Tending Futures

10/01/2026

For us at Tending Futures, that message is inseparable from our mission. Our work is rooted in a future where Black and Indigenous Women and Two-Spirit peoples have the resources, relationships, cultural knowledge and collective power necessary to keep our families whole, care for our communities and determine what comes next. That means protecting our children’s right to remain connected to their people. It means ensuring they know their histories, languages, traditions and stories. It means creating spaces where culture is not treated as something that survived in the past but something our children are actively inheriting, practicing and carrying forward. Most importantly for us it means remembering that family separation, cultural erasure and the removal of Indigenous children were not accidental consequences of colonization; they were tools of it. The impacts of those systems continue across generations which is why the work of keeping families whole and returning cultural knowledge to our children is central to healing justice not separate from it.

Today we remember the children who were taken. We honor the survivors who came home carrying stories that should never have been theirs to carry. We honor the families and communities who kept culture alive anyway. We recommit ourselves to building a future where our children are never asked to trade belonging for survival.

Every child matters. Every family deserves to remain whole. Every generation deserves the opportunity to know who they are and where they come from.

09/21/2026

“It’s important to me that this plan is bottom up and generated by the community and that (they say), ‘This is what we want,’” Ludgood said. “Communities like Africatown are marginalized, and they are accustomed to people coming in and saying, ‘This is what you ought to do.’ It’s important to me that this bubbles up from the community, which says, ‘This is what we want.’”

Mobile County and city officials are launching an update of Africatown's decade-old neighborhood plan, saying the community has changed dramatically since the 2019 discovery of the Clotilda and needs a new roadmap.

🔗 in the comments

09/11/2026

We talk a lot about the importance of voting, but being an informed voter means understanding what you’re actually voting on when you get to the ballot box. For our next Civics & Conversation, we’re breaking down the ballot 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 Election Day.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺?

Know Your Ballot is about education…not telling you who to vote for, but helping you better understand WHAT you’re voting for. Showing up is important, knowing what you’re showing up for is POWER. 💪🏽🗳️

Join us 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 24𝐭𝐡 at Great Day Latte for another open conversation where questions are encouraged, information is shared, and we learn together.

07/07/2026

We often hear conversations about the importance of “diversity” but for many Black mothers, the question begins somewhere much deeper. It begins with safety. It begins with asking whether our children will be protected, believed and treated as children when they enter spaces where they may be one of only a few (or even the only) Black child.

This carousel isn’t about teaching fear. It’s about naming the invisible labor Black mothers have carried for generations: preparing our children to navigate a world where they are too often perceived before they are seen.

The murder of Nolan Xavier Wells reminds us that these conversations are not hypothetical. Black families should never have to weigh the possibility of violence when deciding where their children will learn, play, worship or grow.

Every child deserves to experience childhood without carrying the burden of surviving racism and every parent deserves to send their child into the world believing they will come home.

We grieve with Nolan’s family. We refuse to let his name become just another headline.

Protect Black children.

07/06/2026

Today at 3:00 PM EST, our Founding Director Assata Dela Cruz () joins Dr. Sarah Nahar for a conversation titled:

From Assata Shakur to Assata Dela Cruz: Palestine, Black Power, and a Durable Revolution for All.

Together they’ll explore what it means to inherit movements, how Black liberation and Palestinian liberation remain deeply connected and what it takes to build communities/organizations capable of sustaining generations to come.

This conversation is part of the Interfaith Action for Palestine (IAP), bringing together a coalition of faith-rooted activist organizations for critical intervention against Christians United For Israel (CUFI), the largest “pro-Israel” organization on Turtle Island.

This marks Tending Futures’ third year participating in IAP and each year reminds us why this work matters. Our mission has always been rooted in tending future generations through cultural revitalization, community care, birth justice and collective resilience. We believe that caring for one another, protecting land, confronting systems of oppression and being in solidarity across movements are all part of the same work.

If you’ve been wanting to join the conversation, this is a beautiful place to begin. Swipe to see today’s featured session and the full online schedule for the next two days.

📍 Today | 3:00-4:00 PM EST
💻 Online & free to attend
🔗 Register: interfaithforpalestine.com/online

06/20/2026

This Juneteenth, may we remember that freedom is still unfinished work. May we continue to free ourselves from systems that seek to divide, exploit and disappear us. May we choose each other again and again.

Because we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams and because no one is coming to save us. We keep us safe. We keep us fed. We keep us free.

Happy Juneteenth. ❤️🖤💚

06/16/2026

Mobile is our home too. We were born here. We are raising our children here. We pray here. We bury our loved ones here. We organize here. We dream here.

And because we love this place deeply, we reject the idea that LGBTQ+ people, transgender people, Two-Spirit peoples or Q***r families are somehow separate from “the people of Mobile.” We ARE the people of Mobile.

The attempt to frame Pride as an outside ideology imposed upon our city ignores a simple truth: Q***r and Trans people have always been here. We have always been your neighbors, classmates, coworkers, faith leaders, artists, teachers, healthcare workers, parents, children and grandparents.

Many of us are Black. Many of us are Indigenous. Many of us are people of faith. Many of us are all of those things at once.

At Tending Futures, our mission is to tend future generations by revitalizing cultural practices, birthing knowledge and building community resilience. We know that resilient communities are not built by deciding whose children belong and whose do not. They are built when every child knows they are loved, valued and safe.

We share a concern for children. That is EXACTLY why we speak up.

Children deserve honest information, supportive communities and the freedom to grow into who they are without fear, shame or political attacks. They deserve adults who will protect them from violence, bullying, homelessness, poverty, racism and isolation. They deserve to know that if they are different, they are still worthy of belonging.

As a Black and Indigenous-led organization rooted in the Gulf South, we also recognize the dangerous history of language that claims certain groups are threats to children or society. Throughout history, that rhetoric has been used against Black communities, Indigenous peoples, immigrants, religious minorities and LGBTQ+ people alike. We know where that road leads and we refuse to walk it again.

We believe faith and inclusion are not opposites. We believe family comes in many forms. We believe every child is sacred. We believe every person deserves dignity. And we believe Mobile is big enough for all of us.

The story of this city is not one of fear. It is one of resilience, survival and community. From Africatown to the bay, from church pews to masjid prayer rugs, from tribal grounds to neighborhood porches, our strength has always come from our ability to care for one another across difference.

That is the Mobile we know. That is the Mobile we love. And that is the future we are committed to tending.

05/17/2026

Two things: we are currently updated the servers for our website so it’s down. Hopefully we’ll be back working and much better within the next two days!

Also we have a community need of $485 in the next two days if you’re able to contribute to our mutual aid fund:

The Earth & Sky Collective Fund is a grassroots mutual aid fund dedicated to empowering Black and Indigenous Women and Two-Spirit peoples. We are committed to creating a community-based network that supports our most vulnerable members, recognizing that our liberation and well-being are essential to...

05/09/2026

Especially with everything unfolding currently, Tennessee is being reduced to a symbol of racism, reactionary politics and oppression. And while those realities absolutely exist, that is not the full story.

As a Black and Indigenous-led organization rooted in the US South, Tending Futures believes it matters deeply that we tell the whole truth about this land and the people who have fought for it. White supremacy depends on historical amnesia. It wants us disconnected from the generations of Black and Indigenous people who resisted before us because when we forget them, we begin to believe liberation has never existed here.

But it has. And it still does.

We refuse to erase the work our ancestors and communities have done and continue to do across the South. Our stories are not only stories of suffering. They are stories of resistance, creativity, kinship and ongoing survival.

The South has always contained both violence and rebellion. We come from the rebellion.

04/15/2026