ASHEVILLE — The YMI, one of the oldest Black cultural centers in the country, had just completed its $6.9 million renovations after breaking ground two years before.
A grand reopening was scheduled for Sept. 26 — the day before Tropical Storm Helene swept Western North Carolina. It was canceled as rain drenched the area preceding the storm.
Helene devastated areas of WNC, leaving thousands without water or power. In Buncombe County, 72 people have been confirmed dead.
In the nearly two weeks since, communities, volunteers and nonprofits have mobilized around the region. Buncombe County and the city of Asheville have established water and food distribution sites and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is coordinating with the county and more than 1,000 emergency personnel.
Now, at the heart of downtown in the area known as "The Block," the city's historic Black business district, advocacy groups have organized at the YMI to ensure that supplies are being distributed equitably to reach the most marginalized members of the county, with the safety of Black Asheville residents among their top priorities.
In the newly renovated building, alexandria monque ravenel (who spells her name intentionally lowercase) said YMI, originally known as the Young Men's Institute, has always represented a "beacon." Though the 130-year-old building could not reopen as planned, it only felt right that the space would transform to meet the immediate needs of community.
“I have no idea when we’re doing a grand reopening," monque ravenel said. Then, looking around the space — cases of water stacked along the building's curb, volunteers hustling through the sunlight-filled rooms — she said, "This feels like it.”
Dubbed Bridging the Gaps, the initiative is a collaboration between the YMI, The People's Place, Noir Collective AVL, JD Ellison & Co., OG Synergy, OURabl and Showing Up for Racial Justice.
monque ravenel is on the staff of YMI and owns the Noir Collective, a boutique, bookstore and art gallery on The Block that carries merchandise from Black entrepreneurs.
Identifying the gaps
David Greenson, among the organizers, said the project began officially on Oct. 1. He is co-founder of People's Place and OURavl. He also is the North Carolina field organizer for Showing Up For Racial Justice.
The initiative was inspired, in part, by the work of East End/Valley Street, a legacy neighborhood and the oldest and most historically significant Black neighborhood in Asheville, according to the neighborhood association. The community had mobilized quickly, with people dedicated to checking on neighbors in each area, and Greenson said he started thinking about how to set up something similar in places less connected than East End.
The goal was to "identify some of the gaps" in supply distribution, made more difficult with power and internet still down for most and cell service spotty to nonexistent throughout much of the region.
"Our theory is that this crisis is going to replicate what we see all the time," Greenson said, "which is that we know that unless there is a special emphasis on anti-racist organizing and trying to address the communities that we know typically are more marginalized," people get left behind.
"I don't think people are intending for things not to get out, it's just a real logistical challenge to figure out where they need to go. So that's part of where we are trying to deploy our energies, is figure out what's being missed," he said.
The initiative seeks to target areas that are not as centralized or organized.
Rob Thomas, co-founder of OURavl, said there are people with needs who are fractured into smaller communities. The morning of Oct. 7, the group was considering several communities it had heard were shorter on resources, like Wellington mobile home park in Arden, Ascot Point Village south of Asheville and the Altamont Apartments, a public housing complex downtown.
When thinking about the impacts of the storm, it's not just about race, he said, but also factors like socioeconomic status and ability to access resources.
“There is a lot of trailer parks, there is a lot of apartment complexes and other locations in slightly secluded areas and we want to make sure those people have been able to be accessed, whether it's by a physical touchpoint or digital," he said.
Emily Bango, who was leading volunteer coordination, said that as of Oct. 7, the group had distributed 7,000 items across 16 communities, from nearby in The Block to as far as Arden. There are urgent needs that must be met in the short term, she said, but the full scope of recovery also is a concern.
"What does this look like in two months, or six months, when we are likely not going to have as many volunteers, and needs are likely going to be greater for certain folks? How do we get that momentum, keep that regularity?" she said.
The first action of the collaborative was right in the YMI's backyard at 19 Eagle Place, trying to assist the building's residents, particularly seniors and disabled residents.
There, Greenson said they found a "community connector," someone who lives in the complex who can help communicate the residents' needs, in what has become the project's model. It's what Bango calls a "pull, not a push" method.
“From an equity standpoint, we weren’t in a great place to begin with," Greenson said of the city. "There was a tremendous amount of inequity in economics and housing before. I’m not terribly interested in how do we recover back to where we were? I’m like, how do we take this opportunity to build a different Asheville out of the wake of what’s happened? How do we create a more equitable Asheville?”
'Here to do whatever is needed'
In the YMI's newly refurbished auditorium — with high, vaulted ceilings and new sprinkler and AV systems — supplies were stacked in piles, volunteers winding their way through tables. Against the far wall, a balloon display, intended for the reopening, was slowly deflating.
Here, volunteers prepare orders that have come in through calls with community connectors. After they are packaged, a driver delivers them to the neighborhoods.
On Oct. 7, activity inside the building was put on pause with the arrival of a U-Haul truck. Inside were dozens of cases of water. Behind the wheel was Greg Stroud from Texas. He said his son, who owns a plumbing business there, helped to collect donations with his wife, and Stroud and his family brought them up on a pair of trucks.
The other truck went to Rutherford County, Stroud said, where areas like Chimney Rock and Lake Lure were devastated by the storm.
This was the first time they had ever done something like this. Stroud said he has an aunt who lives south of Spindale, a town in Rutherford County, and though she was safe, he got emotional talking about it.
"You're getting me choked up," he said. "It's just the stories I've been hearing."
After the drop-off, Stroud said his family wasn't going home yet. They had brought a skid steer with them and his son and others were helping to remove trees from homes in Spindale.
"We're here to do whatever is needed," he said.
Learn more
Supplies can be dropped off at the YMI, 39 South Market St., from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, but preferably Monday-Friday. The Bridging the Gaps initiative can be reached at 828-423-0371.
Buncombe County has activated the One Buncombe Call Center for residents to report storm damage, access resources and get storm-related information by calling 828-250-6100.
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Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times .
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville's historic Black cultural center has taken on a new role in the wake of Helene
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