area.
We are excited to announce our new grantee partners who have been leading the charge in building new models for land and wealth redistribution:
- Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust (ABCLT) – ABCLT is a community-led membership organization committed to using collective ownership of land to transform the way we think about real estate. They are primarily led and staffed by Black residents of Asheville who have been most impacted by recent gentrification and urban renewal efforts.
- Montford & Stumptown Fund, a sub-fund of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust – Tzedek’s offices are located in the Montford neighborhood, an area where urban renewal efforts severely reduced Black homeownership. As a small step in repairing the harm done in our neighborhood by our presence as gentrifiers, we have dedicated funds directly to the Montford & Stumptown Fund.
- YMI Cultural Center – The YMI is one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the United States. The YMI holds much of the historical legacy of Asheville’s Black communities and has managed to survive the ravages of urban renewal. Our grant supports their general operating expenses as well as their Black homeownership and wealth building programs.
- Tierra Fértil Coop – The Tierra Fértil Coop (fiscally sponsored by Bountiful Cities) is an Hispanic, worker-owned farm cooperative in Hendersonville, North Carolina that promotes access to resources and capacity to produce food and in this way, stimulates food justice and racial equity in the local food and agricultural system. Their purpose is to reclaim and recover knowledge, resources, autonomy, and collective power to create a more sustainable, and equitable life for the Latinx community and People of Color.
- PODER Emma Community Ownership – The PODER Emma Community Ownership (fiscally sponsored by Colaborativa La Milpa) creates tools and strategies to prevent the displacement of Latinx families in the Emma community. PODER Emma also provides technical assistance, accompaniment and lending for the development and sustainability of worker-owned businesses, resident-owned mobile home parks, and community-based real estate investment cooperatives. Their loan fund has invested over $1.5 million in community owned cooperative assets in the Emma community.
The Tzedek Grantmaking Team selected organizations using the following process:
- We began by learning about existing organizations and models in the Asheville area focused on the redistribution of resources and money to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Additionally, we had conversations with community members who approached us to share about their own redistribution work. Research along with conversations with existing grantees and community partners led to the creation of a list of organizations engaged in redistribution within a 30-mile radius of Asheville including collectives, trusts, cooperatives, and community equity and loan funds.
- We reviewed our existing grantees and identified areas of work that are underfunded in Tzedek’s grantmaking portfolio.
- We applied our Grantmaking Alignment Checklist to determine strategic alignment.
Tzedek’s organizational grants are allocated in advance mostly through multi-year general operating funds. This is a way to provide sustained support and to minimize grantees’ burden of re-applying for funds. New grantmaking funds become available when Tzedek receives additional funds from Amy Mandel, our Founder and Funder, or a grant is not renewed (because an organization’s work is no longer aligned with Tzedek’s strategy). Any additional funds we receive from our Founder and Funder will be distributed using a similar decision process.
We invite community members whose work is based within 30 miles of Asheville to reach out to our Director of Organizational Grantmaking and Philanthropic Partnerships to share about organizational work that is connected to our mission, organizational values and practices, and strategic plan.