The Reparations Network is a community funded action to make reparations to our beautiful Black community. The Reparations Network was originally created to run parallel each time I offer the Confronting Anti-Blackness for Latinx and Chicanx program.
From the community raised funds, Celestial Alegría pays $500 of reparations to 10 Black leaders, artists, organizers, healers and organizations each week as the Confronting Anti-Blackness participants move through the 10 week training program. Each Friday reparations recipients are uplifted on the Celestial Alegría social media!
Since the launch of the Reparations Network in July 2020, our community raised $30,000 through this grassroots community action, and offered reparations to 50 Black siblings and Black led organizations in our community!
Together we are making reparations a reality!
How You Can Support the Reparations Network
We have once again achieved our $5,000 goal! Every dollar truly counts! Thank you so much to everyone who gave and became a part of this community action by giving since the launch of this collective effort.
Give via Venmo @Celeste-Matinez-129 or
Share about the Reparations Network with 5 people you know! The more you share with others the greater this network can grow! Forward this information, share on social media, send a text, and give your people a call!
We are making reparations a reality for our beautiful Black community!
Educate yourself about reparations! There is always so much we can learn. Start by reading what the Movement for Black Lives has envisioned for reparations.
Don't stop there! Keep listening to our Black siblings and their demands. Black liberation is how we will get FREE!
Reparations Recipients
William H. Dickerson II
William H. Dickerson II or "Bro Will,'' as he is known in community, is a Co- Executive Director of a statewide community organizing network in Massachusetts. He was born and raised in Colorado and spent most of his life in the state. He recently spent a sabbatical in Gabon with his ancestral tribe. During his time in Gabon, Bro Will was initiated in his ancestral tribe and is now a full member. Bro Will is fully committed to the liberation of Black people through reparations and commits his work to helping others get the resources through reparations to be able to do what he was able to do during his sabbatical.
Offer additional reparations to Bro Will and his family via Venmo @sequoriadickerson
Akiala
Akiala is a Denver born conscious creator that brings visions to life.She is passionate about using her many multidimensional artistic mediums (writing, web design, graphic design, styling, consulting, branding, sewing, videography, photography, interior design & public speaking) to bring community concepts and dreams into fruition. Akiala has published six books and writes about her experiences with motherhood, life, travel, alchemy & relationships. Her books invite the reader to be curious about their own evolution journey and take time to self reflect and consciously create their reality.
Make further reparations to Akiala via Venmo @akialai
breana connor
breana is a bilingual interdisciplinary artist, facilitator + healer driven by collectivist care. they dream of a society that shares resources + functions based on ability + need. breana’s artmaking is expansive, marrying movement, poetry, community practice + resource redistribution. breana facilitates spaces that encourage solidarity, pleasure + returning to the body. after grief, change + transition.
Offer additional reparations to breana via Venmo @Breana-Connor
Regi Worles
Regi is a young, black, queer person attempting to live life as authentically and honestly as possible in a world where this is supposed to be impossible. Armed with joy, community, and art, Regi attempts to move through this world as an act of living poetry: being before naming. Regi is a founding member and part of the founding duo of Dog Tags, a band attempting to spread love and community through Latin-Soul, Neo-Soul, and Jazz R&B. They are also working to curate a zine project that will bring together the voices of those lost, restless but nevertheless energized young people who are finding new opportunities to create community. Lastly, Regi dedicates his time to understanding how story, media, and social change collide. This has led them to work for the sacred and beloved community facilitated by Soul2Soul Sisters. Regi hopes to continue developing his storytelling and marketing expertise through his studies with the Denver Ad School.
Make further reparations offerings to Regi via Venmo @Regi-Worles
Vanessa Roberts
Vanessa is a community-based scholar, educator, and facilitator currently based in Denver, Colorado. Since 2019 she has served as the Executive Director of Project VOYCE (Voices of Youth Creating Equity), a nonprofit in Denver that partners with youth to develop transformative youth leaders who are engaged equitably in their own development and the development of their communities. She first worked with Project VOYCE in 2016 when she was part of a graduate student research team brought in to develop the action civics curriculum and continued the partnership with the org to develop a new model of youth development centered in critical consciousness pedagogical innovations and a culturally responsive social justice framework. Vanessa is an experienced facilitator with 10+ years as a diversity, equity, and inclusion trainer; also known for her expertise in youth-adult partnerships and in facilitating cycles of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). She holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from the Tisch School of Arts at New York University and a B.A. in Liberal Arts & Sciences from Colorado College.
Make additional offerings to support Vanessa at Project VOYCE here.
nate herndon
nate, also known as blvck astronaut, is a self taught visual artist and dancer from Albuquerque,NM. nate has been active in the Albuquerque community for over two decades, working as both a visual and movement artist. nate sees art as a form of meditation through self discipline, focusing on clean and precise execution to express themes of duality, controlled aggression, joy, hope, anger, despair, triumph, natural and supernatural energies and the musings of an inner child obsessed with sci fi, comics, hip hop and subculture.
