BLK South Offerings
Our offerings are deeply rooted in a love for the South, particularly honoring its complex history and the dynamic cultures that define it. We're committed to celebrating this region's rich heritage, particularly acknowledging the contributions and resilience of African American communities, while also addressing the systemic challenges we face today in places like Durham. These initiatives are like bringing a dish to a family cookout—each one aims to strengthen and enrich the community fabric, showing our deep appreciation for being part of a city with such a profound historical and cultural significance. We see this as our way of giving back and fostering a more inclusive and equitable future.
What Have We Been Up To?
Since reverse migrating to Durham in May 2025, we’ve been intentional about doing the grassroots work—getting to know our neighbors, showing up at community meetings, and being present in the neighborhood we now live and serve. While summer gave us time to settle in and enjoy a brief break, take a look below to see what we’ve been up to and what’s coming next!
A 15-Year Neighborhood Plan (2025-2040)
This 15-Year Neighborhood Plan for the Grant Street Community was created through a deeply collaborative process grounded in local wisdom, community expertise, and proven facilitation practices. Guided by Durham-based community development leader Mamie Webb-Bledsoe, we used the Technology of Participation (ToP) Consensus Method—an approach that centers resident voice, shared leadership, and collective decision-making.
In partnership with leaders from Monument of Faith Church, the Grant Street Community, and neighbors who have stewarded this block for decades, we gathered stories, priorities, and visions for the future. The resulting plan reflects the community’s own hopes for safety, beauty, preservation, and belonging.
This document is not an outside proposal—it is the neighborhood’s vision, shaped by the people who call Grant Street home and supported by partners committed to its long-term flourishing.
Grant Street Community
The South Is Sacred:
A Virtual Symposium
Thursday, November 13, 2025 (Online)
The South Is Sacred is a virtual symposium hosted by BLK South—an evening of conversation on faith, freedom, and funding the future of home. Together, we’ll explore what it means to call the South sacred ground again and imagine how to cultivate a freer, truer, and more connected future.
Soulwork: A Community-Led
Theological Lab
September 8 - October 13, 2025 (In-Person)
Soulwork is a 6-week, community-led theological lab for seekers and storytellers. Through honest conversation, spiritual practice, and collective wisdom, we’ll reimagine faith in today’s world. Guided by Black theological voices, we’ll explore themes of contemplation, justice, and personal story—shaping a soulful path forward, together.
September 2 - November 25, 2025 (In-Person)
This 10-week program (18 sessions) is designed for youth ages 8–18 to explore healing through art, movement, and play in a safe, supportive environment. Meeting twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sessions feature breathing exercises, creative projects, and interactive activities rooted in trauma-informed practices. Two age-based groups—8–12 (5:45–6:45 PM) and 12+ (7:00–8:00 PM)—will build emotional resilience, foster connection, and nurture hope through themes like safety, calm, and community.
SIGN UP HERE
Healing Through Play
BLK South Book Club
June 23 - July 24, 2025 (Virtual)
This summer, we hosted a 5-week virtual book club exploring James by Percival Everett—a brilliant reimagining of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. Together, participants across the South and beyond engaged in rich dialogue about freedom, language, and identity, reclaiming a story that centers Black humanity, resilience, and voice.
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Soulwork
Soulwork is a community-led theological experience designed for Black souls seeking a deeper, more liberating spirituality. It’s a space to unlearn harmful theologies shaped by White Supremacy and reimagine faith through the lenses of justice, beauty, and belonging. Through story, contemplation, and shared exploration, we cultivate spiritual formation rooted in solidarity, creativity, and collective wisdom.
This isn’t traditional seminary—it’s formation for everyday life. Our long-term vision includes partnering with HBCUs and local communities to offer theological education in unconventional, accessible, and life-giving ways.
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Healing Through Play
With a Black Belt and over 20 years of experience in Martial Arts, Kendall is now launching a trauma-informed program for youth that centers healing through play, movement, and creative expression. Rooted in practices like art-making, breathing exercises, and embodied movement, the program draws inspiration from Tang Soo Do—a martial art historically born out of oppression—highlighting its deep connections to emotional resilience, mindfulness, and self-confidence. Designed especially for Black and under-resourced communities, the program fosters safety, joy, and connection while helping youth process trauma and discover their inner strength.
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Creative Justice
Imagine using all forms of art (storytelling, film, dance, writing, music, painting, drawing, etc.) to create a community that is collectively focused on truth-telling in art form. A seasonal, project-based initiative that platforms the voices of those most marginalized, to tell the truth and further the process of healing and liberation in a community. This is what we like to call Creative Justice!
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The Land Speaks
In collaboration with Durham Cares and Amplify Peace, "The Land Speaks" is a pilgrimage into the soul of Durham, NC, centering the powerful Black story of the Hayti District—a place rich with history, resilience, and cultural significance. This journey is designed to engage every part of the body and spirit, awakening what we see, hear, feel, taste, and create. Participants will walk the sacred grounds of Hayti, listen to its stories of triumph and struggle, touch the spaces where history was made, savor the flavors of its culinary traditions, and create art inspired by its legacy. This immersive experience is more than education—it’s a holistic journey of connection, healing, and renewal, where the land itself speaks to the stories we carry and invites us to reimagine how our own lands and lives might flourish in justice, dignity, and hope.