Instagram story viewer> @blksouth> Tagged
BLK South(@blksouth)'s profile avatar HD Profile

BLK South

@blksouth

10.8K
followers
342
following
📍: Durham, NC @grantstdurham
✊🏾: Furthering the Black story in the South through place-based community development projects (Hyperlocal + Regional).
POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED
A little rain couldn’t stop this celebration! 🌧️🌱✂️ On Saturday, we gathered to celebrate the Grant Street Community Garden Phase One Ribbon Cutting—and all the hands, hearts, and hard work that brought us here. 💚 Thank you to Sasha and Jimaune for your leadership, dedication, and care in guiding us across the finish line! 💚 Thank you to Monument of Faith Church for sharing your land and providing leadership as a pillar of our neighborhood. This garden is one more way your love for this community takes root. 💚 Thank you to every neighbor and volunteer who helped along the way—from clearing overgrowth and building beds to showing up in the rain to celebrate! 💚 Thank you to the City of Durham, NC for believing in our vision and investing $10,000 to help bring this community garden to life. 📸 And a special thank-you to our friend @dvidtran for capturing these beautiful moments! Phase One is complete, and there’s more growing to do. Here’s to a place where we can grow food, deepen friendships, and care for our neighborhood together. 🌱 #GrantStreetCommunity #Hayti #DurhamNC #CommunityGarden
6
Download
🎉 BIG NEWS! 1K Academy officially opens TOMORROW, OCT. 20! 🎉 With over 40 children already signed up and a growing waiting list, we couldn't be more excited to open our doors tomorrow! We look forward to getting to know our young scholars, building relationships with parents, and welcoming volunteers who are eager to invest in the next generation. The transformation of this space has truly been a labor of love! A HUGE shoutout to Frank and William's friends and family, members of Russell Memorial CME Church, neighbors, and everyone who poured their time, resources, energy, and love into creating a welcoming space for Durham's young scholars to learn, grow, and thrive. It takes a village, and that village includes YOU! ❤️ The Grant Street Community and the Social Justice & Outreach Team of Monument of Faith Church are so proud and excited to rally behind Frank Smith’s vision for 1K Academy at Russell Memorial CME Church! This is what happens when churches, neighbors, families, and volunteers come together around a shared vision for our children and neighborhood. It takes a village to raise a child, and we're so grateful for the village that's coming together to make this possible! ❤️🙌🏾 Here's to a beautiful beginning! 🌱 #1KAcademy #GrantStreetCommunity #BLKSouth #DurhamNC #ItTakesAVillage
37
Download
The rain and cold couldn't stop us from celebrating the completion of Phase One of the Grant Street Community Garden this morning! 🌱🌧️💚 A HUGE shout out to Sasha, Jimaune, and all the incredible volunteers, church members, and neighbors who helped bring this vision to life. We're so grateful for your leadership, dedication, and hard work in carrying this project across the finish line! A special thank you to Fallon and the City of Durham for believing in this vision and investing $10,000 to help make it possible. And to Monument of Faith Church, thank you for allowing us to steward this land for such a beautiful purpose. And Brittaney with Our Backyard for being our Master Gardener and guide during this process! And as if today couldn't get any sweeter, just before our celebration began, a dear friend shared the exciting news that Grant Street will be receiving another $16,000 toward the community garden! What a blessing and a beautiful reminder of what's possible when a community comes together! 🙌🏾 If you haven't visited the garden yet, we encourage you to stop by, sign up to volunteer, and get involved! We're not finished yet, and there's still so much more to come. For now, our garden leaders are going to enjoy some well-deserved rest. But we'll be back soon enough, continuing to plant, build, and tend to a garden we hope will nourish our neighborhood for generations to come. To everyone who showed up, weathered the storm, and braved the cold to make something beautiful happen: THANK YOU! 💚 #GrantStreetCommunityGarden #GrantStreetCommunity #DurhamNC #CommunityDevelopment #CommunityGardens
7
Download
