Over the past year, we’ve experienced an unexpected a significant budget deficit due to political and funding attacks that have disproportionately impacted gendered and racialized grassroots community lead or organization. This was compounded by an unforeseen infrastructure disruption beyond our control, and while we have worked diligently to stabilize operations we are now carrying critical outstanding expenses - including background rent for the Alice Fields Community Center.

The Alice Fields Community Center, home to the Fanny Lou Hammer Freedom Boutique, the Assata Shakur Reading Room, and the recently launched Cardamom and Thyme Social Justice Café is a safe third space created by me, a Queer Black mother and Bronx native who has lived at the margins and through that lived experience. I understand that the self-determination of Black women and gender expansive people must be rooted in spaces that makes self determination possible.

This is a place where women, children and families can come to unwind; imagine grieve, celebrate, and simply be in community with one another. In a time when so many people are navigating instability, isolation and systemic harm; spaces of joy, safety and belonging are not luxuries.

We are actively mobilizing grass, roots, fundraising, rooted in cultural traditions and mutual aid, but monetary support is essential and critical. The good news though, is that we recently received a $10,000 anonymous individual gift and my appearances on national media such such as the Food Network has brought renewed attention to the work that we are doing here. However, it’s super critical that we raise this $50,000 to pay down this rent debt and your support at this moment will not only preserve a physical space that is doing so much, but it will also protect a living ecosystem of care, leadership development, and community resilience. So with your partnership and your donations for the Alice fields Community Center, we will continue to serve as a place of refuge of joy and possibility for years to come.

With community and solidarity,

Mama Tanya.