Sometimes, we need someone to affirm us. To be in solidarity with us. To get us through the final details and steps to heal injustice and to provide that sense of belonging above and beyond that affirmation and solidarity.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker, media maven, and fiber artist. This week I talk more about what May will look like if you choose to join me in the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist intensive. Additionally, this newsletter is brought to you this week by Elsewhere’s new job openings, Greater Greater Washington’s Spring Gala, and my Patreon supporters, who will have a first-row seat to next month’s intensive. Scroll down to the Before You Go section to learn more.

This is what I want to do next.

Affirm my fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists.

Walk with my other people of color, queer, broke/poor, chronically ill, neuroatypical, and otherwise disabled navigating the overwhelmingly white, straight, abled, generationally wealthy design and planning industry.

Help all of us in positions of power and influence, but especially the folks I just lifted up above who already do enough of this just to survive and thrive, but those with those advantages can make it so that it’s easier for all, in tangible and transformative ways.

I’ve done a course before. Many of y’all were here with me when we originally launched the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist School. Well, this time we are going into actual mode, instead of pilot mode, taking an extension of the K. Jeffers Index for Black Queer Feminist Urbanism, and doing a month-long focus on how to implement Black Queer Feminist Urbanist principles in our lives and work.

I decided to do this in May because it was two years ago in May when many of us experienced a major shift in how we thought about our identities and privileges in the world.

In addition to seeing state-sanctioned violence continue on in law enforcement, we also saw how different states were handling (or not handling) this public health emergency and we saw how our offices and our professional spaces were doing the same.

I want us to start making May a month of reflection, as we get ready to relax into summer vacations, Pride celebrations and enjoy one of the more fulfilling times of year, where we can participate in safer outdoor activities and hope that once this variant goes through, this might be the last time.

As I am still hyper-conscious about events on my own, especially unmasked indoor events, and my own solo workload, I still want to do something, but something that works well for all of us.

So, I am creating a worksheet, a companion video, and weekly-throughout-May office hours/check-ins around the themes of Affirmation, Solidarity and Facilitating Justice and Belonging.

Affirmation will be available to all those who are currently eligible for Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge membership, as this is geared specifically to help Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming folks make sense of the worlds they inhabit. You can access your worksheet right now and I’ll post the video at the beginning of May and set up a poll for the day most folks can come to the check-ins. Lounge members will also have special bonus material that you have to come over to the lounge to find out about.

Solidarity will be available to all $10 level and up Patreons and as a $75 PDF package available on May 4th if you want to purchase it without making a monthly pledge. The PDF will include embedded links to my main teaching video and to the office hours along with your worksheet, which will be similar to the one in the affirmation group (because you need it too), but also address the ways you can be in solidarity to those who are affected by anti-Blackness and misogynoir when it shows up in community spaces or as a lower-level volunteer or employee. There will also be bonus content and additional content suggestions here as well.

Facilitating Justice and Belonging will be available to everyone at the $40 level and up on Patreon, much like the original school pilot was, and will be a $175 PDF package available on May 4th. This worksheet, video, and office hours series will focus on creating an action plan to actively dismantle and reset an unjust system or create a place of community belonging — i.e. creating a mutual aid group; drawing up working and sealable engineering or architecture plans for a place or space or route that could fix an inequity or an injustice; creating a co-op or community land trust or something else we can discuss together.

I will be hosting a live Zoom office hour at 4 pm Eastern on Mondays for the rest of the month where I’ll go into more detail about each section, answer any questions and get folks signed up at the right place. I’ll share recordings of these office hours as well, with descriptions of key questions asked.

You can also still do the quick quiz to see where you might fall, but note that signing up for a clarity call or coming to office hours is the best way to know what course to take.

Also, this year will be the lowest rate of any year for this program and if you are already in the Lounge now, hang in there so you can continue on through all the other programs at the same rate. Same with all the other levels — this program will go up, so get in now if cost is an issue. Scholarships will be available in the future, but it will never be this easy to join.

I’ll be back next week and during today’s office hours with more details and answered questions, but if you’re ready to join this week, head on over to the lounge or on Patreon.

Before You Go

Elsewhere, the extraordinary living museum and artist residency in Greensboro, NC, is now hiring two key managerial/curatorial positions that will lead organizational programs and communications. Both roles are highly collaborative, shaping their respective work through collective visioning and goal setting, project management and coordination, and on-the-ground facilitation.

The Program Manager/Curator will lead curation and operation of the museum experience, the international artist residency, and alternative learning programs. The Communications Manager/Curator will lead the development of social media, newsletters, press releases, print objects, and museum interpretive materials.

Both positions are 30-hour per week roles starting at $18–20/hour. Benefits include 160 hours of paid time off, $1,000 of healthcare/self-care reimbursements and $1,000 of professional development annually, daily participation in Elsewhere’s vegetarian food co-op, and FMLA leave.

Applications are due May 1st at 11:59PM EST. Cover letters can be a barrier to entry. Elsewhere is asking applicants to complete a questionnaire in lieu of a cover letter and submit work samples of any kind along with their resume. Additionally, Elsewhere will host two town halls to introduce current staff, share information, and answer questions. The first town hall is for everyone on 4/13, 6:30–7:30PM EST, (register here) and the second town hall on 4/20, 6:30–7:30PM EST, will be exclusively for BIPOC participants (register here).

Elsewhere is artist-run space, but has a radically expansive definition of artist that can include practitioners from many fields and backgrounds (educators, organizers, etc.). Elsewhere seeks staff who are visionary, curious, self-reflective, assertive, proactive, solution-oriented, and mission-driven.

Elsewhere shares a radically expansive understanding of creative practice and identity. We strive for a diverse representation of voices, life experiences, views, and interests to reflect the collaborative community we have and wish to serve. To decolonize systemic structures of institutional oppression, we encourage queer creatives of color, as well as all other marginalized groups, to apply. Elsewhere is a ‘second chance’ employer and believes that those who are judicially challenged have a place in our community. If there are accessibility needs or questions, please contact museum@goelsewhere.org.