Offer more reparations to nate at https://www.paypal.me/blvckastronaut
Tauz Tampovi
Tauz is a Queer Black and Indigenous woman, she and her teenage daughter reside in their homelands of San Ildefonso Pueblo New Mexico. Tauz is a Trauma Recovery Specialist, traditional healer, perinatal community health worker, certified lactation counselor and birth attendant. Tauz incorporates teachings from her family lineage from San Ildefonso Pueblo as well as teachings that have been shown to her through ceremony, prayer and ancestral knowledge through her Trinidadian and African lineage. As a facilitator and clinician, she practices massage therapy, energy work, Reiki, healing touch, chakra balancing and Somatic Archaeology, a healing modality focused on working with body awareness to unlock stories of personal and generational trauma from our bodies, allowing room for reconciliation, healing and personal growth.
Offer more reparations to Tauz via Venmo @Sandora-TamuPovi or CashApp $SandoraTamuPovi
Mayam
mayam is a queer trans earthworker, ancestral communicator, parent and student in this wonderful existence we call life. Currently, they are living on Ancestral Tiwa Territory (Albuquerque, NM) and are originally from Charlotte, NC (Catawba Territory). Their farm is titled “Ancestral Acres Farm and Garden” honoring the landcestors, ancestors, and plantcestors they are in relationship with. They grew up between two worlds, farming in rural North Carolina and living in the city. Now they see themselves as someone not only cultivating land, but cultivating relationships, integrity, and love with all those they interact as they grow medicinal food and plants. mayam's dream is to have a space of belonging, no longer leasing land to farm, but a place to be in long term relationship with chosen family and kin.
Make additional reparations to mayam via Venmo @d3r3n6 or CashApp $d3r3n6
Evonne Edwards
Evonne is a Denver-based storyteller, content creator, birther, and rootworker. Their work builds new worlds full of play, the Divine, honesty, and growth. Their methodologies are rooted in coming to age and giving birth, in the future with a Black femme lens. Evonne books divination and rootwork services through their Instagram @astroidkin They also provide consultations and education services, to learn more about Evonne’s services send an email to evonne.edwards.ae@gmail.com
Offer more reparations to Evonne via Venmo @april_edwards
Quintaisha Wake
Two years after losing her incredible mom Cynthia Wake to cancer, Quintaisha now faces the unimaginable- the loss of her 19-year-old brother Xavier to fentanyl and homelessness. As Quintaisha grieves and fights to get answers about what happened to her brother, she is also struggling for resources to care for herself and her daughters. Let’s surround Quintaisha with community care and offer her continued support.
You can offer further reparations by giving to her go fund me campaign at https://gofund.me/0443262b
Monica Raye Simpson
Monica Raye Simpson is the executive director of SisterSong: The National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Simpson is a queer, Black, from North Carolina and long-term organizer fighting against systemic violence against southern Black women and LBGTQ people. A singer and spoken word artist, Simpson created Artists United for Reproductive Justice at SisterSong, a platform for artists to collaborate on replicable artwork that furthers the reproductive justice movement.
You can offer additional reparations to Monica by donating to SisterSong here.
Demi Harvey
Demi is a Denver local, born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO. She has 8+ years of experience in the music industry, who is currently a radio host and digital editor at Indie 102.3. Tune into her radio show Serve It on the last Sunday of each month at 8pm, which celebrates 2SLGTBQ+ artists. Demi is passionate about the queer community and is known for hosting events focused creating safe spaces for queer BIPOC.
Offer additional reparations to Demi via CashApp $demisassypants
Béalleka
Béalleka (she/her) is a joyfully queer, Black, indigenous Kenyan raised in 1980’s suburban Los Angeles, and a critically engaged intersectional womanist. An avid reader of Octavia E. Butler for nearly 35 years, she credits Butler’s fiction for shaping her nonbinary views of humans and our more-than-human relatives. Béalleka brings her breadth of experience as a professor of African American Literature, Ethnic Studies, and Gender + Sexuality, and her passion for Liberatory Unlearning, to her coaching and consulting work. Formerly a long-term participant in Portland, Oregon’s arts, culture and activism communities, she now practices daily liberation and gratitude in rural northern New Mexico adjacent the Taos Pueblo. Here, she learns with and guides other Black women on our collective healing journeys. To learn more about her offerings go to www.Bealleka.com
Additional reparations will support Béalleka’s healing work with Black women and collective liberation work via the Peculiar Intimacy Healing Institute, which addresses the perils and privileges of white adjacency. You can make further reparations to Béalleka via Venmo @Bealleka or PayPal.me/Bealleka
Kwame Pitts
Kwame (She/Her/Hers) has found herself immersed in justice movements surrounding transformative and revolutionary change; her name is a dedication to a collective ancestor, Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana. It is also a reminder to her of the responsibility and the accountability she has towards her Ancestors which she holds in high stead and to the journey of multiple faith belonging that she finds herself immersed in. Part of her journey is ordained clergy in the Christian church, serving as a pastoral presence on the East Side of Buffalo with Community of Good Neighbors, working towards food equity with the @GreenBus-CGN's Mobile Food Pantry. In addition, she continues the work as a practical Womanist theologian at the intersection of racism, violence, and oppression. The other part of her journey began over 15 years ago; guided, and confirmed through her Ancestors under the continued guidance and training of her Padrino and Madrina, she works as a healer and practitioner in Lukumi locally in her community and has created Oasis Community, a safe and sacred space for the spiritual not religious.
