🎨 by @just___steffi I was approached by @brentinmock of @citylab some months back to contribute to a series that would be exploring how to make cities more livable for Black Women. In thinking about NYC and its change over time, one thing that stuck out to me was how small this city feels as people I know leave and spaces I frequent disappear. Walking around my own neighborhood thinking “the homie lived there” or “there used to be a little spot here” but they’re gone. It used to make me sad when folks left and it definitely directly contributed to the work I’ve done over the last 15 years. If it wasn’t working to build affordable housing, it was seeing storefronts that were vacant when I moved into my neighborhood over a decade ago STILL vacant (likely out of greed) and irking the shit out of me. Meanwhile, I know so many people (Black Women especially) with great ideas that could have made these spaces something special. I entered a whole new chapter in my career because of this! This was an essay inspired by many: Cindy Campbell for one (you should know who she is but if you don't, you'll know once you read), but also Black women around me doing the damn work with much less than what we KNOW is out there: @JADALAREIGN with Skillshare, providing DJ and production workshops for women, queer, and non-binary people of color, my dear friend @toyaane and her decades of work leading arts organizations, and Myriam and Marva of @odetobabel, who have truly created something special in a part of Brooklyn that has sadly gentrified quite a bit. Give these women all the things: money, full control, buildings & capital funds to grow these communities they have already fostered. Then do it again for the countless others like them and make sure we have stable, adequate, affordable housing so we can remain here. I’d love to live in that city. Link to essay in my bio & in my stories.