More information and applications: https://www.elsewheremuseum.org/apply

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It’s not too late to get tickets to the Greater Greater Washington Spring Gala, which will be on April 28 from 6–9 pm at Mess Hall, a wonderful indoor/outdoor event venue in DC. Head here to purchase and learn more. COVID-19 full vaccination is required and if the event is canceled, attendees will be able to request a refund.

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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me. You can join the advertisers above, learn more and secure one starting at $75/week. You can also help me with my investments through Acorns. If you open up an account before 4/16 using my link, you could help me get $575 in my retirement accounts. I’ve been with Acorns since 2015 and only now am I starting to see the benefits of having this in my investment and growth strategy. If you aren’t already saving for retirement, and especially if you don’t have a company doing this for you, hop on this link!

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Until next time,

Kristen

The solidarity we seek the most in land stewardship is acknowledging head-on when we have been violent in its practice and steering, rather than shaming those who exhibit momentary violence in trying to survive it. Oh, and COVID denial/acceptance is also a form of violence.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker,  media maven, and fiber artist. This week is another “Current” edition, where I connect current events with the values of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism. Plus, today I am launching a new benefit for Patreon supporters. It will feel familiar, as it’s a reboot with a brand new curriculum of my Black Queer Feminist Urbanist School. Scroll down to the Before You Go section, where I take over the entire section to explain what’s up!

So since we are digging into current events this week,  let me talk about what I didn’t talk about last week, that I probably could have said something about, since I was talking about how Black men support Black women.

The intention was right, especially considering the history between all parties involved and how traditional notions of honor are enacted in the Black community, specifically the Black American community descended from the enslaved and colonized, therefore holding containers of trauma and violence, hoping they would never be triggered or needed, respectfully.

However, the action taken was incomplete. 

It was a just act for the years of documented verbal mistreatment; lack of empathy for the way our physical bodies don’t always match soul consciousness, but still deserve respect, and a broken promise between what I assume were two one-time friends. 

What made it incomplete was that we need more than just-violence-in-retribution to heal violent systems and violent beliefs that we the marginalized, especially Black, feminine, poor, disabled, trans nonbinary are problems.

If we are going to end violence once and for all, we have to start at its roots. 

For those of us who are involved in land stewardship work in any form or fashion, that will include accepting that many of us do the work we love, on top of stolen and/or colonized land. 

We need to go beyond acceptance and we need to rectify this issue. 

Not just for healing of the human race, but for the surface and atmosphere of the planet Earth.

So we can have fields of plenty, air of life and abundance, with villages of fair trade and gifting of its plenty, and we as people are not driven to massive war and acts of destruction. We are in a peaceful state and that peace and abundance and prosperity is not on top or at the expense of someone else.

We may find that the pop culture, Hollywood-centric catalyst of this particular conversation of violence is irrelevant, but the violence of colonialism and stolen lands is square in our purview and must be eradicated. As well as our responsibility to continue to mitigate the spread and the negative impacts of not just COVID-19, but all of our environmental harms and diseases, and the lack of access to care for said issues.

I shared many of my current thoughts about COVID and how it appears the urbanism and urbanism adjacent professional community is handling it at the moment on my social media posts from last Wednesday:

I’m disturbed that so much of our professional lives in urbanism have returned back to in-person. No hybrid options, no (visible) masks, the expectation that everyone’s had it and everyone can easily get over it because healthcare is so great and “you’re not one of those people”.

The expectation that we all saved or made more money or that all of our jobs, family members, friends, colleagues, bodies came back exactly the same way. That we can afford exactly what we used to afford, including all these conferences, convening, and even going to the office.

But then again, this work is rooted in a delusion of white supremacy, and therefore at the end of the day, the expectation is that we wear our bodies out doing so and we go bankrupt to do it, that imperialism and everything that begets isn’t real or affecting us.

I’m sharing this because I can count on my hands, yes even in Black, feminist queer, and/or trans liberation spaces, those that acknowledge that life has changed and that even if it looks like we are going back to “normal”, it’s not quite the same.

I’m also sharing because I need to know why we think this is ok, especially those of y’all claiming to be doing this work for equity and yes even justice and not just being provocative or concerned on paper or on these platforms.

Folks that actually care — please prove me wrong and please reach out to me so we can fulfill making all of our spaces less classist and ableist. 

Seriously. I want to be wrong about people I love and care about, who like myself have yet to contract COVID, getting it and it continuing to cause problems. I hope that if you had it, you continue to have a swift recovery and the energy to do all the things, because no one ever deserved to get it and our systems failed us. 

I would like to know for sure that my healthcare ecosystem (which is not Les’s) would come through for me, but I can’t guarantee that.

I want to believe that all these hotel ballrooms and event spaces and even schools are implementing the kinds of ventilation that make these rooms as safe as being outdoors when it comes to lowering viral spread.

I want all of our budgets to recover, and I want all those lost family members and friends back, and if they aren’t coming back, for the grief to lessen.

However, I do want to thank everyone who continues to create outdoor dining and social spaces, protective measures, proper facility-based care, and mutual aid and encourages safe indoor gathering, above and beyond mask mandates and testing requirements.

To make my determinations of not being out of the woods yet on a professional level I go by the Johns Hopkins data site, which gives a global view of case numbers, hospitalizations, tests, and vaccinations, on a weekday basis. I also gave a shoutout to several of the people in the disability and healthcare community, many of them Black women and gender-diverse people, in my last post and specifically Dr. Uche Blackstock, who just tweeted again that we still need to be masking indoors and taking other precautions. 

I also want to highlight the work of one of our renowned placemaking colleagues, Dr. Mindy Fullilove, who is a medical doctor in addition to being an activist placemaker. Read more about the People’s CDC that she and a coalition of others have formed that takes to task the (American CDC’s) current and prior handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and provides solutions and ways to get active around this.

We have to get all countries to equity when it comes to vaccines and care. We have to restore funding for the uninsured in this country to get COVID care and precautions.

We are in a better place than we were, but we aren’t ready, nor do we need to return to our old normal.

I might sound like a broken record at this point about this, but I’ll end this part of the newsletter by thanking those of you who spoke up and thanked me for sharing, for acknowledging that some of us haven’t snapped back to “normal” and that we need to be in solidarity with our planners, placemakers, and people who needed a new normal anyway.

