If you have been in the crypto market, stock market or you are an entrepreneur and have 10Xd your initial investment, this is a call to you to contribute and support a community driven, grassroots organization’s attempt to 10x!

The idea is that if you initially invested $10,000 in the stock market, your business or crypto and you 10Xd and accrued $100,000, we are asking you to donate $10,000 to Black Land Ownership. If you started with 10 dollars and wound up with $100—we are asking you to donate $10 and so on. This is an opportunity for you to be on the forefront of how wealth can be directed towards a social purpose.

This 10X initiative is a purposeful shift in mentality. As individuals, we follow start-ups, blockchain, crypto-entrepreneurship and the intersecting dynamics that emerge within all three. We believe that projects like ours, projects that work towards the betterment of humanity, should be afforded the same scaling opportunities — the opportunity to scale unencumbered. How are we using this new technology and this new speed to inform and evolve real life systems and real life change?

Black Land Ownership has been successful in its first fundraising initiative—over the course of two years we raised 20,000 dollars to purchase 15.6 acres of conservation land in Fly Creek, New York. The first property we purchased is dedicated to preservation and conservation. It will not be used for any residential or commercial purposes but will be used as private space, made quasi-public to people interested in exploring the natural world, specifically welcoming traditionally marginalized communities who are kept away from natural spaces due to fear of violence or hate.

We believe the arts are important. We believe difference is to be celebrated. We believe there are numerous untold stories that have been relegated to the margins. We believe there are a lot of people who would enjoy nature and feel a deeper attachment to the planet if they had a feeling of safety and welcome. We believe that open space, away from the city, clean air and access to the wonders of nature is a mental health issue and certain communities have been disenfranchised from that opportunity—the same communities that have faced some of the most severe expressions of institutionalized discrimination. This next project allows us to reframe the narrative around property ownership by infusing that narrative with community support and community work; not competition and individual success. People say crypto isn’t real. Well, when it helps a group of non majority, working class artists and educators buy property—we see how real it is. Imagine if at some point you could exchange 1 Ethereum for 1 acre of land—Innovation becomes real. Throughout the campaign, we will be encouraging community members to educate themselves more about blockchain, cryptocurrency and the development of technology that will influence real estate and the potential for historically marginalized or traditionally marginalized groups to have access to land ownership opportunities. This is your opportunity to donate that seed money to another small group of committed grassroots organizers who are being proactive and manifesting the change they would like to see in the world.

The first portion of the campaign will be to cover the downpayment and closing fees at 30,000 dollars. We need to hit this mark in two months. The second portion of our fundraising will be raising the remaining 170K over the course of 10 months. You may ask—Why are we taking such a big leap? Our answer is strong—incrementalism is a luxury afforded to the privileged. We have no time to waste.

Once we own the property we will offer programming such as: conferences, workshops, siminars, outdoor immersion, yoga retreats, field trips for youth and other gatherings at no cost because we don’t have a hefty rent or mortgage to sustain. The possibilities involved with this much acreage are boundless and allow us to engage in endeavors as grand in scale as cultivating an arts driven, education center geared around anti-racist and anti-colonialist theory; one rooted in Pan-African philosophy and indigenous health practices or engaging the community in natural building and permaculture workshops with the mission of changing mindsets around what it takes to build a dwelling and grow your own food.

• A yearly outdoor music festival Artists residency programs
• Small level sustainable farming or apiary
• Sculpture park (think of Stormking)
• Reintroduction to wilderness survival training
• Self-defense for women/marginalized groups
• Rites of passage weekends for young people

You may say that we are trying to raise a lot of money. You are right. Land is expensive. The average cost of a house in San Jose California is $1,160,000. The average cost of a dwelling in Manhattan is around $710,000 and steadily going up.

For the $200,000 we would be able to purchase a property with a dwelling on it, running water, electric and septic. A property with over 20 acres—space to grow plants, fruits, vegetables, an open area for creative or educational gatherings, the ability to have art studios and artist residency/retreat programs as well as space to learn and experiment with natural building and permaculture. This property would also have access to a lake. You can learn more about the property we are in the midst of purchasing on our website.

If the property were to be paid for via these donations and this campaign, we could offer free or very low cost opportunities for artists and travelers and people seeking to explore central New York and make art outside of the big city. Part of our initiative is to educate young people on the ways in which ownership of land in the United States dictates systems and institutions within our economic structures, educational structures, structures of law and justice, community structures and political structures.

This campaign is unique in that we will be accepting cryptocurrency. Any donations made in crypto will be held in a wallet for six months before any trading or liquidation. We are doing this to highlight the fact that we ourselves are invested and believe that Blockchain and cryptocurrency can affect how real estate can be financed and supported.

The money that you donate will go directly to infecting change in people's lives, your donations will go directly towards an endeavor that is real - hands in the mud. The establishment of a welcoming, celebratory, natural space where folks who have been traditionally marginalized are engaged and safe.