Justice. Repair. Community.
Reparations are due — and we’re making repair real.
The RSAA is a Black-led organization centering Black voices and those most impacted by systemic oppression. We guide a community-led Reparations Fund for Buncombe County—decided solely by our Generational Architects—and drive lasting systems change through our Unrestricted Fund, which fuels programs, advocacy, and rapid response.
We are not just doing reparative work—we are reparative work, embodied. RSAA stands as a model for what authentic, liberation-driven leadership can look like. Our work transforms policies, shifts narratives, and strengthens community power while honoring the wisdom of generations before us.
We recognize that true reparations go beyond monetary compensation—they require dismantling anti-Blackness in all its forms, holding institutions accountable, and centering deep healing. From confronting our region’s history to reimagining its future, we move at the speed of trust, guided by relationships, care, and collective vision.
Our Initiatives
Community Education (Our Core)
Education is at the heart of everything we do. We design and lead political education, skill-building, and healing-centered learning spaces that equip our community to understand the history, policies, and systems connected to reparations. This includes programs like Freedom School (coming soon) and Legacy Reclaimed—which connect Black residents to their ancestry and transform historical truth into contemporary power. Education fuels our movement and ensures that reparations are defined, directed, and defended by the people most impacted.
RSAA Reparations Fund
A dedicated monetary reparations fund for Black residents of Buncombe County. All funding decisions are made solely by Generational Architects—Black community members shaping how reparations are defined, distributed, and evaluated. This fund is a tangible act of repair, but we recognize that true reparations require more than money—they require transformation of the systems that caused harm.
RSAA Unrestricted Fund
Flexible funding that sustains RSAA’s daily work, including education programs, policy advocacy, narrative change, and rapid response. The Unrestricted Fund ensures we can act quickly when community needs arise and continue building the long-term infrastructure necessary for systemic change.
SpaceShifters
Our methodology for systemic change. SpaceShifters are non-Black allies who commit to learning, unlearning, and working inside their own institutions to shift resources, power, and policies toward repair. This work is rooted in accountability, relationship, and moral courage—creating openings for reparative action from within systems that have historically caused harm.
Truth & Reconciliation Process
Repair is more than a check. RSAA is designing a local truth and reconciliation process to confront harm, acknowledge history, support healing, and build community accountability. This process will create space for honest dialogue and chart a collective path toward repair and reconciliation.