Coté Soerens, Seattle, Washington: Cultivate South Park Coté Soerens is the owner/midwife of Resistencia Coffee shop in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. She is the co-founder of Cultivate South Park, a non-profit that lends infrastructure to neighborhood community development projects such as the Urban Fresh Food Collective, Reconnect South Park, and the South Park Arts and Culture Collective. Born in Chile, she came to the US at 25 and has since started a number of initiatives in both the private and non-profit sectors. Read more about Coté Soerens here.

Alysia Harris, Corsicana, Texas: Meeting House Revival Alysia Nicole Harris, Ph.D. is a Pushcart-nominated performance poet whose work is at the intersection of church and community building. The mission of the Meeting House Revival is to preserve Black history by restoring historical Black churches. Her first project, the East Side Chapel Revival Project in Corsicana, Texas, aims to restore and revive a historically significant Black church built in 1905 and create space for local artists to offer their work. Read more here.

My’Kal Lofton, Charlottesville, Virginia. Green Wall Street My’Kal Lofton is the founder of Green Wall Street, a collective working to strengthen social support connections across marginalized communities and to further understanding of ecological relationships. GWS began during the racial events in Charlottesville in August of 2017 and creates space and support for economic and social innovation both in Charlottesville and in partner cities. Read more about My’Kal Lofton here.

Simone Jenkins, Nashville, Tennessee. Lipstick Cult Simone Jenkins is an entrepreneur who started Lipstick Cult, a Black-owned lipstick brand that highlights global culture. Jenkins, who identifies as a person with a disability, is breaking through barriers as a business owner of color and plans to create programs for women with disabilities. Her Pink Door Project targeted breast cancer awareness, mammogram screenings, and survivor support. Read more about Simone Jenkins here.