Offer further reparations to Kwame via Venmo @Kwame-Pitts-1
MachèteMouth
MacheteMouth (She/They) is a Queer black fat Denver based artist experimenting and expressing rage, joy, lust and generational trauma through music. She is originally from Houston, Texas. They’ve worked many different careers in her life, none of which have been as fulfilling as creating art. In September 2021 Machete Mouth released their debut self titled EP, which you can find on all streaming platforms. She is currently raising funds to purchase a new computer so they can continue to make musical magic.
Continue to make reparations to Machete Mouth via CashApp $MacheteMouth
Kamyon Conner
Kamyon Conner is a queer Black activist, writer and social worker with her roots firmly planted in grassroots organizing. She serves as the Executive Director of Texas Equal Access Fund, an abortion fund serving West, East and North Texas. She served as the Vice President of the National Network of Abortion Fund's Board of Directors until 2021 and currently serves as the Vice President of PRIDENTON, a Denton based grassroots organization that celebrates LGBTQ+ folks and hosts Pride annually with a focus on QTBIPOC leadership. She enjoys incorporating self-care into her work and spending time with chosen family, her partner and her dog. She is an advocate for human rights and Reproductive Justice.
You can offer further reparations to Kamyon via PayPal.me/kamyonconner
Ash Ferguson
Ash is a queer, non-binary, mystic, spiritual coach, friend and community leader. A lover of Black people, especially Black women, Ash is committed to creating spaces for Black Femmes to heal and thrive against all odds. Her work personally and professionally is fueled from her knowing that all Black people are destined to live pleasure filled lives. They are a manifestor, breaking way for new visions of living a life fully liberated from the systems that try to bind us. They are a pleasure doula, journeying with people in creating and birthing a life filled with pleasure. She holds space for beloveds healing from trauma using Acudetox, yoga and sacred touch.
You can offer additional reparations to Ash via Venmo @ash-ferguson-53
morgynne tora
morgynne d’sulueti tora is an ultra-dimensional traveler, cultivator of culture + collective faith keeper. they have a decade of experience in culturally relevant facilitation rooted in practices of indigenous storytelling. morgynne practices veiqia, the tatu practice of the iTaukei people, with the intention of amplifying intergenerational healing, indigenization + expanding the capacity for god in the body. they are an artist of archival remembrance, mapping + divining the conversations between our collective selves.
Continue to make reparations to morgynne via Paypal bloodmathematics@gmail.com
Saladin Thomas
Saladin Thomas is a Black performer, writer, and anti-racist educator currently teaching 5th grade in Aurora Public Schools, Colorado.. He holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Education, both from the University of Colorado, Denver. He is the drummer for Denver band To Be Astronauts, performs improv with the Circo de Nada production group, raps under the alias J.M. Blackfriend, and he is the 2022 Denver Regional Air Guitar Champion! In his spare time, he plays needlessly complex board games. You can follow him on Twitter @JMBlackfriend; you can find To Be Astronauts on Spotify and tobeastronauts.bandcamp.com. He plays competitive air guitar as dreadflanders_usag on TikTok.
You can offer additional reparations to Sal via Venmo @Saladin-Thomas
Shades of Honey
Shades of Honey seeks to create space, place and voice for Black, Brown and Indigenous folks in the broader Denver Community. Through the “people’s mic”, Shades pulls on the long tradition of the Beat Scene and other Black artistic movements to foster an environment of healing, expression, resistance and radical joy. We are a non-hierarchical organization and operate on consensus decision making. We utilize different artistic mediums to materially support the struggles of all people that are being oppressed. We are a community of artists, visionaries, and organizers that strive to provide art-based healing in the Denver community. Shades of Honey is an events-based collective.
You can offer additional reparations to Shades of Honey via Venmo @Shades-ofhoney
Jamillah Robinson
Jamillah is a creative mum of two girls- 10 & 16 from Philadelphia. Outside of enjoying parenting, she finds lots of time to teach arts and crafts along with sharing ways to create memories with others in any community she is able to reach! She is currently most excited to explore ways of getting my crafts to different parts of the country via web classes!
