Amplifying Voices | Cultivating Equity | Preserving Culture

Photo by @LennoxAve Photography

"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time." -James Baldwin

2020 has placed us in some of the ripest times in decades for racial and social justice. This quote from James Baldwin is a very surreal feeling that those of us who do this work constantly for a living have had to learn to manage. But I also recognize and observe that constant exposure to violence and active oppression has many people feeling rage for the first, prolonged, and/or consistent time.

Do what you need to do for you and those closest to you. I've learned over many years to let my rage is similar to a river. And it's an every day battle to manage and keep it from overflowing up. There are good days and bad days.

In 2020 consciously realized that I naturally started thinking of my rage and experiences as a yin and yang. Yin is the receptive and Yang the active principle. The universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of Yin and Yang and formed into objects and lives. My take: there is good in bad, and bad in good.

I thank each of you for supporting us in your own way. We are only as strong as our community. We are a very small team packed with a hell of a punch. Simply put: WE can't do US without YOU. And we wouldn't want to.

Stay true to you and pace yourself,

Miss Micha
Founder of The Urban Advocate

How we use our skills and expertise to impact our community

In 2019 we launched Alexxus Community Group, LLC to provide community-based consulting services. The Urban Advocate services our target communities through partnerships, free (or low cost) services, in-kind donations, and grant funding. When faced with the decision to gain non-profit status, we decided against it BUT also knew we needed a solution for consistent funding.

Alexxus Community Group, LLC is a social enterprise that aims at helping businesses, organizations, and communities identify and strengthen their #CivicFootprint. We define a Civic Footprint as the impact your business or organization has on its' direct community. As an example, instead of giving to national organizations, we can assist you with developing programs/initiatives OR partnering with local, on-the-ground organizations that speak to our mission, vision, and values. We also offer a variety of organizational support and consulting to support your impact!

Collaborative grant writing
Creation and/or re-envisioning of mission, vision, & values
Consumer Engagement
Organizational Storytelling
Strategic Planning
"I have an idea but I need help" sessions
Recourse & community mapping
Program management & support
Organizing support
& MORE

In the last 2 years we have had some DYNAMIC clients. We appreciate you all. Thanks to our clients we are able to have consistent funding for The Urban Advocate.

Which bring us to the "social enterprise" part: Through consulting we are able to fund community initiatives. A WIN we want to share with you:

2020: WE WERE FULLY FUNDED VIA CONSULTING! For the first time, our team did not use personal funds to support The Urban Advocate.
We could not have done it with out you. Thank you for every referral, consideration, and opportunity to chat!

If you know of anyone who needs out help, send them our way Info@AlexxusCommunityGroup.com

Follow us on Instagram for creative ideas & inspiration: @AlexxusCommunityGroup

One thing We've been working on during Quarantine:
Reimagining parks in Mechanicsville!

We sponsored the creation of the Friends of Mechanicsville Community Parks group through Park Pride to look at the land use of parks (covers both Rosa L. Burney and Windsor St Parks. It will also cover the *pending* Dog Park).

Park Pride invited us to apply for their Design Consultation allowed us to explore the design of Rosa L. Burney Park and work with a volunteer landscape architect to design a small area of our park. We had an opportunity to present our idea at a workshop that can be viewed HERE

Check out the renderings we created for Rosa L. Burney Park!

*We do not currently have plans to make changes to any parks*

Introducing the Intrenchment Creek Community Stewardship Council

Intrenchment Creek is a primary watershed area in south and south east Atlanta. Many residents may not be aware of the creek because much of it is buried underneath asphalt and concrete. In fact, that development is a major reason why we see significant flooding in communities like Peoplestown when we have big rain storms. The creek is beneath us, right under our feet and under our streets, and when it rains, that rainwater has to go somewhere. And for too many of our residents, it's coming into our homes and causing displacement.

We're working to reverse this!

Learn more HERE

This is all we will share for now. The next 5 months will be packs with initiatives and opportunities for you to volunteer, partner, & donate! We NEED YOU!

See you again soon!
STAY SAFE + WEAR YOUR MASK & WASH YOUR HANDS!

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