The Homesteadista Green Book

Black, Latinx, Asian,  immigrant women specifically those from major cities in the US are regularly under-represented at urban planning and economic development imaging front lines, lack influence in organizational development, and their power is diminished at the policy-making table. The Homesteadista is a re-imagined leadership ecosystem connecting women of diverse backgrounds transforming their cities into healthier, safer, more inclusive spaces.

Our mobile app directory takes visibility and connectivity to a new meaningful level, messaging the stories and experiences behind enterprises, initiatives and social activism. Our directory is based on group economic frameworks that unites diverse leaders, aspiring change-makers, beneficiaries, and supportive allies and paves way for collaboration, partnership and community revitalization.

Marginalized women readily understand through their experiences that social and economic justice extend into a how social contracts at work, school, on public transit, in city parks, or even Starbucks are established and implemented.  While the urban environmental justice movement acknowledges the intersectional aspects of socially and economically healthy urban living, the popular narrative and standards continue to silo it's efforts on eco-related issues, external and government support and subsidies, streamlined services, "scholarships" and alternative programming, excluding equity and community-led input in shared human-made and natural space development . Additionally, the social impact movement's leadership ideal characterizes young white women or liberal middle aged white men leading progressive "community-enrichment" projects and organizations.Women of color are not invited to engage much less lead the charge of transforming their cities and community livelihood.

While we charged to serve diverse women, our community and projects are designed to be safe spaces for women who are often excluded from the table. Women of color (Black and Brown women, Asian and immigrant women major cities in the US and select countries abroad with diverse populations and significant equity gaps) are in particular need for the re-imagined pathways we are co-constructing. Our app invites the baker, fashion designer, charter school founder, women's center director, artists, affordable housing developer, tech entrepreneur, policy makers, and activists to collaborate, partner and innovate and serve each other. Through our app, we are tapping into the vast pool of talent and creativity, resilience and strategic thinking already available within transforming communities. As a media centered diverse-peoples-run non-profit, we are positioned to authentically and regularly engage with various marginalized communities from a grass roots on the ground level.

Our leadership ecosystem supports the 2.4 million African American women who own businesses as well as the diverse communities they serve by bringing them together as collaborators not competitors. This is achieved by our narrative-driven profiles and search/suggestion features that connect listed members to each other and guide subscribing users to consider leaders and their initiatives who align with their values and experiences as much as their consumer or beneficiary needs.

The affordable listing member and subscriber fees allow for accessible participation. Partnering ally organizations and businesses may sponsor listing memberships, networking events, and collaborations.

Our short and long term goals are to create pathways and programs that
will resonate powerfully; uniting all activists, allies and supporters,
policymakers, and others wanting to understand and remedy the
marginalization of low-resourced women and their communities within the
urban sustainability movement.

DIVERSE STORIES BEING TOLD, HEARD, SHARED, AND VALUED

With roots as a sustainability blog, our super power is leveraging the intimacy and connectivity of narrative-rich journalism, media platforms and networks to create fellowship and opportunity for powerful engagement within community transformation conversations.

Our re-imagined leadership pathways unite current women change-makers of color with aspiring ones, neglected beneficiaries, and supportive allies (men and non-POC women) elevating the dialogue and practices within the urban development movement based on individual and collective experiences, references and inspirations.

In all of our programming, we look to non- celebrity women and girls in the midst of their change-making to gain insights about their path and strategies while learning how to adapt their best practices so that it's applicable to our lives.

We use communication technology in the mobile app format.

The problem is rooted in systemic gender and race/culture inequities, non-inclusive socio-economic growth standards and practices, and a resistance to in-community leadership building and strategies. Our solution, which is create a vibrant storytelling based leadership ecosystem that unites women of color and position them as vital partners, innovators and thriving leaders and changemakers. We do this through our app (in conjunction with our digital magazine), which invites women to connect and share individual and collective experience, articulate shared goals, and work with like-minded women who approach transforming their cities in through entrepreneurship, community building, advocacy that transcends industries and sectors. Positioned as valued and united leaders, these women confront issues of economic development, sexual assault, workplace and cultural discrimination, food deserts, toxic waste in neighborhoods, unsafe public spaces, poor educational systems, health/wellness access, and gentrification. Together they seek and implement solutions – contributing to their community’s economic and social health as they are reinventing ideals of professional and change-making.

Currently, we are serving approximately 8,000 women based on our digital magazine and offline events and workshops.  By next year we hope to expand our reach through actual membership and subscribers and meaningfully reach and affect about 12,000. We anticipate serving 56,000 women - directory listed members, app subscribers, and supportive allies looking to collaborate in equitable ways.

Within the next year we plan to have an app that is ready to launch and a pre-listing member data base of over 500 leaders/entrepreneurs and changemakers. 