You can offer additional reparations to Jamillah via PayPal.me/JamillahR
Beverly Grant
Beverly Grant originally from Denver is the mother of three children, including her son Reese, who tragically lost his life at age 17 yrs. She has been a community organizer and entrepreneur for 30 years. Beverly’s most recent venture is an urban farmers market called Mo’ Betta Green MarketPlace, which was launched in 2011 in the Historic Five Points Neighborhood. Additionally, Beverly is a founding member of the Satya Yoga Cooperative and teaches a number of courses including Trauma Sensitive Yoga for Grief along with being a radio host for multiple programs with KGNU.
Continue to make reparations to Beverly via Venmo @mobettagreen
Akilah Williams
Akilah was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Akilah’s company KiRa represents her personal transformation and spiritual journey that is influenced by Kemetic teachings. She started KiRa last year as a means to present to her community, some of her passions and talents. Akilah offers organic fruit infused sea-moss, vegan treats and earrings.
You can offer additional reparations to Akilah via CashApp $Akilah5608
Ebony Griffin
Ebony, also known as The Phoenix, is a holistic life coach, fine artist and Black business owner. She teaches and paints from a healing space free of judgment. Ebony’s purpose is to enlighten the mind to align with the spirit through my creative expression and life experiences. She believes her environment is a reflection and chooses to see the greatness in it!
You can offer additional reparations to Ebony via CashApp $Ebony2384
Sheree Brown
Sheree (she/they) is an experienced writer, BlackFuturist, worldbuilder, creative, facilitator, and mother. As a daughter of celestial and earthly Diaspora, she practices the medicine of plants, healing timelines, and curating creative space. In 2016 she co-founded the Ancestral Herbalism Collective here in Denver, and organized community around the concepts of healing, skill-sharing, and reclamation of community medicine. As a creative consultant for Mothership Arts, her offerings include providing healing and ceremonial services, community organizing support, consulting around the intersections of health equity and healing justice practices, as well as creative writing and futurist worldbuilding workshops.
Offer Sheree additional reparations via Venmo @ShereeB
BLM 5280 Freedom School
The Black Lives Matter 5280 Freedom School's mission is to teach k-8 students to become racially literate and civically-minded by centering Black knowledge, people, and principles to dismantle oppressive systems and liberate ourselves and transform the world. Curriculum and lessons are focused on social-emotional learning, coping skills, community wellness, self-care, Black love, and Black liberation. The Freedom School’s purpose is to provide humanizing, self-affirming, queer-positive educational opportunities for Black children. They currently offer programming through their summer camp and monthly Saturday sessions during the school year. In 2023, the BLM 5280 Freedom School will open a full-day Freedom School in Denver, Colorado.
Offer more reparations via Venmo @BLM5280 or PayPal- info@blacklivesmatter5280.com
www.5280freedomschool.com
Karia White
Karia, originally from New Jersey, is now based in the Denver, Colorado area. She is Black woman scholar, organizer, educator, writer and artist. Along with running “Books Behind Bars” programming, Karia continues to support and lead rallies and resistance efforts in the Movement for Black Lives, spearhead the Boulder Community Fridge Project, offer educational opportunities with the Denver Freedom Skool, and is one of three Black women students to co-found the Center for African and African American Studies for the University of Colorado Boulder. Additionally, Karia is a creator, co-designer and leader of “Shades of Honey”, an open mic that unapologetically centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, People of Color and raises funds to materialy support the needs for economic relief and aid for people that are being oppressed globally and within the Occupied Territory of Turtle Island. Karia’s personal artistry centers around bridging historical and contemporary resistance to envision new worlds in communities that honor the sacredness of knowledge sharing, the integrity of the Black Radical Tradition through poetry and mixed media.
You can continue to offer Karia additional reparations via Venmo @hoodaboliton
Nicole Moore
Nicole is the owner of Compassionate Counseling of Denver and has also served Denver Public Schools, Childrens Hospital, Swallow Hill Music, University of Colorado, Colorful Colorado Collaborations, and countless community organizations in Denver. Nicole weaves ancestral healing, art therapy, and clinical psycho therapeutic modalities. Her focus on mental health in combination with holistic and energetic healing practices offer a unique combination of education, mobilization, and liberation through creative expression. She is a 4th year student of Nataline Cruz and Strawberry Moon Energetics, Holistic Healing & Traditional Medicine and received her BA in Sociology from CU Boulder, and Masters in Social Work from University of Denver. You can find Nicole painting, playing percussion, dancing, traveling, helping folks, and smiling ear to ear in her free time.