🌱 We’re cutting the ribbon on Phase One of the Grant Street Community Garden! 🎉 Saturday, October 17, we’re gathering to celebrate just how far this little piece of land has come. Over the past several months, neighbors and volunteers have worked together to clear years of overgrowth and begin transforming the lot into a space the whole community can enjoy. Together, we’ve built raised garden beds, a storage shed, picnic tables, and a Little Library & Resource Center—and this is only the beginning! Join us for a special ribbon cutting as we celebrate everything our neighbors and volunteers have accomplished during this first phase. 📍 805 Simmons Street, Durham, NC 📅 Saturday, October 17 🕗 10:00 AM Bring your family, bring a friend, and come celebrate with us! And if you’d like to help us continue building and caring for the garden, join our WhatsApp group to follow along and find out about upcoming volunteer days. The garden isn't finished—but that's part of what we're celebrating. We're building it together, one phase at a time. 🌻
8
Download
Why is the after school program called 1K Academy? 💛 The name honors the late twin brother of program founder Frank Smith, whose nickname was “1K.” It also speaks to what we hope every child hears: A score of 100 is wonderful, but your dreams don’t have to stop there. Aim for 1,000. The sky is the limit! This week, volunteers came together to paint the space where that vision will take shape. Beginning October 13, our FREE afterschool program will welcome elementary school students on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2–6 PM at Russell Memorial CME Church for tutoring, enrichment, gardening, arts, recreation, and time with caring adults. 🚌 A transportation update: Pickup from school is available for students at C.C. Spaulding Elementary and Burton Elementary. We wanted to clarify this after sharing more general transportation information earlier. This program is a partnership among Russell Memorial CME Church, the Grant Street neighborhood community, and the Social Justice and Outreach Team of Monument of Faith Church. We’re excited to build it together for our children. Learn more or sign up at GrantStreet.org #DurhamNC #AfterSchool #GrantStreetCommunity
52
Download
🚨 HAYTI FAMILIES: A new afterschool program is coming to the neighborhood! 📚🌱🏀🎨 Beginning Tuesday, October 13, the 1K Academy Afterschool Program will welcome students every Tuesday and Thursday from 2–6 PM at Russell Memorial CME Church. And this is about more than homework. We’re creating a place where our young people can learn, grow, lead, and thrive through tutoring and academic support, culturally responsive enrichment, gardening, arts and crafts, sports, recreation, and relationships with caring adults invested in who they are becoming. We’ll be reaching out to families and students at nearby schools, including Burton Elementary, C.C. Spaulding Elementary, and other schools surrounding the Hayti community, as we build a program rooted right here in the neighborhood. 🚌 Transportation will be provided for participating students from Burton Elementary and CC Spaulding Elementary. This is what partnership can look like: Russell Memorial CME Church’s 1K Academy, Grant Street Community, and Monument of Faith Church’s Social Justice and Outreach Team coming together to invest in the next generation. 🎥 Meet some of the people behind the program and hear why we’re excited about what’s coming. Know a family who should hear about this? Tag them below or share this post with them. If you’re interested in enrolling a student, send us a DM so we can make sure you receive the registration information. Stronger together. Brighter futures. ✨
27
Download
What a day! 🎉💛 The Grant Street Community Block Party was SO much fun! From the food and music to the kids playing, giveaways, community resources, and neighbors old and new spending time together—it was a beautiful reminder of what makes community so special. A huge thank you to Monument of Faith Church for being such an incredible partner and helping us create a space where our neighborhood could gather, celebrate, and connect. 🫶🏾 And thank you to our wonderful community partners and sponsors who helped make today possible: ✨ North Carolina Black Alliance ✨ Fayetteville Street Group, Inc. ✨ Durham Housing Authority ✨ North Carolina Second Chance CDC ✨ Community N' Brotherhood ✨ Durham Community Land Trustees ✨ Monument of Faith Church Most of all, thank you to every neighbor, volunteer, family, organization, and friend who came out and made the day what it was. We’re grateful for the opportunity to keep building relationships, honoring the history and legacy of Hayti, and creating the kind of neighborhood where people know one another and look out for one another. Celebrate. Connect. Build Community. 💛 #GrantStreetCommunity #Hayti #DurhamNC #Community #BlockParty HaytiDurham
13
Download
The New York Times just told the story of our federation BLK South in Durham North Carolina…and it is worth your time. For years Erin Dooley and BLK South have been fighting to bring a grocery store back to Hayti, a historic Black neighborhood that has been a food desert for too long. When Duke University researchers came to study the community BLK South flipped the script, turning the science into a tool to make the case for fresh healthy food in Hayti. That is what organizing looks like.
