York XL

imagine. create. together!

“Things have a life of their own," the gypsy proclaimed with a harsh accent. "It's simply a matter of waking up their souls.”

― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

“Humans, not places, make memories.” 

― Ama Ata Aidoo (Ama Ata Aidoo is the author of ‘No Sweetness Here’)

"Each person has stories to tell; we take the time to listen to them." 

 - York XL

We have been building trust in York City neighborhood for nearly 5 years. We've listened to people's lived experiences through frequent, meaningful interactions in the streets where they live.

The people we have met belie the declining spaces and bleak life indicators - they are full of grit, making a life in an environment most of us would not survive. And are skillful and passionate. Despite their best efforts, they find it impossible to escape this endless cycle of hard work with little reward. They feel invisible, unsupported, and unimportant. 

We don't believe that the people themselves are the primary reason they cannot escape their chronic poverty.

We start from the belief that our urban neighborhoods, including York City, in the United States were created to fail. There is a clear path from the start of slavery in 1619 to the current conditions of Blacks. It is a path fueled by racial animus that created a system where whites would control wealth and resources. York City neighborhoods display the outcomes of this systemic oppression - violence, chronic poverty, lower academic achievement, poorer health, shorter life-span, higher incarceration, etc. The barriers placed on its majority Black and brown residents were designed to control them both in place and economics and in essence operating as designed.

But it will take all of us. 

York XL is ready to lead the way. Join US! Your donation of time, money and resources go a long way.

We will work to (re)create platforms that people need to come together, communicate and connect to each other and organizations, and to build their neighborhood. These include platforms for communicating, starting projects, improving the built environment, and building wealth. Furthermore, we will bring organizations together to create a unified plan under which they can fulfill their own missions, but also as partners with the neighborhood.

We submit The York XL EPIC Vision as a blueprint for us to work from - to set a moonshot for York.  Along the way, we can find like-minded people throughout the United States who want to assist other neighborhoods empower themselves. 

Our EPIC Strategy is an embodiment of our mission - it endeavors to assist residents revitalize their neighborhoods by bridging the distrust between neighborhood residents and outsiders by creating initiatives that build up neighborhood residents by recognizing their expertise in their own lived experiences, taking the time to understand their priorities, and using the skills that they already possess.

We are in it for the long haul. One story at a time. One dream at a time.