You can offer further reparations to Nicole via Venmo @Nicole-Moore-106
Mona Mariposa
mona is a mama, creatress, student/admirer of the wild unknown, and a mover+shaker. Her small business, monsa.mariposa , is built on the foundation of slow living, respecting the natural law of impermanence, and self-love as a form of resistance. The online (and sometimes in person) pop-up provides handcrafted herbal healing potions + balms as well as handmade slow + functional fashion. Her intentions are to create goodies where ancestral knowledge + lush feminine essence can converge; creating fierce empowerment and an insatiable desire to honor oneself, the earth + Creator. mona currently dwells on stolen occupied land of the Takelma, Shasta and Klamath peoples.
You can offer more reparations to mona via Venmo @mona_mariposa or CashApp $monamariposa
Keezy Allen
Malkeisha “Keezy” Allen is a non-binary queer activist, educator and learner from Memphis, TN. They are currently a Juris Doctorate candidate at the Loyola New Orleans College of Law. They are committed to destroying all systems of oppression through work done with Black Lives Matter 5280 and other members of the community, and are always looking for people to partner with to make this happen.
Offer them further reparations via Venmo @keezy-allen or CashApp $malkeisha
Justy Robinson
Justy Robinson (born Justice Smith) is a multifaceted artist and content creator whose biggest life passion is to inspire the next generations into action, self-discovery, and learning to connect with other people. He aims to achieve these goals through writing plays, film, and television, direction of plays and movies, and acting in those same mediums. He is a founding member of Don’t Shoot the Zine, the writer, producer, and editor for Dream. Create. Inspire.’s YouTube series, #CreatorsOnly, and a Director on the Board of Directors for Creative Strategies for Change.
You can make further reparations to Justy via Venmo @JustyRobinson CashApp $JustyRobinson or PayPal sirjosiris@gmail.com
Ozioma (Ozy) Aloziem is an Igbo scholar situated at the intersection of multiple ways of knowing. Ozy is the Denver Public Library's first Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager. In addition to her role at DPL, Ozy serves as a racial equity & racial healing consultant for several organizations across the nation. Ozy is a social work scholar and community worker that is deeply committed to collective liberation and social justice. As a critical Black feminist, she prioritizes racial and gender equity in her scholarship and activism. She uses this focus to amplify voices of marginalized communities that are left on the fringes of academic research, public policy and global conversation.
Make additional reparations to Ozy via Venmo @Ozy-Aloziem or CashApp $OzyAloziem
C.J. Thomas
C.J. Thomas (she/her) was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and now resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a yoga with and Ayurveda health coach. Her main focus is on decolonizing spiritual spaces, living in alignment with the moon, and cultivating deep connections to the cycles of nature both inside and out. C.J. is also a copywriter and digital marketing strategist for health and wellness brands and the Founder of Simply Healthy Marketing; a digital marketing company rooted in organic growth strategies and ethical marketing. Through her work as a teacher and creator in both realms, she has set out on one mission: to elevate others so they can elevate the world!
You can make further reparations offerings to C.J. via Venmo @copyconfident
Toluwanimi Obiwole
Toluwanimi is a disruptor. She creates poems, illustrations, photo images, paintings, and sonic and performance experiences that disrupt traditional ideas of indigenous identity, sensuality, black sexuality and intimacy. Everything she creates is medicine for herself, spilling over for collective healing.
You can offer Toluwanimi additional reparations via Venmo @Toluwanimi-Obiwole CashApp @$Toluwaob and PayPal toob5587@colorado.edu
The banjo has been on a diasporic journey the same way that many of us and our bloodlines have been. The legacy of 400 years of colonization, slavery, and white supremacy has resulted in most banjos today being in the hands of white people of European descent, with little thought or solidarity to the people who gave the world its sounds. The Black Banjo Reclamation Project reverses this legacy, building and redistributing donated banjos to Black folks eager to continue their healing path of reconnecting to the land and culture that was historically and traumatically stolen from them. Through our comprehensive program, they also receive group workshops and individual lessons, and the space, time and community foundation for them to thrive in their learning.
You can make monetary reparations to The Black Banjo Reclamation Project via PayPal reversethediaspora@gmail.com and also offer string instruments ranging from their inception in West Africa to modern classical, sound and stage equipment.
Lady Speech is a Pansexual, Healer, a writer, a performance artist, influencer, sex educator, Poet, Activist, Professional Dominatrix, Spiritual Coach, event producer, Master of Ceremonies and Conjure Queen and High Priestess. Lady Speech is the founder of Freedom of Speech an open mic that was facilitated out of Gypsy House Cafe. LadySpeech has been active in the Denver Art, Activist and Spiritual communities for over 20 years. Lady Speech uses art and spirituality for the liberation and upliftment of Black and Indigenous people and Mother Earth.
