STANDING IN WE: ROOTED IN COLLABORATION

2018 AWARDS NIGHT RECAP

Thank you to everyone who made this in a successful night celebrating all the incredible work being done in WNC!

Our 2018 CoThinkk Annual Event, “Standing in We: Rooted in Collaboration,” was a celebration of community that blended our cultural roots and visions in such a beautiful way. Together we recognized the triumphs, challenges and labors of love that often goes unseen. CoThinkk is shifting the narrative on equity, access and visibility for communities of color through the sharing of our time, talent and treasure. On behalf of the CoThinkk family we would like to congratulate the grant recipients and thank all of the community leaders!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: MARISOL JIMENEZ

The keynote speaker at the event, Tepeyac Consulting founder Marisol Jimenez, spoke to the souls of the social justice advocates in the room. She shared both the challenges and beauty of fighting for liberation with high hopes and low resources.

MOUNTAIN XPRESS ARTICLE

Article contributed by CoThinkk. Words by Aisha Adams; photography by Aisha Adams Media (Rafrica Adams) “On Oct. 20, local giving circle CoThinkk held its third annual community award night at The Collider in downtown Asheville. “Standing In We: Rooted in Collaboration” celebrated the region’s work toward ensuring more equitable outcomes for communities of color…”

READ IT HERE

HONORING KELLY GOINS

CoThinkk took a minute to recognize the life and legacy of founding member Kelly Goins, whom the group lost earlier this year. In Goins’ honor, CoThinkk has added $500 to all of its grant awards for recipient self-care and established scholarships to attend the 2019-2020 CoThinkk Blue Print Leadership Program.

See The Evening In Photos

2018 GRANT RECIPIENTS

A well deserved congratulations to our grantees!

JMPROTV

Our mission is to train youth and adults as reporters to actively relay and document the reality that surrounds them from their perspective and counterbalance the traditional media. To make this possible, we need community reporters who have the technical capacity and the social conscience necessary to understand and report, both critical issues that attack our communities and events that contribute to progress and awareness in our communities of color. With the funds we receive, we will be able to carry out a 20 week training cycle for new community reporters.

LA ESCUELITA

Our hope is that La Escuelita will become an intergenerational space in our own neighborhood where children, teachers and families learn and grow together during this critical period of early childhood education. La Escuelita is a multilingual space, where bilingual and Spanish-speaking families can collaborate in the early childhood education of their children. As part of our cooperative, our families agree to participate actively in teaching and learning together while helping both inside and outside of class spaces.

JAMES VESTER MILLER HISTORIC FOUNDATION

To create a Historic Community Walking Trail to show the buildings that a black brick mason, that was born into slavery built, and his other accomplishments. We want to educate people that black people contributed to the building of Asheville, in a major way, even in the Jim-Crow South. This trail would include markers, and historical information on some of the most prominent structures in Asheville.

C.A.S.E MANAGEMENT

C.A.S.E. Management was started by three black men who grew up in Asheville, NC, two of them being natives. Each member is a former offender, now providing social services for former offenders, whether it’s going inside the prison or assisting with career development. We will contract with government on the local, state, and federal level; offering consulting, coaching, mentoring, motivational speeches, and trainings. We all have what’s called lived experience and this experience cannot be taught.

GENTLE MOTHERING

Gentle Mothering mission is first to support women to feel empowered, honored, and heard throughout the process of birth, thereby creating stronger relationships in the family. Yet, our mission also includes empowering Latinx/bilingual women by offering them a fulfilling trade of becoming a Doula. This increases their confidence and self-esteem, as well as provides them with a financially viable skill. By strengthening them and their families financially, it helps to lift them up out of poverty.

BLK GIRLAFFIRMING

I am often the only black woman in yoga spaces. This radically altered how I experienced community and wellness in the “wellness community.” It was from this place where blk-girl-affirming was born. Blk-girl-affirming is a platform to provide accessible holistic wellness to undeserved communities. I am currently in the process of raising money to have safe transportation, yoga props and other resources to provide free pop-up yoga classes in communities that have limited access.

H.E.R.S

HERS goal is to provide community forums for women of color to engage in discussions, awareness, education, communication, cultural changes and self advocacy as barriers to care are identified and action plans implemented. The hope is to help women of color navigate the complex health care systems, bridge women to resources and services to help women be able to make decisions towards benefiting their health and family survival. This could be a resounding practice of impacting generation after generation with statics of decreased mortality and accessing interventions for early diagnosis of a Silent Killer.

BELOVED ASHEVILLE

The Neighborhood Fiesta Project organizes neighborhood leaders in Latinx communities throughout Buncombe County. It focuses on community defense/deportation prevention, know your rights train the trainer, information sharing on community resources, leadership development, and the resourcing of Latinx leaders. Proud to Be Brown Youth Initiative works to give Latinx youth lessons in their history and culture helping them to own their identity and explore ways to bring their identity and gifts forward to help the community.

ADÉ PROJECT

adé is home for artistic liberation across the lines of race, class, abilities, age, culture, gender, and sexuality in the South. adé builds, sustains and connects a regional base of black, brown, and indigenous artists catalyzing social change. adé seeks to transform the region through storytelling, creative facilitation, strategic campaigns, service projects, development + management, residencies, and performance developed in response to the current conditions in our communities. adé builds through training, advocacy, and organizing.