2
Download
🎉 DURHAM, WE’RE HAVING A BLOCK PARTY! 🎉 Saturday, August 22, we’re bringing neighbors, families, church members, and friends together in historic Hayti for the Grant Street Community Summer Block Party! ❤️ 🍽️ FREE food 🎶 Music 🎈 Games + activities for the kids ✏️ Backpack Drive 🤝🏾 Community Resources ❤️ Good neighbors + good fellowship 📅 Saturday, August 22 ⏰ 12–4 PM 📍 900 Simmons Street | Durham, NC Whether your family has been here for generations, you’re new to the neighborhood, or you simply want to come celebrate and connect with the community — YOU’RE INVITED! 🙌🏾 We’re reconnecting neighbors, strengthening relationships, and building a safer, stronger, and more connected neighborhood together. 📲 SHARE this with your Durham friends + TAG somebody you want to bring with you! ❤️ Hosted by Grant Street Community + Monument of Faith Church 🙏🏾 Special thanks to our sponsors: Monument of Faith Church, Durham Housing Authority (DHA), NC Black Alliance, and Fayetteville Street Group, Inc. Your support is helping make this gathering possible! See y’all on the block! ☀️🎉 #GrantStreetCommunity #Hayti #HistoricHayti #DurhamNC #BullCity
15
Download
📰 Grant Street Community is in the news again! We’re grateful to be featured in The News & Observer by reporter Luke Bowles (@bowlesbugs) — marking the second news feature highlighting Grant Street Community and our growing advocacy to bring a Black-owned grocery store to historic Hayti. Our neighborhood is considered a food desert. For many of our neighbors, accessing fresh, healthy food means leaving the neighborhood altogether — a reality shaped by generations of displacement, disinvestment, and inequity. As Duke University’s Edible Atlas Lab uses wastewater research to better understand food access and nutrition in our community, we’ve been asking an important question: How can research move beyond studying communities and actually become a tool for their advocacy and flourishing? As Erin shared in the article, “We don’t really need research to prove what we already know.” We live the realities the data seeks to describe. But research can become powerful when it helps bring institutional credibility, attention, and resources alongside what residents have already been saying. And right now, our neighborhood is saying clearly: Hayti needs a grocery store. We’re grateful to Luke Bowles and The News & Observer for helping tell this story, and to Dr. Lawrence David and the Edible Atlas team for being willing to wrestle with what it means for research to serve the communities it touches. Two news features later, we’re grateful that more people are hearing what our neighbors have been advocating for — but the goal isn’t simply more attention or better data. The goal is investment, access, and a neighborhood where our people can flourish for generations to come. 🌱 “How are we disrupting systems that are created for harm to create ways where we can flourish as a neighborhood for the long haul?” — Erin Dooley #GrantStreetCommunity #BLKSouth #Hayti #DurhamNC #FoodJustice BlackDurham CommunityDevelopment
5
Download
🌱 Help us build our neighborhood's Community Garden! Every Tuesday evening (and occasionally Wednesdays or Saturdays if it rains), neighbors, church members, families, and friends are coming together to prepare for our October 3rd Ribbon Cutting—and we'd love to have you join us! No gardening experience is needed, and all ages are welcome. Whether you can volunteer for an hour or multiple days, there's a place for you. 📍805 Simmons Street, Durham, NC ✅ Sign up to volunteer using the link in our bio. 📲 Join our Garden Volunteer WhatsApp to receive schedule updates, weather changes, and weekly opportunities to serve. Together, we're creating more than a garden—we're growing a space where our neighborhood can gather, learn, and flourish. 🌻💚 🎥: @t.kellyy #GrantStreetCommunity #CommunityGarden #Volunteer #DurhamNC
14
Download
📅 SAVE THE DATE! 🎉 Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 22 and join us for the Grant Street Community Summer Block Party! ☀️ This is one of our favorite days of the year—a chance for neighbors, families, friends, and community partners to come together to celebrate the people who make Grant Street Community so special. Come enjoy: 🌮 Free food 🎶 Music 🎈 Games & activities for kids 🤝🏾 Community resources 💛 Time with neighbors—old and new Whether you've called Grant Street home for generations or you're just getting to know the neighborhood, there's a place for you here. Hosted by the Grant Street Community and Monument of Faith Church. Volunteer opportunities are available online. We hope you will save the date and plan to join us! 📍 900 Simmons Street • Durham, NC 🗓️ Saturday, August 22, 2026 #GrantStreetCommunity #BlockParty #HistoricHayti #DurhamNC #Community
6
Download
back to up