Pay further repay to Lady Speech via CashApp $LadySpeech Venmo @LadySpeech-Sankofa and PayPal ladyspeechsankofa@gmail.com
Stephanie Ghoston Paul
Stephanie Ghoston Paul (she/her) is an internationally recognized speaker, racial justice facilitator, organizational development consultant, life coach, recovering lawyer and living ancestor. She helps people, communities, and companies get in alignment with and fully embody their purpose, in service of a planet where all human beings are free, whole, and enough. Stephanie’s unique approach skillfully and wholeheartedly combines her sharp legal mind, problem-solving skills, and love of people to powerfully serve clients and challenge existing exclusive systems and organizational structures. In her latest community offering, she explores what it means to be a living ancestor through her podcast called Take Nothing When I Die.
You can make further reparations to Stephanie via Venmo @Stehphanie-Ghoston CashApp $slghosto and PayPal.Me/StephanieGhoston
Anais, Mystical Mandrake Root
Anais is an Artist, Writer, Astrologer, and Teacher. As the creator of Mystical Mandrake Root, her offerings include: Astrology for Self Empowerment, Ancestral and Past life Guidance, Divination with the Tarot and more. Anais has taught classes in a wide range of spaces including in New Orleans and her handmade crafts have been sold in a variety of shops as well.
Offer further reparations to Anais via Venmo @mysticalmandrakeroot
Amy E. Brown
Amy E. Brown is a Black woman, mother, and community organizer born and raised in the occupied land of the Ute, Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapahoe, now known as Denver. Amy's fight for liberation has spanned various fields for over a decade, and in May 2015, it led her to co-found Black Lives Matter 5280. Six years later, she serves as Director of Strategic Development for BLM5280 As a single mother to her daughter Mercy, Amy works tirelessly to build a world that Mercy and all Black girls deserve- one in which they are safe, loved, and truly free.
Offer direct reparations to Amy via Venmo @The-Amy-B CashApp $TheAmyB or PayPal at amy_e_brown81@hotmail.com
Paige Kümm
Paige is a queer Black feminist with undying love for fellow fierce femmes, Black science fiction authors, and movement-building nerds. She has over a decade of experience holding community organizer and political educator roles in various social justice movements across the country. The daughter of an Army officer, she grew up on U.S. Army bases in Texas, Georgia, Colorado, and Germany, learning firsthand the perils of U.S. militarism and imperialism.
Paige got her start as an organizer while still a college student, joining a union-led campaign for a living wage for the university’s employees. After her parents lost their home to foreclosure, Paige found a political home in the fight for housing justice for working class communities, organizing Black and brown tenants to push for housing as a human right.
You can make further reparations to Paige via Venmo @paigekumm CashApp $PaigeKumm or PayPal.Me/paigeamanda
Nikki “Lola” Greene
Nikki “Lola” Gee is a retired Air Force Veteran and a Multiple Sclerosis survivor that owns, Urban Essentials and Urban Indigo Collective. Lola is an Olorisa, in the West African Orisa Tradition. As of this year she holds a bachelors degree in Complementary and Alternative health and is a practicing spiritual and health coach. Lola is working diligently to expand Urban Indigo Collective, which will bring much needed accurate knowledge of spiritual health and wellness classes, with a focus on self care to her clients! Currently, she enrolled in a four year program to become a certified homeopath and has dreams of providing affordable/low cost alternative health care to Black and Indigenous communities. Lola has been an avid Autism Awareness advocate, helping families connect to grant programs and valuable resources as she herself is a single mother of a young child on the spectrum.
Support Lola with further reparations at Cash App $urbaness
Ashley Panelli
Ashley is the Paid Leave Campaign Manager with 9to5 Colorado advocating for accessible paid family and medical leave policies across the state. She began her organizing work as the chair of the Denver DSA Socialist Feminist committee and prioritizes centering women and people of color in the fight for economic justice. Prior to working at 9to5, Ashley was a Qualified Intellectual Disabilities Professional for developmentally-disabled women with psychiatric disorders. As a black women born to a Jamaican immigrant, Ashley is invested in rooting her work at the intersection of race, class, and gender discrimination. In her free time Ashley loves to ride her bike, play her harp, practice yoga and fantasize about a better world where all of us are truly free from oppression and exploitation.
You can pay further reparations to Ashely at Venmo @shleeisme
Olivia Hunte, Intersections Zine
Olivia Hunte is a passionate individual who believes in the transformative powers of sharing narratives. Her fight to combat social and racial injustices primarily centers individual and communal healing. Olivia is intentional about building identity affirming spaces centering the voices for those with oppressed identities. As a social worker based in Denver, she enjoys facilitating the learning of others, building relationships, tending to her houseplants, and carving out time for creative expressions through her zine, Intersections.
Reparations made to Olivia will continue to support the Intersections Zine that you pay via Venmo @O-H-H
Natasha Chaoua, Dubwise Yoga
Natasha Chaoua is the founder and owner of Dubwise Yoga Denver, LLC. She’s also a graduate and Member-Owner of Satya Yoga Cooperative, Colorado’s first 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training program for black, indigenous, people of color, and the nation's first BIPOC member-owned yoga cooperative. Natasha is a certified Hatha and Accessible Yoga teacher and an Accessible Yoga Ambassador and Supporting Organization leading online offerings for BIPOC. Her offerings range from hatha yoga and journaling, accessible yoga and cannabis yoga. Natasha also leads all abilities yoga classes for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and an Accessible Yoga for BIPOC class in partnership with Guided By Humanity.