Before You Go

In light of the new normal, the real normal, I got clarity this week on how I want to coach and mentor folks individually and collectively in more depth than this newsletter. 

I’ve created a quiz around this new format of coaching and teaching, that will give you some quick answers around engaging with Black Queer Feminist Urbanism and prep you for my upcoming Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Intensive in the month of May. If you’re curious, go ahead and take the quiz and then book some(complimentary) time with me to learn more. If you are an existing Patreon subscriber, you’ll learn more about how your levels will change today and be able to go ahead and pledge support. And if you’re already eligible for the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge, head over there and find all your materials. We will be doing special May check-ins, but some of your curricula is already preloaded and ready for you. Next week and for the following few weeks, I’ll be providing more details on my website and here in the newsletter about this new direction and why and how.

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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me. Advertisements for this newsletter are still very much open, learn more and secure one starting at $75/week.

Until next time,

Kristen

Black queer feminist urbanist siblings — I see you. Go forth in peace, love, and urbanity.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker,  media maven, and fiber artist. This week I affirm the being of being a Black Queer Feminist Urbanist. As always, I have my Patreon supporters to thank for financial affirmation. Find out more on how you can become one of those supporters or maybe run an ad on this platform, by scrolling to the Before You Go section.

If you’ve had the gift of having me sign a book of mine ( I promise, that gift will return very soon), I usually sign it With love, peace, and urbanity. In fact, I think I might make that this week’s sign-off and make it the sign-off going forward. 

Because that’s exactly how I want us to go forth. Knowing that the why’s of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism live just inside of us.

Now I may not agree with everything going on in my own government at all times, which is the gift of living in a democracy. But last week, we got to see some of what it means to show up in the world, as a Black feminist, against all odds and trying to break into a system that needs to be remade and refashioned in our image. 

Specifically, the moment between Senator Cory Booker and the Honorable Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at the very end of her testimony of her confirmation hearings to sit on the US Supreme Court, where she’s brought to tears at his declaration of seeing our birthing parents, especially our Black women birthing parents, in her and simply declaring not only her worth, but that Spirit/Divine Presence (the words I use for God or a Higher Power), is backing her up. 

I’m not sure if they meet all four intersections of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism, besides Black and urbanist, maybe feminist and even though we as queer and/or trans folks are proud, we don’t assume that status from afar, we let folks affirm it. 

However, I want to affirm that they have the spirit of all four in that statement, and I want to walk us through how we can affirm that spirit in ourselves.

This is not an altar call or even a pose on a mat. This is you looking in the mirror and seeing what’s already inside of that Black body that’s often a threat. That claims queerness, feminism, and urbanism even when people tell you that you are betraying your ancestors.

That claims all these things when it’s only you going through them in a physical or virtual room, but that still makes them real and valid.

Never mind our ancestors walked so many places, from rural plantations and off urban seaport docks into their freedom from an unjust institution.

Our elders continued to walk under and over highways that sought to divide them, driving buses, cabs, and even railcars that would have them sit all the way in the back.

We sit anywhere we want to now. We walk in solidarity with those indigenous to the lands to which we were brought, to heal and enhance the communities we’ve come together to make. 

We too wear that ever cooling spandex as we criss-cross the places we’ve made, now made easier for us to navigate on foot or pedal, even as folks try to sprawl us further and further out from the culture that created us and sustains us.

We are worthy of our designs being made. For our labors to be fairly and equitably and justify compensated. For our bodies to be human, no matter what their shape, size, or behavior. To be housed and allowed to move at ease.

But we know that and if you needed a reminder of that, here it is. 

I want to gift something to you this week, my dear sibling. I created a guide called Defining Yourself for Yourself: Finding Your Black Queer Feminist Urbanism, that’s inside a special place I created just for us, the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge. Waiting for you there is a blueprint, to find this worth and gift in yourself, and do so in a supportive community.

You are worthy. You are good enough. Even if it isn’t this space of meditation and community, make sure you take the time daily to affirm and define yourself, for yourself.

I’ve attempted doing my work in affinity groups before, where I build work based on the journey one needs to take from healing from prior power imbalances and marginalizations, realizing that journey looks different based on how you are socialized and/or racialized.

However, in doing this work this way over the last couple of years, during a time when we had fewer options for outside activities and more time for this kind of deep work, I realized that the way it needs to be done, if it even needs to be done and if it’s even a work, brings up necessary questions.

Next week, I’m going to go into more detail about how I see my affinity group model work going forward and how I want to manage this more general and open space of content.

Before You Go

As I said before, advertising or pledging support to Black queer feminist platforms like this one is a perfect way to be an ally, and guess what, this is an ask! You can also advertise Black, queer, and/or feminist venture, run your birthday or anniversary or congratulations message, or something else that’s not job or conference or heavily design/construction/policy industry related. Even though the ads normally come with a $75/week price tag for a month-long commitment, I do have a one-off option for $155 for one week, and if you’re a Black queer feminist venture on a budget, your ad could be free. Reply back to this email if you’re ready to place an ad and learn more about advertising across this platform.

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Speaking of those outside ads, you can tell me in this survey what kind of ads you want to receive and a little more about who you are in a way that I can better write this newsletter for you. Also, you may still receive two versions of this newsletter, on Mailchimp and Substack, depending on how you subscribed and when you subscribed. If you want to unsubscribe from one or both versions, be sure to do so using the unsubscribe link provided in the emails run by the respective services. Or, you can keep deleting or ignoring the version you don’t like, lol. Remember, there will always be a free version of this newsletter, but you can scroll below for links to ways besides advertising to support this newsletter.

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Once again, The Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge is open for fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists to walk through this world together. Some of this information will be in these emails, but we will be digging deeper into how to create this space for ourselves and what the whys and definitions should be in the Lounge. Lounge members are eligible for scholarships for my coaching and consulting services and lounge membership is free. Also, I’ve decided to not do an in-person Black Queer Feminist Urbanist summit in 2022, but I will be adding an event calendar for Black, queer, feminist, and/or urbanist events and I’ll be announcing some digital seminar/panel style events for later this year, that you’ll be able to either watch live or listen/watch at your leisure.

