Strengthening Community Networks
Everything around us is evolving—our neighborhoods, climate, and the ways we work and connect. Thrive Asheville responds to these changes by deepening and expanding local networks to better understand our challenges. We lead collaborative action on immediate issues while planning for the future. Currently, we focus on two key areas that shape our community: Housing and Sustainable Tourism.
Our Approach: The 4C’s
Thrive Asheville's organizational model revolves around the 4C's, serving as guideposts to identify and solve community challenges together. We utilize a collective impact strategy to achieve outcomes, collaborating closely with local government, the private sector, and other nonprofit organizations. This partnership ensures we improve conditions through thoughtful advocacy and impactful programs.
Housing Work
Thousands of individuals and families in Asheville struggle with unstable or unsafe housing. Federal rental assistance (FRA) could offer a solution by helping families move into private market rentals and gain long-term stability. However, many recipients face challenges finding landlords willing to accept vouchers, leaving them unsheltered or trapped in public housing.
Landlords often avoid FRA due to lower profitability, perceived risks of renting to people in deep poverty, and slow, burdensome bureaucratic processes. Thrive's comprehensive approach addresses these barriers, promoting FRA acceptance and long-term housing security for vulnerable populations. Our Landlord Tenant Partnership and the Buncombe Rental Assistance Collaborative match housing-insecure individuals and families with housing opportunities and support their success.
Sustainable Tourism Work
Tourism and housing are inextricably linked, which is why Thrive explored this second focus area - sustainable tourism. Both areas face challenges regarding access and equity. As one of our core values, Thrive strives to increase equity and access within these initiative areas.
In 2021-2022, Thrive facilitated cross-sector working groups to study tourism, exploring how other communities maintain a robust visitor economy while protecting local quality of life for residents. A diversity of perspectives is critical, and we believe learning from successful strategies helps us create sustainable solutions. We appreciate our partners and supporters for making this possible. Together, we aim for a future where more residents thrive.
The year-long discovery process, called Ideas To Action, revealed the need for opportunities for Black and brown business owners to benefit from the tourism economy. This led to a report on best practices for sustainable tourism.
Extending Tourism Economy Benefits to Black and Brown Owned Businesses
Thrive convened leadership from Mountain BizWorks and Black Wall Street to strategize new approaches. As a result, Black Wall Street received funding to train and support a cohort of businesses engaging with the tourism sector.
The Greater Access to Tourism Entrepreneurship (GATE) Program was launched in January 2024. Thrive supports Black Wall Street in building the capacity to create, develop, and sustain this program.