Pay reparations to support Natasha’s work through Dubwise Yoga via Venmo @DubwiseYogaDenver
Regan Byrd
Regan Byrd is an anti-oppression speaker, trainer, activist, and consultant, and a "radical humanist". After 13 years in non-profit operations and communications, she is seeking to transform the world and liberate its people through anti-oppression theory and practice. Regan is known for her humor, precision, compassion, and interdisciplinary approach. In her free time, she enjoys video games, "riffing" on bad movies, playing games, spending time with friends and family, and cooking.
You can offer additional reparations to Regan via Venmo @Regan-Byrd
Colorado Freedom Fund
Colorado Freedom Fund is a revolving community bond fund that pays ransom for our neighbors unjustly detained in cages across Colorado who cannot afford to buy their own freedom. Founded in 2018, we are an abolitionist organization working to end wealth based detention via legislation, litigation, and direct action. Posting money bond (paying cash bail) is one way we work to #BringOurNeighborsHome.
Pay further reparations to get people out of cages here.
ari lipscomb
ari lipscomb is a Black, queer, disabled organizer, healer, herbalist, and witch serving looks, and giving life on the unceded land currently known as denver, colorado. grounding her work as Executive Liaison for Black Lives Matter 5280 in better serving the Black community in Denver she has made a practice of loving ourselves and our communities as a revolutionary act. on the other side of the same radical coin she owns and operates hoodgoth, a wild-crafted lucid dream of sharing her gifts and enabling her community to heal themselves as a revolutionary act come true.
when you make reparations to support ari at Venmo @xohoodgoth these offerings will continue to support their organizing and healing work for community.
Iona Long Soldier
Iona Long Soldier is the Community Organizer for the Commerce City Chapter at United for a New Economy. Through her current work, she is fighting for healthy and affordable housing, the dignity of a living wage, and paid family and medical leave for all Coloradans. As an enrolled member of the Oglala, Lakota Nation, and a member of the Black community, she blends traditional teachings and modern-day civil rights practices to advocate for all groups of people, particularly under served and tribal communities. As more and more Black and Native Americans have been displaced in the Denver Metro Area, it is important to have your voice be heard and your face be seen no matter the changing demographics.
You can pay additional reparations to Iona via PayPal.Me/ionalongsoldier
Kayla Marque
Kayla Marque is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Denver, Colorado. Her mission through Kayla Marque Music is to encourage and empower people to create their own narrative, live authentically, and to experience themselves in totality, thereby healing through medium of self expression and discovery through nurturing and cultivating artistic creation.
You can pay further reparations to Kayla at Venmo @kaylamarque or CashApp $kaylamarque
Jamillah Asé
Jamillah Asé is a mother, educator, healer and long standing social justice advocate. She became further engaged in the community as she recognized how her own lived experiences are connected to larger systems causing dehumanization and suffering. Jamillah is the founder of People Rising Against Poverty, where she fought for the past decade to deconstruct barriers for people to access their basic human rights. Currently, she is focused on homeschooling her beautiful children and working to empower those in her life to truly thrive for generations to come!
You can make additional reparations to Jamillah at CashApp $oulstice
Assétou Xango
Assétou Xango is a poet and coach for Black Femmes. Their work deconstructs the binaries of all social identities to promote the wellness that comes with allowing ourselves to be fluid people. Assétou is currently the Aurora Poet Laureate and a 2020 Academy of American Poets fellow. Be sure to be on the lookout for their latest book “Belonging,” and check out their collaboration with Whittier Cafe as part of the Colorful Colorado series.
To offer further reparations you can make a contribution via Venmo @Assetou-Xango
Bianca Mikahn
Originally from Denver, Bianca Mikahn is an emcee, poet, digital composer, cultural activist, educator and a fierce mother. Bianca is currently Executive Director of youth mental health based program, Check Your Head, and a Partner Artist with leading creative educators Think360 and Youth On Record. Addressing stigma reduction and mental health for BIPOC, Bianca recently explored these themes through a TedX talk titled “From Scars to Strength; The Poetry of Recovery”. Whether performing alone or with her self-produced duo The Maybe Sos, her stage presence and lyrical content have earned multiple nominations for “Best Emcee” as well as a feature in the “100 Colorado Creatives” series from Denver’s Westword publication. Bianca's current efforts are focused on honing social emotional learning and arts-based facilitation to encourage trauma informed care as well as working to release her latest EP. Be sure to catch Bianca perform as part of the Colorful Colorado series in October.