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My consulting services will actually be housed at my soon-to-be-revamped personal website for anyone who needs moving, resumes, career, and other help. If you’re ready to book a season, email directly at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and request a strategy service. The first 30-minute clarity session is free, then subsequent sessions starting at $150 for one follow-up session and $75/session for a package of four.

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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me.

In peace, love and urbanity,

Kristen

How to Start Being More Than a Performative Ally for Black Queer Feminist Urbanists

Being an ally of Black Queer Feminist Urbanism is not passive or automatic. It requires standing in the gap between the inequity and filling in the gap towards true liberation and justice.

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker, media maven, and fiber artist. This week I go into what it takes to be a Black Queer Feminist Urbanist ally. One of the first ways to be an ally is sponsorship for this newsletter either through Patreon or through our main advertising system. Scroll down to the Before You Go section to learn more about how you can become a sponsor/advertiser.

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Do the reading, and let it sink in.

Speak up, not just when something is wrong, but when something is going right.

If you run a business or organization: audit yourself to see if your compensation packages, workloads, strategic partners, and values/mission are conducive to a diverse and inclusive workplace.

The statements above are what usually come with instructions on how to be an ally to marginalized people, along with don’t be ___________(fill in the ism/ist here).

However, I’m a believer that one doesn’t become an ally as much as they are invited to be an ally. Why?

Because a lot of the time you could spend being an ally, you could be dismantling and rebuilding the system that you’re serving as an ally for the marginalized person to survive in the first place. If you stop short of doing this system replacement, then this is how your allyship gets labeled as performative. Yes, even if some of us pat you on the back and say we liked your mural or we are thankful for your small donation.

I believe that Black queer feminist urbanists, who are often Black women or gender-expansive people, who often are under and unpaid, many who don’t have adequate access to housing, transportation or healthcare, deserve more than survival. We deserve ease as we process and overcome these marginalizations and injustice. We deserve thrivance when we do decide to be active.

And of course, we deserve to not be broke, homeless, sick or left on the side of the road — especially since many of these issues are preventable.

Allyship that goes beyond performance, prevents, heals, and builds the structures that make us thrive.

Yet, when we go beyond being Black and add queer, feminist, and urbanist on top, we often find ourselves needing allies from within our racial communities.

We need folks that understand that everyone’s dream is not 2.5 children (seriously, a half child?), a picket fence and mini-mansion and to work dehumanizing jobs for still too small and unfair salaries to just barely afford and maintain it all.

That someone’s dream is a nice condo or rowhouse, with a working bus stop, to a humanizing occupation and fulfilling cultural opportunities, with just enough space to paint by the window or have neighborhood folks build a community garden.

A dream that is stewarded by community leaders that believe in collective abundance and liberation, not just bounty for oneself in the name of Black Power.

Or to travel around and be free from the intense grind of an American Dream that never really included all of us anyway, to make a real choice about where on Earth they would like to reside.

We also need folks that understand that gender has always been expandable and flexible, even at a young age.

And if that gender leans feminine in any shape or form, it’s not weaker or a sign that they have no real value in culture besides subjugation. No one deserves abuse and we all can heal from ways we abuse others and ourselves.

For those of us who have managed to break the shackles of unequal compensation, let’s invest not in companies that might not be companies tomorrow, but in communities that deserve to maintain at least a notion of legacy.

And finally, just because someone’s body doesn’t live up to our society’s standards that demand its constant grinding or that it even function or look a certain way, we don’t cast them aside in the name of a progress that doesn’t really include us either, when we get to the very top.

Ultimately, we all can function better in a world that lives under the why’s of Black queer feminist urbanism I shared a few letters ago, and upholding and enabling those whys as someone who only shares some or shares none of these intersections, is what makes one an ally.

Next week, unless you’re already in the lounge with us as a Black queer feminist urbanist, I’m going to help you affirm yourself as one and to recognize when someone is being a true ally and not just performing allyship.

Before You Go

As I said before, advertising or pledging support to Black queer femnist platforms like this one is a perfect way to be an ally and guess what, this is a transformative work! You can also advertise Black, queer, and/or feminist venture, run your birthday or anniversary or congratulations message, or something else that’s not job or conference or heavily design/construction/policy industry related. Even though the ads normally come with a $75/week price tag for a month-long commitment, I do have a one-off option for $155 for one week, and if you’re a Black queer feminist venture on a budget, your ad could be free. Reply back to this email if you’re ready to place an ad and learn more about advertising across this platform.

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Speaking of those outside ads, you can tell me in this survey what kind of ads you want to receive and a little more about who you are in a way that I can better write this newsletter for you. Also, you may still receive two versions of this newsletter, on Mailchimp and Substack, depending on how you subscribed and when you subscribed. If you want to unsubscribe from one or both versions, be sure to do so using the unsubscribe link provided in the emails run by the respective services. Or, you can keep deleting or ignoring the version you don’t like, lol. Remember, there will always be a free version of this newsletter, but you can scroll below for links to ways besides advertising to support this newsletter.

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The Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge is open for fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists to walk through this world together. What you’ll see in these next few emails is how our allies should show up and work to create this space for us, but we will be digging deeper into how to create this space for ourselves and what the whys and definitions should be in the Lounge. Lounge members are eligible for scholarships for my coaching and consulting services and lounge membership is free. Also, I’ve decided to not do an in-person Black Queer Feminist Urbanist summit in 2022, but I will be adding an event calendar for Black, queer, feminist, and/or urbanist events and I’ll be announcing some digital seminar/panel style events for later this year, that you’ll be able to either watch live or listen/watch at your leisure.

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My consulting services will actually be housed at my soon-to-be-revamped personal website for anyone who needs moving, resumes, career, and other help. If you’re ready to book a season, email directly at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and request a strategy service. The first 30-minute clarity session is free, then subsequent sessions starting at $150 for one follow-up session and $75/session for a package of four.

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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me.

