Welcome to The Quarterly Renewal. When we were thinking about ways to bring our community of mamas, financial partners, and supporters, closer to the work we’re doing at Loving Black Single Mothers, we decided that a seasonal newsletter would be a beautiful way to do this. The Quarterly Renewal is a living archive–capturing stories, milestones, and reflections to inspire collective renewal and remembrance.
Welcome to Issue I.
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During a time marked by a blatant disregard for the rights and well-being of women, mothers, children, and all who bring and tend to life, we remain firmly committed to our mission: to nurture, materially support, and honor Black single mothers and their children. Through our ecosystems, we co-create economies of mutual support where people who are financially abundant, time abundant, or skill-abundant are given the opportunity to redistribute and share their abundance with Black single mothers. It’s economic justice in action. It’s love used as a verb, made powerful + transformative. It's collective responsibility and reciprocity. It’s remembering and honoring the truth that we are all interdependent. |
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We learned a lot in 2024, including how to be flexible and responsive to change and how to right-size our plans to better align with our capacity. We recognize that our impact doesn’t come from trying to serve every Black single mother—it’s simply not possible. Instead, we focus on supporting those we can with the resources, labor, and capacity we have available, embracing and living into the principle that "small is good, small is all.” Reflect with us on some of the work we’ve done over the last several months…
Tending to our structure:
- We shared our position on this political moment, emphasizing the importance of our mission at this critical time.
- “Every policy, every decision that affects housing, healthcare, education, labor, or criminal justice is a decision that impacts mothers, families, and the systems that support or fail them. When reproductive justice advocates say “every mother matters,” they mean every single one of us—including Black single mothers, who are often overlooked. Our organization exists to ensure that Black single mothers are seen, heard, and empowered within the political landscape, not only as individuals but as essential pillars of their communities.”
- For Giving Tuesday, we ran a focused campaign centered on Black reproductive freedom. This effort brought in values-aligned financial partners who are committed to supporting our work. If that’s you, thank you and welcome to our ecosystem!
Tending to Black single mamas: - Holiday Love: This year’s cohort includes 127 participants—45 mamas and 82 financial partners. We’re thrilled to welcome back 17 returning mamas and 42 returning financial partners.
- Forever Flourishing: We’re halfway through the inaugural cohort and have granted $105,000 in thriving grants and $30,000 in wellness grants. Our journey with the evaluation team has been enriching, with two memos reflecting our progress and impact so far.
- Summertime Joy: We’ve made the decision to postpone this program—originally set to launch in Spring—to focus on completing the current Holiday Love and Forever Flourishing cohorts.
- For the mamas in our ecosystem, we updated our website with more information about how to join future ecosystems and, in case you missed it, we shared this Winter Wish via email a few weeks ago.
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1 A principle from the book “Emergent Strategy” written by adrienne maree brown |
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Back in September, Toi Smith, our Founder and Executive Director, and Renee Barreto, our Director of Operations, met in Denver to develop LBSM’s Strategic Intentions for 2025-2026. These intentions reflect our commitment to focused growth, sustainability, and the power of small, intentional action that honors our dynamic ecosystem. We invite you to get something warm to drink, put on some soft soulful jazz (perhaps this song will do), and read our Strategic Intentions below . |
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Sneak peek of the intentions… - Strategic Intention #1: Raise and Redistribute Funds
- Strategic Intention #2: Strengthen Organizational Core
- Strategic Intention #3: Cultivate Mutual Flourishing Through Connection
- Strategic Intention #4: Nurture Collective Leadership
Read the full document to learn more about our supporting strategies and accountability metrics! |
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Art: First Mother by Annie Lee |
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PO Box 940
Aurora, CO 80012, United States |
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