You can pay further reparations via Venmo @Bianca-Mikahn1
Celeste Ma’at
Celeste Ma’at is a full spectrum doula and wellness coach through her business Light As a Feather. She finds joy in supporting womb holders in preparing their mind body and spirit for pregnancy, supporting them in having an empowering birth experience, and connecting to their womb space for deep healing of both themselves and their fore-mothers.
When you make a financial contribution via Venmo @Celeste-Pegues or CashApp $maattarrot to Light As a Feather are giving Black mothers and birthing people a doula as well as supporting all of Celeste’s services as a Black birth worker.
stevie gunter
stevie gunter is a blaqueer afrofuturist, musician, educator and archivist focused on community based memory work. As a recent graduate finding footing in this turbulent year, they have been grounding them self in caring for plants and their spirit. They believe in the magnitude of emergent strategy, and hope to create more space to explore and explain these practices through art in order to make the global reckoning even more irresistible.
To continue to support stevie through further reparations go to Venmo @s-t3v
Alondra Traves
Alondra [ahh-LONE-drahh] also referred to as Pao if you’re familia is a Queer Pansexual Afro Taina, who was born on present day Dominican Republic and raised raised in Jamaica Queens, New York. Alondra is a: Lover. Dancer. Healer. Bruja. Chef. Guerrera.Tía to all the magic chirren.
Alondra is the founder of Danza Divina - a monthly celebration centering & honoring femme, black/brown queer beings of color & cultura. She is also an Organizer of Devotion - an annual movement ceremony honoring our self, our ancestors, spirits & guides.
Alondra is an active Bruja, Root Worker & practitioner of Ancestral Reverence/ Ritual Healing, advocate for Body Acceptance, Intentional Orgasms and Sexual Liberation for Femme/Womxn of Color. They are a disruptor of all gender/sexual expression norms and of course Pro Black/Brown/Indigenous.
Reparations paid to Alondra via Venmo @danza_divina or CashApp $alondrapt supports their offerings of Intimacy Guidance, Sacred Sexual Education & Tarot Divining.
Resilient Futures
The mission of Resilient Futures is to promote equitable, safe, resilient communities for all youth. Resilient Futures was founded in 2018 by a cross-racial team of women, Drs. Eleonora Cahill, Megan Brennan and Laura McArthur. Dr. Cahill, the Executive Director, is a multiracial Black woman with 25 years supporting trauma-impacted communities and families through a strong anti-oppression lens. Resilient Futures provides training, consultation and system support to schools, early childhood communities and non-profit agencies to promote trauma-informed, equitable, anti-racist communities for children, youth and families.
To support the incredible work of Resilient Futures you can make a reparations contribution via https://bit.ly/ResilientFutures
Black Lives Matter 5280
Black Lives Matter 5280 is a collective of Black people from Denver and its surrounding areas. We believe that through the liberation of our most marginalized- Black womxn, queer folks, and trans siblings, we will achieve the liberation of all. Founded by three Black womxn, BLM5280 works to center the leadership, voices, and needs of the most vulnerable members of the Black diaspora in our work to live, love and heal.
To make further reparations to support their organizing efforts go to Venmo @BLM5280
Adri Norris
As a Black, Immigrant, Lesbian woman, Adri Norris lives at the intersection of several identities. She uses these identities to create artwork that is at once personal, educational and universal. Adri’s “Women Behaving Badly” series explores those most undervalued and underrepresented in our society through the lens of the women who triumphed over the limits placed upon them. Her goal is to open up more conversations about these individuals and about the importance of representation.
Be sure to continue to support Adri’s art by making additional reparations via Venmo @afrotriangle PayPal or becoming a supporter on Patreon.
Rev. Tawana Davis
Tawana Davis is daughter of The late Rose Lee Davis who is the daughter of the late Alice Mack who is the daughter of the late Rosa Lide. Tawana’s love for community is rooted in her parent’s justice work especially in the shadow of her late father Edward E. Davis Jr. Tawana is the mother of two and grandmother of one. She is a scholar, preacher, teacher, activist, author, community leader, breast cancer survivor in active treatment, Domestic violence survivor, and a Ph.D Candidate in Social Ethics. Most of all she loves G-d and her beloved community.
Be sure check out #TuesdayWithTawana at 12pm EST every week via Facebook. To continue to support Tawana with reparations as she pursues her Ph.D you can make a payment via PayPal
Euda K Best
Euda K. Best is a Spiritual Guide, Card Reader, Yoga/Meditation Instructor and aspiring vocalist. She is a member-owner of the nation's first POC owned and operated yoga co-op, The Satya Yoga Cooperative. She believes that our spirits stood in line to be born at this time of profound human EVOLution and it is her mission to help as many people EVOLve as possible.
Euda is currently raising money for #HealTheHood so she can offer her incredible healing services to BIPOC! To support her work with additional reparations you can make an offering at Venmo @eudakbest or PayPal.