Until next time,

Kristen

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist thoughts and commentary of me, Kristen Jeffers, internationally known urban planner, designer, analyst, keynote speaker,  media maven, and fiber artist. This week is a sample of when I turn my Black Queer Feminist Urbanst lens on a few current events at a time, with links. I’m thankful for sponsorship for this newsletter from my Patreon supporters.  Scroll down to the Before You Go section to learn how you can become a sponsor/advertiser.  

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Public health is urbanism. War and abolition are urbanism. And, yes, there’s a Black queer feminist lens out here for these urbanisms.

The world, if you go by mass media, has really only been focused on two things over the past few weeks. The “end” of the pandemic at the two-year anniversary of its first wave and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Of course, there’s more than these two things going on and I’ll be using at least one email a month, what I’m calling, for now, the Black Queeer Feminist Urbanist Current, to address mass media current events from a Black queer feminist urbanist lens. This may become a daily or even premium feature, but we’ll play that by ear for now.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably got a sense of where I stand on both of these issues, but I did want to pause and break these down a bit, especially as I’ve been processing what these mean for me and in a Black queer feminist urbanist lens.

So let’s start with Covid-19. It’s not over and I’m still wearing my mask in all indoor spaces, only eating and socializing maskless outdoors or in properly ventilated spaces, and limiting my travel. 

However, I would be happy to see folks outside of being outside, with the pledge to rapid test, PCR test, and mask as much as possible, coupled with that effort for filtering and ventilation. 

You may see Les out a bit more than me, as she has work obligations. However, she still has chronic issues that I want to protect as much as possible.

We might sound selfish, we don’t take for granted that at least 9 million people are still dealing with Covid complications and several, like the two of us, have yet to contract, but still are concerned about what it could do to us because neither of us assumes that we are spring chickens and we were 100% healthy prior to the pandemic. I’ll break down our health status more on a different day and let her tell you more of her story at places like endoQueer, her organization for queer folks with endometriosis and other gynecological issues. 

I do love this photo diary I found on the ReidOut Blog on mourning all that we’ve lost over the past two years and pushing forward into our next normal, especially as Black Americans. I’m a huge fan of Dr. Uche Blackstock, specifically as a Black feminist physician and public health advocate, who is featured in this diary along with several other Black women’s voices of the pandemic. 

I also want to lift up Imani Babrin, who has been crucial to the fight to not forget our disabled, specifically our Black and otherwise marginalized and disabled/chronically ill folks. When the head of the CDC first stated that Covid was basically over if you weren’t chronically ill or disabled and that their deaths were “good”, she lifted up the #MyDisabledLifeisWorthy hashtag and continues to remind us that we can’t leave folks behind, nor are those folks we are leaving behind (which may be ourselves), worthless. 

And then to Ukraine, Russia, and everything going on in that region. This is why I call for the end of imperialism. I think of my African siblings and others from non-European/white-identifying countries, who have been tokens of battles between “the West ” and Soviet/Russian/ex-Soviet colonies/countries for decades. Today they are struggling to both leave and/or survive because they aren’t quite Ukrainian and in some cases blatantly not the right nationality or skin color.

I’m thinking of the trans folks who are struggling with their passports being accepted at border crossings on top of day-to-day discrimination. 

I’m thinking of Ukrainian nationals who aren’t racist, queer/transphobic, wealthy, or powerful, who have been under some kind of imperialist conflict for years.  

Finally, I’m thinking of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who sits at several of these intersections, in the true legal sense that Kimberlee Crenshaw has outlined over the years. 

I want to lift up at this moment around this issue, all those working to get aid to Black, Asian, LGBTQIA+ and others who are marginalized. Several of these groups are practicing mutual aid, specifically, the work of Patricia Daley, Tokunbo Koiki and Korrine Sky who set up the website and hashtag Black Women for Black Lives to coordinate fundraising, media awareness, and volunteer efforts for people of African descent who are in Ukraine, while yet fleeing the country themselves and not having met in person.

I’m ending today’s newsletter with a moment of light and hope and healing to all under everyday oppression, but now here’s global imperialism knocking on the door, insisting that it alone knows who’s most human. It doesn’t. Next week, I’ll be back to continue to outline and break down the Black queer feminist urbanist lens, specifically how allies can pick up the glasses and aid those who are born with this lens. 

Before You Go

When I write clip sheets like this, I’ll more often than not run outside ads on them, only note that this was paid for by “viewers like you”. However, weeks like this are perfect times for me to advertise your Black, queer, and/or feminist venture, run your birthday or anniversary or congratulations message, or something else that’s not job or conference or heavily design/construction/policy industry related. Even though the ads normally come with a $75/week price tag for a month-long commitment, I do have a one-off option for $155 for one week, and if you’re a Black queer feminist venture on a budget, your ad could be free. Reply back to this email if you’re ready to place an ad and learn more about advertising across this platform.

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Speaking of those outside ads, you can tell me in this survey what kind of ads you want to receive and a little more about who you are in a way that I can better write this newsletter for you. Also, you may still receive two versions of this newsletter, on Mailchimp and Substack, depending on how you subscribed and when you subscribed. If you want to unsubscribe from one or both versions, be sure to do so using the unsubscribe link provided in the emails run by the respective services. Or, you can keep deleting or ignoring the version you don’t like, lol. Remember, there will always be a free version of this newsletter, but you can scroll below for links to ways besides advertising to support this newsletter,

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The Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge is open for fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists to walk through this world together. What you’ll see in these next few emails is how our allies should show up and work to create this space for us, but we will be digging deeper into how to create this space for ourselves and what the whys and definitions should be in the Lounge. Lounge members are eligible for scholarships for my coaching and consulting services and lounge membership is free. Also, I’ve decided to not do an in-person Black Queer Feminist Urbanist summit in 2022, but I will be adding an event calendar for Black, queer, feminist, and/or urbanist events and I’ll be announcing some digital seminar/panel style events for later this year, that you’ll be able to either watch live or listen/watch at your leisure.

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My consulting services will actually be housed at my soon-to-be-revamped personal website for anyone who needs moving, resumes, career, and other help. If you’re ready to book a season, email directly at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and request a strategy service. The first 30-minute clarity session is free, then subsequent sessions starting at $150 for one follow-up session and $75/session for a package of four.

