Episode 21 | Cory Elliott on Youth Development, Violence Prevention, Healing in Nature & Building The Black Neighborhood

What if sustainability wasn’t about systems—but about freedom? About waking up and choosing rest, joy, or stillness—because you can?

In this healing-rich episode, Dominique Drakeford sits down with Cory Elliott, the heart and visionary behind The Black Neighborhood—a powerful grassroots ecosystem centering Black joy, safety, nourishment, and liberation. Together, they unravel a definition of sustainability most don’t dare to imagine: a life with options.

“Being sustainable means having the option to say, ‘Today I’m going to rest. Today I’m going to make that smoothie I love. Today I get to choose.”

From free farmers markets and college readiness programs to mental health hikes that have literally saved lives, The Black Neighborhood isn’t about disruption for disruption’s sake—it’s about care as a counter-force. Movement as medicine. Gathering as a revolutionary act.

“The point of our hikes isn’t to be a disruption. It’s to take care of ourselves. And that self-care? That becomes the disruption.”

Cory shares raw, soul-deep reflections on what it means to build a world where Black people can be seen, safe, and sovereign.

“Waking up every day and still being Black is one of the biggest revolutionary acts there are, period.”

This episode is a balm and a blueprint. For those of us who know that sustainability has to be more than solar panels and zero-waste jars—it has to be about power, peace, and possibility. It has to be about us.

https://www.theblackneighborhood.org/

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