We also plan to have strategic partnerships that allow for on and offline (in app) incubation and mentoring for leaders-to-leaders and aspiring leaders.

Within the next five years we plan to be a sustainable non-profit with a diversified revenue portfolio which includes both donations, philanthropic funding and earned income.

We also plan to have quantitative and qualitative data that indicates a direct correlation between app engagement and in-community revitalization as well as an increase in the number of emerging in community businesses and initiatives.

The most significant barrier to our success is funding. In order to have a viable product to test and market, we need financing. As a woman of color, gender and race biases within funding has long been an issue. Another barrier is the human-power to vet leaders to ensure that their projects and initiatives are not self-centered. We want to align with and celebrate women who are looking to build good communities from within, not make a buck off of a segment of the population.

Through opportunities like this and by walking the path that The Homesteadista is carving out. I am that leader and I am modeling the work, approach and sisterhood the organization and the project promotes.

1 full-time employee (myself - project manager)

2 contractors (tech and data entry)

2 interns

We have diverse backgrounds personally, professionally and within the community/social action space. My program design and start-up experiences are complemented by volunteers and consultants who have enhanced tech and social media savvy. My freelance editorial team has a broad portfolio of editorial, news, and corporate projects. My board members have years of experience as trustees, administrators, and business managers. We all have a track record of grassroots activists and benefit project organizers. 

UPENN Social Policy and Practice - social strategy support

Poynter-Koch Institute - (Media and Journalism Fellow) - research support

Catchafire - pro bono consultants

Our main customer segments are historically marginalized women and girls living in an urban environment who are currently engaged in community entrepreneurship or social activism, women who are new to a social enterprise or whom would be beneficiaries of community economic and health revitalization. Our Non-target audience women looking to support the movement are predominately white educational institutions, organizations, and businesses (corp clients) and predominately white educational institutions, organizations and businesses (investor/donors).

The key value propositions are that active change-makers gain acknowledgment, sisterhood and new ecosystem to market their work, thrive, stay safe, and collaborate, whereas aspiring change-makers, and beneficiaries gain affordable and accessible knowledge, guidance to be safe and successful in professional and movement leadership. Ultimately, they gain visibility, resources, hip strategy- sharing, woke + fresh, safe affinity spaces, capacity building.

While not our targeted segment, investors, donors, allies gain welcomed access to talent, services, products, and potential partnerships. Their value proposition is to "feel good", social atonement, diversity/equity/inclusion status and improved performance for their corporate or organizational missions.

As a woman of color, a single mother and entrepreneur, The Green Book has deep significance to me. As I have navigated this change-making landscape, charting my course, and making my way to the table, my personal story of creativity, fluidity and adaptability that made space for a necessary resilience to take root and my own version of change-making to flourish. That fluidity is currency and connectivity and an essential aspect of the uniquely collaborative brand identity of The Homesteadista.  With generous support and backing, those change-making values and can continue to nurture many leaders to come.

Our potential partnership portfolio would include women’s universities, assault prevention, and feminist organizations like NCADV and the Women’s Foundation, communication technology and media companies like Apple, Facebook, T-Mobile, Viacom, VICE as well as supportive women’s online retailers like J. Crew, MM La Fluer, MAC, and H&M and lastly professional membership outlets with online platforms like The Wing and We Work.  These corporate partnerships also allows participating companies to demonstrate their awareness, allyship, and commitment to safe and equitable spaces.

n/a

This prize would allow our team to expand our reach out to more cities,
communities and women (perhaps even outside of the US) and accelerate
building our narrative-based profile member database. The prize would
also allow us to subsidize some listing memberships for emerging leaders
and support the app with community-based pop-ups and capacity-building
workshops and engagements.

This prize would allow our team to expand our reach out to more cities, communities and women (perhaps even outside of the US) and accelerate building our narrative-based profile member database. The prize would also allow us to subsidize some listing memberships for emerging leaders and support the app with community-based pop-ups and capacity-building workshops and engagements.

This prize would allow our team to expand our reach out to more cities,
communities and women (perhaps even outside of the US) and accelerate
building our narrative-based profile member database. The prize would
also allow us to subsidize some listing memberships for emerging leaders
and support the app with community-based pop-ups and capacity-building
workshops and engagements.

n/a

This prize would allow our team to expand our reach out to more cities,
communities and women (perhaps even outside of the US) and accelerate
building our narrative-based profile member database. The prize would
also allow us to subsidize some listing memberships for emerging leaders
and support the app with community-based pop-ups and capacity-building
workshops and engagements.

This prize would allow our team to expand our reach out to more cities,
communities and women (perhaps even outside of the US) and accelerate
building our narrative-based profile member database. The prize would
also allow us to subsidize some listing memberships for emerging leaders
and support the app with community-based pop-ups and capacity-building
workshops and engagements.