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If you just want to support me for any reason, but don’t need anything in return, you can become a monthly Patreon supporter, or you can donate to my capital campaign, or Venmo or Cash. App me.

Until next time,

Kristen

The Black Urbanist Weekly for February 28 — March 6, 2022

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights I, Kristen Jeffers’s, Black Queer Feminist Urbanist commentary on one key issue every week. This week I’m ending  Black History Month by centering my Black Queer Feminist Urbanist  Future as I continue to combat both civic and regular inferiority complexes.  I’m also thankful for sponsorship for this newsletter from Rail~volution and my Patreon supporters. You can also advertise your Black and/or queer-led business, your upcoming urbanist conference, your next job/RFP announcement, or anything nice that we agree on together that’s less than 350 words. Rates start at $75/week for a four-week commitment and there are special packages for those aforementioned Black and/or queer-led businesses. Learn more. 

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The world is different for Black Queer Feminist Urbanists. The world is different for each and every human being. Planning for and embracing those differences is a key to healing our civic and regular inferiority complexes.

If I had to craft a theme song, thesis statement, or even a mantra for the last few years of my work, this would be it. 

The work started in the Fall of 2018. Falling in love and falling in love and making the resultant life changes I did, really shook how I was doing this work.

However, as early as the Fall of 2016 I had stopped trusting institutions and specifically the greater urbanism industry to do this right. 

This in 2016 being supporting me as a Black woman in the workplace, movement spaces, and even on event stages — notwithstanding today’s this that started in the fall of 2018 of embracing my full Black non-binary femme identity, while in a committed partnership with a lovely Black masculine of center lesbian woman.

Both of us from two corners of the Upper U.S. South, but with different childhoods and workplace experiences, and queer lives.

But both important, vibrant, and worthy of amplification.

However, when we, meaning all us humans, were all, not just some, but all afraid that we could die by breathing in the outside air, having a conversation about how my Black woman/femme/queerhood was different felt frivolous.

But then some died of Covid-19, and we lived on. Well, some of us. Some of us, mostly Black, still continue to die at the hands of state-sponsored forces, sometimes police, other times lack of support or income by the government or even our jobs that should be paying us a living wage or in hospital rooms because our healthcare wasn’t adequate.

We may have survived, but so many of us were tired.

I know I was tired from May 25, 2020, until about… well, let me be real, I’m still tired. 

But, I realized that spelling out to the world why it mattered that the cities we planned and governed should consider how the world is unique and special for Black women and gender diverse/marginalized individuals is still worthy.

And not just worthy, energy-producing, and life-giving. This is how I stay woke.

I’ve broken down what I’ve come to call my Black queer feminist urbanist manifesto a couple of times. Recently in this YouTube video from November of 2021 that served as the opening of my inaugural Black Queer Feminist Urbanist summit. And to be honest, you can see the roots of what I’m talking about today in this 2011 Pecha Kutcha Raleigh talk, which sets me on this course even when I thought I was just out here proving my existence as just Black feminine urbanist.

Today, I’m back with more clarity and to track my evolution between these two talks and beyond and to tie up this series that’s leaned into our history and legacies of our ancestors, what it takes to create communities safely and how to honor the spirit of our community and its needs. This week, we end on the self and how I practice political self-care. 

Yes, this is where I define myself for myself. You can too, but first, let me break it down for you.

First of all, this framework assumes that a city already leads in Black women’s outcomes in education, employment, and healthcare. Remember that CityLab article/study on these from 2019? That’s our baseline.

And then to that, I added 8 things, in short, and in no particular order:

1. Workplaces and spaces, that pay and fund fairly; inclusive, and respectful of all genders presentations and sexualities of Black people, as well as their strength, intellect, and leadership.
2. Hair salons that love and affirm the way my hair comes out of my head and can be creative with it, priced fairly and clearly.
3. Artist, maker, creative, and hobby spaces, funding, and communities that are inclusive of Black people, respectful of our culture, and believe in fair compensation for creative works of pay.
4. A balance of comfort and sustaining food
5. Bookstores and libraries, especially with staff, titles, and events centering BIack, Queer and Feminist thought and people.
6. Indoor and outdoor recreation areas with staff and programming that is Black-friendly and LGBTQIA- affirming.
7. Houses of faith, that center Afro-Diaspora faith traditions, and other indigenous spiritual practices, that also affirm queer and trans identities, partnerships, families, participation, and leadership.
8. LGBTQIA+ spaces that aren’t white supremacist, classist, ableist, and privileging/hostile to some of the identities of the acronym over others.

And to my original 8 requirements, I want to add a 9th, adequate public transportation.

I’m shocked I left it out the first time, but that’s just how easy it takes for even someone who’s hyper-aware of challenges to take things for granted. I’ll admit here that having a personal vehicle, even one I share with another person, makes me take things for granted.

This is why this framework is something all of us should consider when we are thinking about where to live, even though it is infused by my must-haves and haves that I think of when I think of a city that makes Black women and gender-expansive/diverse feel loved and wanted, not just tolerated and needed.

Breaking down this framework is far too big for one newsletter…

…so over the next few weeks, I’m going to do what I wanted to do in the Spring and Summer of 2020 and that breaks this framework down section by section across the next few newsletters, to help us build that Black queer feminist urbanism.

Because yes, I 100% believe, as we go from Black History to Women’s History month, that the liberation of Black gender-marginalized folks (that includes my fellow non-binary and trans folks) and the creation of spaces that serve in our liberation, set us all free.

Before You Go

For those of you who are able and itching to get out to another in-person conference, Rail~Volution will be in Miami next October, and as in years past, scholarship opportunities will be available. 

Are you involved with transit, mobility, and development projects or investments? Are you dedicated to their potential to shape better places to live for everyone — to build more equitable and sustainable communities? Do you have new approaches or innovations to share?

The annual Rail~Volution transit and community development conference will be in-person in Miami, Florida, next October 30- November 2. The Call for Speakers for the conference is now open, through March 16.

