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Mission & Vision

 

The Thriving Community Fund is a vision of the Equitable Economic Advancement Collaborative (EEAC), launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on BIPOC-owned small businesses in Durham.

The vision for the fund is to create a thriving BIPOC collective food ecosystem in Durham by providing direct investment in those food entrepreneurs who have not only been impacted by COVID-19, but also by a history of systemic racism and disinvestment.

Thriving Community Fund participants will create an infrastructure of technical assistance personalized for their own business while growing a collaborative network of business and infrastructure in Durham so that both fund participants as well as other justice-focused businesses may Thrive.

 

Updates

The first cohort of Thriving Community Fund grantees has been selected! You can learn more about all of our entrepreneurs from the Directory below.

 

Thriving Community Fund

The Equitable Economic Advancement Collaborative includes Communities in Partnership (CIP), End Poverty Durham (EPD), Episcopalians United Against Racism (EUAR), Professor Henry McKoy PhD. of North Carolina Central University School of Business (NCCU), and Keith Daniel PhD. of Resilient Ventures, LLC (RV).

Donations are tax deductible. For Donor Advised Fund donations,

mailing address:

Communities In Partnership
PO Box 11247
Durham, NC 27703

EIN: 47-5567396

Make checks payable to and mail to. Please designate Thriving Community Fund in the memo line

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Directory

 

Meet the first cohort of Thriving Community Fund grantees:

  • Eddie Swan, Organic Motherland Foods: A food and beverage business that focuses on making earth-sourced and organic foods. Eddie's product line focus will be to scale and distribute her ginger lemonade and ginger lemonade with turmeric beverages.

  • Roman Gabriel, Romanz Tea: A non-alcoholic beverage brewing business whose product line focus will be to scale and distribute their various tea flavors such as Liquid Sunshine and Peach Pleasure.

  • Natalege Bryant, Virginia and Co.: A catering business focused on family style meals. One of Natalege's product line focus is to increase customer acquisition with corporate clients.

  • Ochoala Family, The Palace International: A family-owned catering business whose product line focus is to scale and distribute various flavors from their spice line.

  • Queen Precious-Jewel Zabriskie, Indulge Catering, LLC: An award winning catering company that focuses on making high-end approachable healthy flavorful entrees. Queen Precious-Jewel's product line focus will be to scale and distribute their artisanal spice and condiment line, Indulgent Essential Spices, to various wholesale distributors and high-end boutiques, both domestic and international.

  • Courtney and Erika Smith, Piri: A family-owned catering business focused on prepared meals. Their product line focus will be to scale and distribute their apple pear sauces and jelly.

  • Gail Jennings, King's Pepper: A business whose focus will be to scale and distribute their award-winning spice blend and African Taco kits.

 

The Equitable Economic Advancement Collaborative:

  • Communities in Partnership

  • End Poverty Durham

  • Episcopalians United Against Racism

  • Dr. Henry McKoy of North Carolina Central University and the Angel Fund

  • Dr. Keith Daniels of Resilient Ventures

  • The fund also receives technical support from partners at the Duke World Food Policy Center, the Duke Fuqua Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, and Durham Technical Community College.

For more information about the Equitable Economic Advancement Collaborative or the Thriving Community Fund, please contact Camryn Smith, camryn@cipoed.org.