09/04/2024
A Statement of Care re: Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture
Over the past 12 months, a consortium of Black-led agrarian organizations, businesses, and individuals in metro Atlanta, doing business as The Collective, have been convening to maximize the potential of the human, financial, and experiential capital of the community with the goal of Black Food Sovereignty. At the initial meeting of this consortium in August 2023, it was determined that the first priority would be the planning of how best to revitalize Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture (TLW) for short and long-term success in two (2) main areas: 1) Organizing and creating strategic partnership with TLW Board of Directors to ensure that grower input and consideration is reflected in Board activities; and 2) Galvanizing the consortium to support the revitalization of the TLW Collegetown Campus up to a standard that is on par, or better than its previous iteration.
Since April 3, 2024, The Collective has offered, and has been providing material, labor, and technical support to the TLW Board toward operations at the TLW Collegetown Campus located at 324 Lawton St SW, Atlanta, GA, in the Ashview Heights community of Southwest Atlanta. During this time we have offered a pathway for TLW to be revitalized and have identified some solutions to some of the challenges TLW is facing. Two of the solutions we have formally proposed to the Board of Directors are 1) the resignation of current Board Chair, James Harris, effective immediately, and 2) Selection of an Interim Executive Director within 60 Days. We have requested a reply from TLW by the close of business Friday, September 6, 2024.
In September 2024, we will share another update with you. In the near future, we’d also like to provide the opportunity for you, the public, to share your voice and ideas about what a) Truly Living Well means to you, and b) what your vision of success is for TLW. The Collective will also share more details about our ideas as Our goal is a strengthened TLW that is community and practitioner informed, and led. We hope that TLW’s current staff, leadership, board of directors, partners, supporters, funders, etc. are watching and listening. The time for positive change is now.
kinetic
sustainability