As we look forward to coming together in Miami, we’re focusing both on the ways mobility and development are being transformed and on solidifying the basics. We want the 2022 conference to be a place to reinvigorate the vision for transit-oriented communities and to share nitty-gritty know-how across all aspects of the work, from community engagement to planning, policies to technology, engineering to design financing to implementation, operations to metrics, and evaluation.  

Submit a proposal and make sure your experience is in the mix! For full information and the link to submit, visit railvolution.org/callforspeakers. Scholarships are available and Covid-19 protocols will be taken. 

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I have so much more I want to say and I don’t want to get stuck with what email service to use. One thing I do want to clarify is that there will always be a free edition of this newsletter, even on Substack. However, that will come with ads, like the one above for Rail~volution. But, you can tell me in the survey what kind of ads you want to receive and a little more about who you are in a way that I can better write this newsletter for you.

Or you can advertise your Black or queer-led business,  job, RFP, conference, achievement, or even a shoutout. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment, but there are one, two, three week options available, plus opportunities to extend. Learn more about our new advertising program.

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Finally, next week, I will be re-opening the Black Queer Feminist Urbanist Lounge for fellow Black Queer Feminist Urbanists to walk through this framework together. What you’ll see in these next few emails is how our allies should show up and work to create this space for us, but we will be digging deeper into how to create this space for ourselves over on Mighty Networks. Mighty Networks is also going to be where I build out my consulting services for anyone who needs moving, resume, career and other help, but you can still email me directly at kristen@theblackurbanist.com and request a strategy service, starting at $150 for one session and $75/session for a package of four. 

Until next time,

Kristen

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights I, Kristen Jeffers’s, Black Queer Feminist Urbanist commentary on one key issue every week. This week I’m dipping into my vault of prior posts and newsletters to celebrate Black History Month. This week, I’m revisiting my May 26, 2014 post on why I love conferences + talking about why I’m building one of my own and how you can be part of its second iteration.  I’m also thankful for sponsorship for this newsletter from Greater Greater Washington and many of you who are Patreon supporters. 

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First, let’s revisit my post “Why I Love Conferences”, from May 26, 2014. I wrote this on the eve of going to the Buffalo iteration of the Congress for New Urbanism, during my first PAID keynote and workshop conference season. In lieu of sharing the whole thing this week, I am going to share the parts that still speak to me, then I’ll be back just below to talk about where I’m at now and of course, a few reminders/announcements before you go.

It is that time of year again when many of us who blog and write and speak gather at industry conferences. Or is it always that time of year?

Back in the day, maybe you went to your state American Planning Association (APA) conference or the big national one.  Architects had AIA or NOMA or maybe the Congress for New Urbanism.(CNU) Transportation folks did the  Transportation Review Board Annual Meeting , the National Bike Summit, Railvolution or something else similar. Anyway, you did your one conference, got your continuing education credits and came back to the nest (or bunker) and went at it another year.

Nowadays, [there’s more]between TEDx, Pecha Kucha, and Ignite in the tech/mainstream world and Transportation Camp and similar unconferences in our world, not to mention the South By Southwests, SparkCons and Middle of the Maps that just do a lot of everything.

And I can’t get enough of these gatherings, no matter where they are and what purpose they serve. I get a thrill from presenting my thoughts as a keynote. I love bringing together my friends to have a guided conversation. And of course, there are the social activities that come from these gatherings. This is networking at its finest.

Why do I love them so much? I think it’s one thing to write in isolation, with the occasional Facebook share, comment or email to a colleague that happens with an online or even printed article. Yet, for me, as an extroverted writer and speaker, the joy that comes from gathering with my fellow urbanists or marketers, or professional black women or young women with side gigs or just chillin’ with my best friends and family is healing. It’s why so many of us when we can or on a regular basis attend worship services or fellowship meetings or yoga classes. You grow and you change and you heal from being around like minds.

An additional piece I like about conferences and convening is that when done the right way, these events change lives outside the conference hall…

…conferences that don’t have a good mix of keynotes, breakouts, formal and informal networking sessions fail. Some of the best connections and most valuable business deals happen in the exhibit hall. Another failure comes when your content isn’t compelling. I know occasionally, one has to explain the mechanics of a situation, especially in a continuing education class. Yet, we remember most the vibrant teachers, the ones who have found the human touch in the most boring of subjects.

So, we’re back in 2022 and I wanted to spend a whole section discussing where my thoughts are now.

First of all, COVID-19 has changed how we gather, when we gather, and what steps we need to take to gather. 

Secondly, even if COVID disappears overnight — racial justice, equity, and inclusion; disability and illness accommodations, economic balance, and soundness for both attendees and people running these conferences need to be centered.

One of the reasons I’ve historically centered and encouraged major conferences in my work is due to the ability to meet a variety of people from all over the world in one centralized place. Plus, I was walking in the door in a body that’s marginalized and disadvantaged more often than not, from a hometown that’s only just beginning to regain some degree of mainstream recognition. Plus, being on the internet even back in 2014, was still an exception, versus the nucleus of how we keep up with each other, especially in the greater built environment/land-use/community and economic development sector.

I needed my Black(Queer) Feminist North-Carolinian body to be in those rooms because otherwise, I was just some girl playing on the internet in her teenhood bedroom and how could I possibly know what was needed for communities to shine and thrive.

Now, I know that I can create the spaces I needed AND I should create a space that centers my identities, because they do affect how I perceive the world AND they do have buying power, in addition to humanity that needs no introduction, justification, or underscoring.

Everything I said in 2014, at least what I’ve chosen to put here is true. What’s also true is that we need to leverage technology and every corner of our networks, to strengthen our humanity.

In October, I’ll be offering that hybrid conference I promised. If you’re interested in being a local host, reply back or comment.

And next week I’ll be revisiting my call for us to end civic inferiority complexes and the last week of this month, how crafting a Black Queer Feminist Urbanism has helped me shake off my own inferiority complex.

Before You Go

One of the reasons I’m able to take this month to shift my format and re-establish how I approach all of my work is because of support from my new system for advertisements. This week, the newsletter is sponsored again by Greater Greater Washington, which is hiring a Regional Policy Director.  Is that you? The Regional Policy Director will play a lead role in shaping how GGWash’s regional policy work evolves in the coming years. Focused primarily on housing issues in Maryland, they will develop the organization’s local and state policy agenda, build and strengthen relationships with local and regional stakeholders, organize diverse people who are interested in housing issues in the region to ensure their voices are heard, and run GGWash’s regional endorsements process.

