A Letter from our Director
Dear Friends,
Thomas Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and weekly columnist for The New York Times, recently appeared at the Asheville Ideas Fest. “We are living in a Promethean moment,” he said. "A time when everything is changing." Friedman named complex adaptive networks as essential for community problem-solving in this momentous and disruptive era.
These types of networks are exactly what Thrive Asheville has been building over the past four years. The thorny, multifaceted challenges we face require an evolving understanding of who the right people are to be at the table. The complexity of our challenges requires diversity of thought, perspective, and experience to surface the underlying issues, and design far-reaching solutions.
In this newsletter, you can
-
Learn about Thrive’s progress from founder Kim McGuire
-
Unpack the housing crisis and learn about the specific challenges facing our community
-
Check in on the progress of a broad coalition to expand greenways locally
-
Read about in-person events that build community
-
Get the scoop on Thrive’s leadership expansion
It has been my honor to serve as the Executive Director - and I am committed to supporting this work from a different seat at the Thrive table. Read about what’s next for Thrive below, and be a part of our complex adaptive network for building a better community.
|
|
With Appreciation,
|
|
|
|
Thrive’s Board of Directors is a diverse group of community leaders who reflect differing perspectives and expertise.
|
|
|
Q: Can you offer a reflection on how far Thrive has come in 4 years?
A: We launched Thrive Asheville in response to concerns about how Asheville is growing and changing. Here are a few updates: We have made great strides in our convening work, deepening our understanding about community problems and potential solutions and have developed programmatic work in affordable housing. We are also exploring the importance of sustainable tourism and BIPOC entrepreneurship. Find more details about our work HERE.
Q: What do you see that Asheville needs to be a more equitable and resilient community in the future? How will Thrive's work support those needs?
A: Asheville’s future needs to be defined by the whole community. One key role Thrive plays is to intentionally include a range of participants and partner organizations in our work to improve affordable housing and tourism – representing different work sectors, different neighborhoods, and different backgrounds
Q: What are some things you would like people to know about Thrive?
A: Successful cities have organizations like Thrive that look beyond immediate needs to understand bigger implications and impacts, and plan for the future accordingly. Asheville is not a town anymore. We are a city of 94,000 people which has grown by a third since 2000; our metro population is 460,630. Many people are visiting and moving here because of our natural beauty, lively downtown, and arts and food culture. Thrive needs continued support to help steer our communities in the direction of equity and sustainability so all people can thrive.
|
|
|
|
Image from https://belonging.berkeley.edu/
|
|
|
Recently, the Children First/Communities in Schools Success Equation Team hosted Stephen Menendian of the Othering and Belonging Institute UC Berkeley to discuss his publication, “Deconstructing the Housing Crisis.” The Thrive team joined community leaders, housing advocates, and local government representatives for a deep-dive into the complexity of the housing crisis.
Menendian’s article describes distinct housing issues which are often conflated but have different causes and require different solutions. Three of these that are particularly challenging in our community are:
-
The lack of housing affordability due to the sky high mean price of housing which is a mismatch for middle-income earners in our area. To increase housing affordability, communities should increase supply and adjust regulations and zoning that make housing scarce. Middle-income earners in Asheville include service-industry workers, teachers, nurses, and other careers that are essential to our community’s health.
-
The lack of affordable housing designed for low-income earners and people experiencing poverty requires government subsidies and increased public investments. Policies can also be designed to ensure access to affordable housing by preventing discrimination against people paying rent with federal rental assistance. Many of the people who need affordable housing work in low-paying jobs or do not have steady employment.
-
Unsheltered homelessness requires more than housing - it requires ongoing services and supports and must be addressed with adequate investments in programs and agencies that address this problem specifically.
