Libby Kyles - Recognizing the Work of Community Leaders Who Dedicate Themselves to Social Justice Work, at Considerable Personal Expense

Listening to community members and people with field experience is an essential practice of funders who make outsized impact. Listening to the community revealed to the Tzedek Social Justice Fund in Asheville, North Carolina the need to offer respite and recognition to individuals who have devoted years of paid and unpaid labor to supporting fellow residents. Many of these individuals have worked to tear down systemic racism, gender inequality, and religious prejudice. The foundation decided to lift up and celebrate these often unrecognized leaders with grant awards. Libby Kyles, Director of Community Led Grantmaking, shares with us two kinds of awards the foundation makes to community leaders and portrays examples of the work awardees have done to weave the community together and dismantle systems of injustice.   

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Libby Kyles is the Director of Community Led Grantmaking for Tzedek Social Justice Fund. A native of Asheville, Libby spent 20 years in North Carolina classrooms while also completing her Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from East Tennessee State University. Libby co-founded Youth Transformed for Life (YTL) and served as the Executive Director until June 2019. Libby continues to work in the community as the Chair of the Board for Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust. She is also the founder and principal consultant for Changing LENS Consulting.