Future Economy Collective Newsletter
Who We Are
Who We Are
Future Economy Collective (FEC) is a community-based, all-volunteer-run, certified 501c3 started and based in southwest Virginia’s New River Valley. FEC focuses on mutual aid, community-building, and harm reduction in the NRV. Mutual Aid projects include the 24/7 take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can community free fridge (now in the rear of UKirk Student Ministries) and essential needs supply distributions (behind the North Main Laundromat in Blacksburg on select Laundry Love days). The primary community-building project is our new community space (no cafe but Mill Mountain Coffee is right downstairs) in the rear of 700 N Main St across from the Wax Studio & Brow Bar. Volunteers are always needed to help with community events and mutual aid efforts. Likewise donations are always needed to maintain operations. We are, and have always been, fully volunteer-run and operating almost entirely on grassroots donations; especially from our monthly supporters!
Short Organizational History
the idea to start this nonprofit was born out of years of wanting to have a space in town that was accessible, collaborative, and accountable – a space that can be collaborative and fulfill needs that this area has long needed. after working in a space that operated similarly in late 2016, one of our founders saw that there was a need for a space in the new river valley that could be used to strengthen community ties. they started to hold open community meetings in october 2017 under the name “blacksburg community co-op initiative” -- these meetings amassed a group of people that were interested in molding this idea, sharing ideas of what this collective space could look like. in late january of 2018, the other two founders joined the drive to make this place a reality and through their motivation and determination, the future economy collective was finally incorporated in july 2018. the future economy collective received our 501c3 status later that year. in early 2020, the future economy collective founded southpaw cafe at 204 draper rd nw, surviving almost entirely off of grassroots donations alone.
none of this vision or survival would have ever happened without the community support of the new river valley. well being for all is not a dream!
Our Values
in our experience, the best way to foster liberation is through creating and maintaining connections that allow the struggle against oppression to feel less driven by fear and more out of love for each other. best stated by adrienne maree brown, “do you understand that your quality of life and your survival are tied to how authentic and generous the connections are between you and the people and place you live with and in? are you actively practicing generosity and vulnerability in order to make the connections between you and others clear, open, available, durable?” we firmly believe that community building is the cornerstone to a sustainable future.the intention of this collective is to be a place where we model the world we want to build. we want our culture and structure to reflect our shared goal of liberation for all people. in all our work, we embrace the full humanity of one another through the recognition of our intrinsic rights such as housing, food, healthcare, bodily autonomy, belonging, pleasure, rest, clean drinking water, a healthy ecosystem, and more.
Our Community Projects
Southpaw Community Space
Our community space (popularly known as southpaw) is an all-volunteer-run community space built by, and for, the new river valley in southwest Virginia
all proceeds from our merchandise sales are directly invested back into the community, funding mutual aid programs, community projects, and more (such as stocking the community free fridge & pantry when food supplies are low).
our sales operate according to a sliding scale! this means that people have the option to pay what they can for each item -- this helps us provide items at a lower cost so that more people may access them! if you have stable income, considerable savings, and/or minimal economic stress, we suggest you choose tier 2 or tier 3 prices!
Physical Location: 700 N Main St, Suite E, Blacksburg, VA, 24060 (by North Main St roundabout above and behind Mill Mountain Coffee, across the hall from the Wax Studio & Brow Bar)
Come help us finish setting up the new space so we can post cute pictures here! :)
Community Free Fridge & Pantry
The community free fridge & pantry (plus our warm clothing drawers and seed share) for the core of our mutual aid efforts. Volunteers and community members clean and stock the fridge & pantry. The fridge & pantry also receive donations from some local organizations and small businesses, such as the Agape Center, Our Daily Bread, and the Farmers’ Market Share the Spare Program. The community free fridge & pantry, warm clothing drawers, and seed share are now located at:
305 Washington St SW, Blacksburg, VA, 24060
Parking access is located at the intersection of Clay St and Harrell St, where the parking lot is located. The most accessible path to the fridge & pantry is through this parking lot.
Distros and Cooking Series
because we saw a community need for basic essentials, we started doing distributions (distros) of things like hygiene products, cleaning products, harm reduction supplies, and more a a picnic table in the parking lot behind the one local laundromat in Blacksburg. One Sunday a month, we distribute supplies behind the North Main Laundromat from 2-4pm. We choose times during which Glade Church in Blacksburg is serving the community via the local Laundry Love program. The program provides quarters for people to do their laundry, free of charge, no questions asked, in alignment with our values. Glade Church, community members, Laundry Love program users, and sometimes small businesses, like Abby’s (which allows us use the parking lot for our distros), usually provide additional supplies for the distros, making it all the more community-based.
One of our volunteers was very excited to start a cooking series to utilize our membership to a local professional kitchen to cook meals for the FEC-operated community free fridge. Much of the ingredients are graciously donated by local small businesses such as Blacksburg Bagels. This program provides a boatload of fresh, home-cooked meals, currently on a monthly basis, filling a crucial supply chain gap, keeping families more consistently fed
How To Plug In
there are so many different ways to support this mission as well as collaborate in this community space! if you are interested in volunteering, email us at [email protected] or come to a monthly volunteer orientation (stay tuned for our new volunteer orientation series in the new year)! Also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on facebook and instagram.
Volunteer!
some of the current volunteer roles we have include:
working at the cafe
planning events, workshops & concerts
prepping food with the kitchen crew
supporting the free fridge
collecting food and clothing donations
renovating and decorating the space
forming connections with community members and groups
designing and creating merchandise
finding and writing grants
organizing and documenting the library
orienting new volunteers
all volunteers roles can be as little or as big of time commitments as you'd like them to be!
Donate Items!
some consistently needed and wanted donations include
plants and plant cuttings (for our plant shop)
art (for our fundraising section)
books and zines (for our community library)
frequently needed items for the community fridge! (fresh and canned veggies, canned soups, canned beans, frozen and canned meats, other food staples, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes)
winter clothing (coats, scarves, blankets)
we are not currently accepting other clothing donations! please dont drop off donations of items not listed here! <3 if you have items that you think may be useful to us, feel free to contact us and ask first! the best place to contact us is over instagram @future_economy_collective or over email at [email protected]
Support us on Liberapay or Patreon!
Support us with a recurring or one-time donation to financially support our mission and operations! All donations either support our day-to-day operations or are invested directly back into the community. We are all volunteers so no donations go towards salaries.
One-Time and Recurring Donations
Support us on Liberapay if you want to support us via one-time or recurring donations without receiving perks. Liberapay is an open-source, subscription-free, privacy-oriented donations platform. Liberapay does not take a cut from your donations. The only fees on that platform are payment processing fees charged by all platforms.
Recurring Donations with Perks
Support us on Patreon if you want to support us with recurring donations and receive perks for different donation tiers. We try our best to stay on top of delivering on the perks. We have struggled to keep up as of late due to volunteer burnout. We are hoping to onboard lots of new volunteers this year to prevent that problem going forward. Patreon is a proprietary platform and does take a cut out of your donation, so less money funds our mission.
One-Time Donations
Support us via PayPal @fecollective or via our gmail ([email protected]) for one-time donations without receiving any perks. Paypal is a proprietary platform and does not take a cut out of your donation aside from processing fees.
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