These neighborhood leaders are continuing the fight for racial justice, from mutual aid projects in Brownsville, Brooklyn to maternal health training in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Here at ioby, we believe in the power of small groups coming together to fundraise for big change. Through this step-by-step guide, we’ll outline the steps to cultivating meaningful relationships with donors that will sustain your work over the long haul. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with each project you launch, so let’s dive in and make those dollars stretch as far as they can, block by block! 

If you’re a neighborhood leader who wants to find creative, strategic ways to maintain the spirit and vibrancy of your community, look no further! ioby’s comprehensive guide to creative placekeeping outlines everything you need to know to launch a transformative project in your neighborhood. Maybe you heard about placekeeping through the NEA creative placemaking and placekeeping grants, or maybe there’s a cultural site in your community that you are longing to preserve. Either way, this guide will give you the tools you need to ideate, launch, and maintain a compelling creative placekeeping project. 

Arts and culture inspire communities, deepen neighborhood connections, and transforms lives. Whether a Pride parade in June or afterschool music sessions for teenagers, culture is an essential element of thriving public life. 

Here at ioby, we believe strongly in the possibilities of creativity, and a large part of that is due to creative placekeeping. Creative placekeeping refers to a community-driven approach to preserving and enhancing the character, history, and values of a space. Instead of focusing exclusively on adding to a neighborhood through physical development such as museums, creative placekeeping emphasizes the assets that already exist. 

Summer is right around the corner, which means that gardens have begun to flourish. Ripe tomatoes are starting to bud on the vine and heads of lettuce are peeking through the soil. The long summer months ahead are the perfect time to re-energize your community garden through public events, farmers markets, and guided tours. Whether you have a few neighborhood plots or are just starting to repurpose an empty lot,  here’s everything you need to known about cultivating a successful community garden. 

In 2018, a group of about 14 Detroit outdoor enthusiasts began meeting at the home of Tepfirah Rushdan, who would become a founding member of Black To The Land Coalition (BTTLC). Being a long time advocate and farmer in the Urban farming scene, Tepfirah (Tee) wanted to form a super team of BIPoC leaders who shared the same passion and goals for building a relationship with each other, through the land. Through their ioby project Be Out!, they are hoping to raise $8,000 before July 11th. Their project is a part of our 2023 Detroit Match Program, meaning donations are doubled up to $400 per donor!

From windowsill gardens in New York City to community juice pop-ups in Cleveland, these activists are planting the seeds for a different world.  Food justice leaders work to ensure universal  access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally-appropriate food. These leaders are transforming their neighborhoods through food justice projects.