10 Years of Just BE
Dear Beloved Just BE Community, Supporters, and Friends,
There are so many difficult conversations happening in our world. Just BE has been having our own. This year we have been asking ourselves, what would it take to sustain our services at the level our members and community deserve? After searching honestly, our Board and I have made the decision to pause Just BE’s operations at the end of this year, in December 2026. This isn’t the news you wanted to hear. It breaks my heart to share it. Keeping the fire of Just BE’s mission aflame has consumed my thoughts and dreams for the last 15 years, and having the honor of serving our community has been nothing short of an extraordinary gift.
As an organization dedicated to cultivating a thriving ecosystem of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color entrepreneurs rooted in community care, holistic well-being, democratic infrastructure, and collective power, Just BE has been uniquely impacted by today’s fundraising climate. Through our conversations with funders, we are learning that many are focused on protecting existing grantees as the Trump administration continues to cut public funding and attack DEI programs and infrastructure, leaving little capacity to support new legacy organizations. This has made it especially difficult for projects like Just BE to build new funding relationships at a time when access to funders is increasingly limited, and many institutions are becoming more guarded in response to government scrutiny.
Ten years ago, eight Black women started Just BE with a question: what would it look like if Black, Indigenous, Women of Color entrepreneurs didn't have to choose between our businesses, our health, and our happiness? What if all of it could exist for us, and what if it could be built together, in community? We answered that question with you, over and over, until we couldn't tell where our questions ended and where the testimonies of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) stories began. Just BE’s vision is as urgent now as it has ever been— a world where every BIWOC experiences economic sovereignty and has abundant resources to thrive, sustain herself and her family, and shape her future on her own terms.
BIWOC said no to isolation and burnout, and you pulled up your sleeves with us and helped put a quarter of a million dollars directly into BIWOC-owned creative businesses in the Bay Area rooted in Black liberation, community-based care, and healing. Through the For the Culture Market, Just BE supported makers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs with rent, childcare costs, and materials.
BIWOC said no to a culture of scarcity and toxic competition, and you helped Just BE create an intergenerational community of collective economics rooted in care. We centered healing as central to our success as micro-entrepreneurs, not a luxury. We transformed a concept of economic sovereignty, learned what it takes to make it real in our neighborhoods, and created structured practices around it.
“Just BE has always been really generous with shouting me out and promoting my business. I know I get more eyes on my site and emails because I’m a part of this network.”
We believed a new way was possible.
What Our Belief Built over Ten Years:
3,600 women and gender-expansive entrepreneurs of color served across Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, and the greater Bay Area
75+ people of color employed by member businesses with the resources to care for themselves and their families
5,400+ community members mobilized to invest in local businesses and cooperative futures
Policy wins organizing alongside REAL People's Organizing Project— including Oakland's first legislation prioritizing worker cooperatives and incentives through the Oakland Film Initiative
Just BE community said mental health, community wellness, and financial prosperity belong together in communities, where Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color artists and entrepreneurs work, live, and play. 85% of our Just BE co-stewards let us know that participating in Just BE programs transformed their connection to self and families, and strengthened their mental health. I say this with all sincerity—there is no measure to what you have helped build for more than 3,600 Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color business leaders in Just BE member communities over the last ten years. What Comes NextJust BE is not closing quietly from now until December 2026. We’re still fighting—and we’ll continue to fight in the following months to ensure that 100% of our operations and our commitments to members are honored. I will continue to serve as executive director through the remainder of the year, and together with our Board of Advisors, Just BE is guided by a clear, meticulous transition plan.
A big part of that plan is to ensure that we complete our program calendar and that the greater Just BE community of supporters has every opportunity to remain connected in 2027 and for years to come. I’ll share more in the coming months in Just BE’s September newsletter.
How You Can Help Us Finish Well
Give to the Just BE Transition Fund. This is the most direct way you can help us keep our program doors open to every member through the end of the year. Additionally, the Fund will also ensure that our staff continues to have access to healthcare and pay throughout the transition. Goal is to raise $40k
Sponsor the 10-Year Celebration. Email anyssa@justbecommunity.com
Hire our team. The people who built this are extraordinary.
Lend your skills. We need program volunteers for the wind-down.
Show up. Come to the final gatherings. Bring someone who's never been.
Support our members directly. Buy from them, refer them, don’t stop investing in Just BE’s community of BIWOC-owned businesses!
As we approach the end of the year, I look forward to sharing my own plans, and early thinking of how Just BE and its mission evolve. What we have built together will endure for years and decades to come. Cooperative economics is infrastructure. Healing belongs in business. Thousands of BIWOC business leaders will now carry that knowledge, belief, and commitment into everything they build next, including me.
With joy, even now 💜
Hope + Just BE Advisory Board