Change Begins Here: Growth Empowerment, Community Engagement & Cooperative Economics
From Self to Solidarity: Personal Transformation & Community Engagement Fuels Cooperative Economics
Explore Anita D. Russell’s Community Engagement Portfolio — connecting personal growth and development, cooperative economics, and long-term wealth-building impact. Scroll down to check out Anita’s partnerships, initiatives, and collaborative work designed for empowerment and shared prosperity.
Wealth Building Community – Empify
Build on a platform of personal development and community engagement.
While searching income generating opportunities, I discovered Ashely M. Fox, the genius behind Empify. I’m one of those folks who lost income as a result of the 2024 election and the change in the DEI landscape in 2025. I’m so glad I found her!
I attended Cash Flow Creation Summit and became a member of the Wealth Builder Community. I am feeling bolder and more confident in my wealth building future now as a result. I know what I need to do and how to do it. Check out her work and you’ll be glad you did!
Ujamaa Collective
I am on a personal journey of sovereignty, community engagement, and cooperative economics. I officially became a Plus Member of the Ujamaa Collective in 2025 to guide me on the journey. The love, support, and sisterhood are invaluable to me.
The Greenwood Plan & Emerald City
THE MISSION:
To advance economic justice for Black Communities by bridging people and knowledge networks, redirecting resources, and supporting the unique needs of Black Businesses. I am proud to say I am a facilitator for The Greenwood Plan and a member of Emerald City.
I became a member of the Genius Is Common Movement for one primary reason: I believe there is genius across humanity. The genius depicted in this image flowed out of artist JD Baez Caribbean, Brooklyn Bred, Multidisciplinary Artist. His painting evoked an ekphrastic poem in me, “The Blueness of an African Butterfly.”
“The Genius is CommonTM Movement is about tearing down the Berlin Wall of the word genius.” Be inspired – Be engaged – Be empowered…It means that all beings have a genius in them. Genius manifests itself through each being’s unique way of expressing their passion, be it their profession, art, or talent. A woman from the inner city, who knows how to micro-braid hair as Picasso painted, is a talented, skilled Genius. Positioned to become a part of the American lexicon like Nike’s “Just Do It” and Sprite’s “Obey your thirst,” “Genius is CommonTM” in just a few words, levels the playing field of who is traditionally thought to be a genius.
Video: Impromptu Poetry Reading
At the “SEW What” Costume Design Pop-up Shop hosted by Junyetta Seale, haute couture designer in Pittsburgh PA. Location: Emerald City Pittsburgh
The inauguration of our branch took place on October 13, 2012 and was named in honor of Dr. Edna B. McKenzie, a pioneering journalist well known for her work with the Pittsburgh Courier, and an African American History scholar and educator whose work on African Americans in Western Pennsylvania was unparalleled.
We have been blessed and privileged to regularly host programs that fulfill the mission of ASALH “to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about Black Life, History, and Culture.”
OMA Center for Mind Body Spirit
OMA Center for Mind, Body, and Spirit
OMA began about 20 years ago as a vision of an inner city community wellness center and a rural retreat center that would complement each other. Both would provide holistic services for anyone regardless of their socioeconomic, cultural, or spiritual/religious background.
In the words of founder, Gail Hunter: “I have been ‘holding’ this vision as a picture within a loving, grateful, and positive energy field since that time. Around four years ago as I began to share my vision, what began to manifest was the appearance of one amazing person after another who each brought their own unique skills, experience, and passion to the development of OMA.
I have always believed and taught others that when you hold a picture of what you seek and envision it with gratitude as if it has already happened, it will then manifest. Thank you to all those who ‘heard’ my vision and have been working diligently to create OMA.”
SEED A Better Life
In 2011 I was blessed with the opportunity to join the founder of SEED a Better Life, Mavis Bauman, on a trip to Rwanda. In a world full of need, we still believe that one small act of giving, of loving can change a life. SEED a Better Life coordinates with local talent to support a Rwandan community of young people who survived or were directly affected by the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi.
The logo — a dandelion gone to seed — symbolizes those who died and the seeds of witnesses and family members planting a new future in Rwanda. We provide medical care, educational support, and food supplies to individuals in our program.