Currently Thrive’s housing work is in affordable housing. Asheville’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) invited the Thrive Team to present our work with the Buncombe Rental Assistance Collaborative. Learn more about our work and view the AHAC presentation by clicking the button below.
|
|
|
As Buncombe County and community leaders work to expand greenways, the Trail Master Plan serves as a model of what community involvement in sustainable tourism planning can accomplish. Greenways provide environmentally friendly tourism opportunities, natural spaces for outdoor recreation, and transportation - getting people from home to where they need or want to go by foot or bicycle. When spread throughout cities, the benefits of greenways are numerous to visitors and residents alike.
In 2012, Buncombe County began the “Greenways and Trails Master Plan” whose goal is to “develop a regional greenway system of open pathways to provide safe, equitable access to parks, schools, and communities.” There are currently 12 greenways in Buncombe County, each offering alternative modes of transportation and access to tourism destinations. For residents, a connected greenway system brings opportunities for community involvement, recreation, sustainable transportation, and tourism. One example is the Hominy Creek Greenway. The local community purchased the land on behalf of the city through private and local fundraising efforts and continues to manage it through the volunteer community board, Friends of Hominy Creek, in partnership with the city.
Former City Council Vice-Mayor Marc Hunt says that the greenways project vision is “to build a network of safe greenways and multi-use paths that are interconnected and safe which can translate into less reliance on automobiles, for example making it more feasible to function with one car per family instead of two…which converts to affordability.” Hunt also sees the construction of a network of greenways in Buncombe county to be “vital to interconnect neighborhoods with urban core areas.”
The next phase of this project is a $29.9 million dollar construction of 5.5 miles of greenway connecting Woodfin to the French Broad river. Funding for this work comes from local nonprofits, notably Riverlink, businesses, individual donors, and Explore Asheville. When completed, this section of greenway will link to a network of more than 25 miles of safe urban paths centering on the French Broad River. To learn more about this and other greenway projects, check out RiverLink’s webpage: https://riverlink.org/projects/woodfin-greenway/ and Connect Buncombe at https://connectbuncombe.org/greenways/.
|
|
|
Thrive brings people together to educate, engage, and make connections. By gathering together those most impacted by our programs, we listen, gather ideas, and steer our work based on what we learn to Improve Conditions in our communities. This spring Thrive’s Landlord-Tenant Partnership (LTP) team hosted community events for the people most engaged with and impacted by our programs.
In April, Thrive’s Landlord Navigator, Francina Edmonds, convened landlords, community partners, and housing agencies for the first Landlord Impact Event. Thrive shared the stage with the Buncombe Rental Assistance Collaborative partners to explore the state of housing in our region, provide relevant education for successful landlord-tenant relationships, and share how our collective can continue to create success with landlords and property managers.
In May, Kristal Khyentse-Perez, Tenant Navigator, brought together tenants and their families at Malvern Hills Park to celebrate tenant successes and connect with each other. LTP tenants enjoyed snacks and refreshments, facepainting for the kids, and resources and education provided by Community Action Opportunities. Moms and kids also received the gift of an Ingles gift card from Thrive. “Community is imperative for the success of our program. We want moms to connect and build support systems that will help them be successful through their tenancy,” says Kristal. She hopes to host many more of these connection events in the future, furthering Thrive’s mission to collaborate with local residents and leaders from diverse perspectives to understand our city’s challenges, forge new relationships, and act on the best solutions together.
|
|
|
Thrive Asheville is on the move – looking for expanded leadership and committed to continued community impact. After four years, Thrive Asheville’s founding staff leader Kate Pett has chosen to move to Deputy Director - pursuing her passion overseeing programmatic work - and we are launching a search for our next Executive Director.
We are seeking a visionary, experienced leader who will help identify and implement collaborative and strategic approaches and advocacy that spurs actions to significantly improve our city. We prefer executive director applicants with local knowledge but we also welcome transplants with civic leadership expertise who have experience with the challenges and opportunities that need addressing in Asheville. See the full job posting HERE.
Thrive has been in existence for two years as a nonprofit, and prior to that as a pilot initiative operating under UNC-Asheville. During this start-up period, Kate Pett led the design of Thrive’s organizational model, assembled our staff team, and developed impactful, large-scale collaborative work in affordable housing.
|
|
|
|