This is a full-time, salaried position with compensation from $83,000 – $93,000 per year depending on experience. Benefits include health insurance contributions, dental insurance, life insurance, transit commuter benefits, 401(k) deferral, and paid leave. GGWash is an equal opportunity employer, and encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Interested? Know someone who might be a good fit? Check their job post here and apply by Friday, February 18th. 

BikeWalkKC also still needs a community organizer who will focus on the Historic Northeast and East sides of Kansas City on the Missouri side, who relies on transit,biking and/or walking. Learn more and apply. 

Want to advertise your job, RFP, conference, achievement or something else? Let’s talk. Rates start at $75 a week for a four week commitment, but there are one, two, three week options available, plus opportunities to extend. Learn more about our new advertising program.

Finally, if we share identity intersections and you’re out here on the job hunt, thinking about starting a business or need a strategic plan for just getting through on this planet, hit me up. I offer this service on a sliding scale, starting at $75 per 1.5 hour session for students/recent grads and anyone else who needs a break in their budget and $250 per 1.5 hour session for those of you doing alright financially, but you need or want to switch things up. The word on the street is true about helping nudge some folks into some life-changing opportunities, I would love for that to be you too. Send me a direct email with the subject Strategy Session.

Until next time,

Kristen

This is The Black Urbanist Weekly, an email newsletter that highlights Kristen Jeffers’s(that’s me’s) Black Queer Feminist Urbanist commentary on one key issue every week. This week I’m dipping into my vault of prior posts and newsletters to celebrate Black History Month. Below, you’ll find my post from June 23, 2013 — The Common Man’s Legacy for a City— written just weeks after I lost my father, plus, a few of my current thoughts on this post and the message it shared.  I’m also thankful for sponsorship for this newsletter from Greater Greater Washington and many of you who are Patreon supporters. 

The Common Man’s Legacy in a City (Originally Published on June 23, 2013)

What does it take to leave a legacy in a city? Is it having your name on a building that you either built or gave a lot of money to make?

Is it knowing your entire block or neighborhood?

Is it leaving behind children and grandchildren who continue on with the family cause or business?

These are questions I’ve been thinking about lately. I’m not going to go into any more details about what brought me to these questions, because there’s a lot I cannot say about why and what happened. However, the root of it all starts here, as I detailed in my About section and in my 2010  [now unlisted] Grist article “Does urbanism have to be black or white?”

It all started with a map on the floor. My dad and I would spend Saturday afternoons “driving” around with my toy NASCARs from my friendly neighborhood Hardees. As I got older, I became enamored of the small skyline of my hometown of Greensboro, N.C. So enamored that one day, while I was sick with the chicken pox, my dad went out and bought me a postcard with the skyline on it. It hangs in my room to this day.

When they widened the main road next to our house, I cried. I also was opposed to a hotel project near my current residence that threatened to upstage the downtown area. Mind you, I was only eight. I was an urbanist in the making, although I would have had no way of knowing there was a name for it.

Dad and I biked through our neighborhood on Saturday afternoons. Those bike rides took us through housing projects and 1940s era single-family homes until we made it to the main suburban artery. I loved my bike until I moved to a neighborhood where I was teased for just walking around. It’s taken me about 15 years to consider getting back on a bike. My dad still bikes; he’s always had a string of intermittently non-working cars, so he doesn’t think twice about it.

My dad doesn’t have any buildings named after him. I’ll probably have to sell his house. He struggled to walk down streets with no sidewalks. Then there was the bike. When he got tired of fighting our stroads with both of those, he put money into a car he could barely afford. Yet, he fixed up homes that weren’t built well in the first place. He mowed yards that others couldn’t maintain. He always had a song in his heart and brought music to any space. Finally, he made sure that I knew that people, all people, mattered. All these things are his legacy.

How can you leave a legacy in your city? DO YOU and do what your community needs. My dad did. It does not take money, a building with your name on it, or a stone edifice of your body to be someone who is never forgotten or to create an example.

In fact, if you create an example, that legacy lives on and it lives in the present.

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As we go into another Black History Month, I want to challenge everyone reading or consuming a version of this page, to think about your legacy. Everyone has one and you’re definitely not required to have a building, stature or some other marker this current society  has deemed “legacy” to have one.

Before You Go

One of the reasons I’m able to take this month off is because of support from my new system for advertisements. Below, is one from one of the favorite platforms I’ve written from — Greater Greater Washington , which is hiring a Regional Policy Director. Is that you? The Regional Policy Director will play a lead role in shaping how GGWash’s regional policy work evolves in the coming years. Focused primarily on housing issues in Maryland, they will develop the organization’s local and state policy agenda, build and strengthen relationships with local and regional stakeholders, organize diverse people who are interested in housing issues in the region to ensure their voices are heard, and run GGWash’s regional endorsements process.

This is a full-time, salaried position with compensation from $83,000 – $93,000 per year depending on experience. Benefits include health insurance contributions, dental insurance, life insurance, transit commuter benefits, 401(k) deferral, and paid leave. GGWash is an equal opportunity employer, and encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Interested? Know someone who might be a good fit? Check their job post here and apply by Friday, February 18th. 

Also, I found out one of my other prior organizations, BikeWalkKC, needs a community organizer who will focus on the Historic Northeast and East sides of Kansas City on the Missouri side, who relies on transit,biking and/or walking. Learn more and apply. 

Want to advertise your job, RFP, conference, achievement or something else? Let’s talk. Rates start at $75 a week for a four-week commitment, but there are one, two, three week options available, plus opportunities to extend. Learn more about our new advertising program.

And if you want to get help with resumes, cover letters or make plans to change jobs, start a business, relocate, or all of the above, especially if we share the intersections of being Black, Queer and (US) Southern, let’s talk. I’ll talk to you for an hour and review one resume and cover letter for $150USD. Additional sessions are $75/session. Send me a note if you’re interested and we can get you on schedule!

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Finally,

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