I can’t tell you how excited we are that so many of you are coming to Asheville Neighborhood Economics April 1 & 2. I have to tell you, I’m also so very sad that we are going to end up having to tell you all in just a few weeks that the event is completely sold out! So if you are planning to come and have not yet purchased your ticket, please do so now.
Two reasons:
#1 – If you wait too long you won’t be able to attend … and
#2 – The price is going up from $295, to $395 on Monday, 1/20!
There is an even more important third reason you want to buy a ticket, and that is you do not want to miss the content that will be on the stage and the people who will be in the rooms at this event. It’s going to be deep and so good. And right on target with what is happening in our world right now.
As most of you probably know, this version of Neighborhood Economics was scheduled to have happened in November, just six weeks after Hurricane Helene hit our community and made that impossible. The focus was to be the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, and we have watched countless entrepreneurs literally save the day, save lives, save human dignity, and be real heroes in the wake of this tragedy.
People have gathered together at tables to share a meal that was given to them, people who never would have met if it had not been for this geologic event that literally tore up the land upon which we live. Now a different kind of community has emerged and is taking shape.
The question is this:
How can this kinder, more communal, and more egalitarian way of living together become a deeper part of the fabric of our lives and impact, for GOOD, the future of our communities?
Blunt Pretzels, right in the middle of the worst damage in Swannanoa, with the help of hundreds of volunteers built a community gathering spot that provides free meals to all comers even today, almost four months after the hurricane hit.
We certainly don’t know all the answers, but we do know that, when things break, it may give us the best opportunity to build back differently.
Back in the day, I had the opportunity to study with a hero/mentor of mine, Rabbi Ed Friedman. PUT THE READ MORE HERE RIGHT HERE. He used family systems theory to help churches and congregations through difficult spots and was fond of saying that, if your family is dysfunctional, look forward to times when things radically change – births, deaths, marriages, divorces – because when things are moving is the best time to dig deep and do repair work on what’s not working. (This is BROAD paraphrase!)
One of our keynote speakers for the April event, Saket Soni, echoes this in what he has seen in his work bridging climate disasters and the immigrant and local underemployed people who learn building trades with Resilience Force. For 19 years, since Katrina, it has been shown repeatedly in his work that, following natural disasters, major changes – for good – in the way people live together have occurred.
We will be including what we are seeing and learning on the ground here in Asheville, and, more particularly, in Swannanoa, (the acknowledged epicenter of Helene’s impact), in the content in April. After having convened funders and entrepreneurs for nearly two decades, first with SOCAP, and now with Neighborhood Economics, it’s stunning what we are still learning. It’s very exciting to be doing this work in this place.
This newsletter will be the place to get all the information about what we will be doing in April, who will be speaking, what initiatives will be represented, and the new ventures linking, for example, food security, climate resilience, and reparations in new ways that the opportunity of the disaster has opened up.
This week, Kevin’s story is about speaking truth to capital. A colleague has created a massive dataset that shows all the hundreds of millions of dollars that have come in to Western North Carolina, from FEMA and other federal sources, from the state of North Carolina and from the major philanthropic funders. It tracks which CDFIs got that money and what categories it is designated to go to, from mental health to nutrition to food security and propane heaters. Kevin’s group has mapped where the money went from Dogwood Health Trust, Golden Leaf, and the WNC Community Foundation, as well as corporate philanthropy from Truist Bank. All of these are offering relief to hard hit businesses trying to get back on their feet. Several community groups and activists are using the map to make sure that under-represented people and groups get in line for some of that money. You can read about this in his story below.
Enjoy your reading, buy your ticket, and join us in April.
– Rosa Lee