The Sanctuary In The City

03/27/2024

Thank you!

Thank you for being in this community. Thank you for taking time to read this message from the small but mighty team, Christy Lee, Tiya Caniel, and Kelley Palmer. We come to you so grateful for one another and each of you. We have been quiet as we consider what is next for us, this "work" and this organization.

Eight years ago, we, along with Setarra Deveaux-Robinson, Jasmine Hines, and Tanqueray Edwards visioned creating a Black-led organization in the city of Charlotte that made it possible for other Black people and People of the Global Majority to have a safe and affirming space to connect to our wellbeing, collective care and practices to fortify, ground and heal us. We hold deep gratitude for those early days, all of us leaning in to have meetings after work with children in tow at Kelley's home, eating dinner, and visioning boldly about what was possible. We have lived into that vision and feel so grateful for what has been made true, for the ways we have learned to trust our imaginations and our community.

We believe in the power of the people. This organization has affirmed our belief. Without the individuals who gave to us monthly, and cheered us on via email and in person, the teachers, caregivers, and knowledge-holders who held every space, and all the people who trusted us we wouldn't be here. None of the past eight years is possible without THIS caring community. Before we talk about what's next we wanted to share what community can do with the reminder that there is always a way...

What Is Next For Sanctuary?

For the past twelve months, we have held awareness that the time to make changes in our personal lives and this collective is upon us. Last spring we decided to sunset the work we are doing here. We know that this sharing has an impact and we are so grateful for all the love that has been shared with us as we slowly stopped programming and found ways to stop the machine that is a non-profit organization. We also honor that an ending can bring up a host of emotions.

We took time to look at the vision we had all those years ago and believe we have honored it and now we honor it by releasing this iteration of it. It has planted seeds in each of us that will only add to our collective joy, ease, wholeness, and liberation!



We have a deep love for one another that has been rooted in something we deeply believe in. We are so grateful for how this has deepened our friendship and sisterhood. It has been such a blessing to hold this space together. This is us during our final in-person meeting, in Charlotte at Kelley's once again. Our goodbye was lots of hugging, remembering, and celebrating. Collectively we have navigated grief, change, caregiving, illness, loss, death, unfurling, healing, love, and joys while getting to organize with incredible people. It has been work that has changed us and bonded us for life.


We want to say thank you again. We also want to remind ourselves and each of you that when it comes to what we can do together, Everything Is Possible. We want to remind you that you are worthy, beautiful, and cared for, as you are. We love you!

Please scroll on to see some of the joy from our final in-person events, a retreat from Black space holders in Georgia, and a dinner party to conclude a weekend-long book festival focused on writers from the African diaspora. We hope these pictures of Black people feeling nourished, cared for, and loved remind you that you deserve that too.



With love and deep appreciation and in solidarity with every true Liberation movement on this Planet.

Christy, Tiya & Kelley

11/29/2023

And for the in-person portions of our literary festival (see previous post), we have a book signing & conversation with author Junauda Petris starting at 4pm and tarot readings at 5:30pm this Saturday starting and on Sunday Liberation Dinner hosted by Jasiatic & Junauda 💜 All in-person offerings will be held at
Be sure to reserve your spot today! Click the link in our bio

11/29/2023

Since 2020, The Sanctuary In The City has offered And Other Stories, a free online bi-weekly book club that centers writers of the African diaspora. This community space is held down by the brilliant, beautiful being known as Jasiatic Usher

We excitedly invite you to join us for And Other Stories: Exploring Food & Sensuality in Literature. This offering is a literary festival centering the stories of the African Diaspora, presented by The Sanctuary In The City. This hybrid event will include virtual offerings to connect Black people to celebrate, interrogate, and bask in the beauty of Black literary and cultural magic. The festival will also conclude with an in-person, plant-based multi-course meal in Charlotte, NC, better known as Liberation Dinner, planned and prepared by the festival host and plant-based chef, Jasiatic Usher, and special guest author Junauda Petris

The virtual portion of his festival is free to our community! Recordings of the offerings will not be available to respect privacy.

The concluding Liberation Dinner, hosted at Archive CLT in Charlotte NC, will offer limited ticketing for 30 guests on a sliding scale. This dinner is a fundraiser to support the continued facilitation of this space and spaces like this. Click the link in our bio to register today 💜💜💜

04/22/2023

04/19/2023

One of the most impactful ways to be in solidarity with Black-led healing spaces is thru direct giving. Your commitment to ongoing support helps The Sanctuary In The City sustain FREE safe/brave spaces & programming that center Black joy & healing AND the ability to offer mutual aid to Black folks in need of financial support.
Our hope is that we can count on community support in our work. Our ask is that you (our community) help us sustain and expand the impact of our work in Black healing by becoming a monthly giver.
Click the link in our bio to become an ongoing direct giver today.

04/18/2023

Wellness Is Our Birthright
One of the ways to be in solidarity with Black-led healing spaces is by supporting our stability through ongoing support. Your ongoing monthly/yearly support expands our capacity to be less dependent on grant funding, which is hard to obtain and often misaligned with our values and agreements. Your direct giving eliminates funding barriers that prohibit mutual aid.
Click the link in our bio to become a monthly or yearly giver in support of our work towards Black healing.

10/14/2022

“Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands.” ― bell hooks


Healing from the experience of intimate partner violence, does not have to happen alone. We each deserve to be seen, heard and nourished by a community.

Join The Sanctuary In The City and Melody Gross ( ) of Courageous Shift for a virtual half-day retreat for survivors of intimate partner violence. This retreat is offered as a place for survivors to rest, connect and hold space to decide how we will live in safety, care and love, individually and collectively.
This is a Black Autonomous Space. The space is Black Led for Black people ONLY.

To support this healing work as a non-Black person consider sharing it with Black people you know, donating towards our work and encouraging others to financially support The Eva Lee Parker Fund.

The Eva Lee Parker Fund provides financial support to Black women who are currently experiencing intimate partner violence.
Click the link in our bio to learn more
💜💜💜💜💜💜

06/10/2022

Greetings Loved Ones,

We have been hard at work on a project that we are excited to share with all of you. In August 2022, we will begin the first offering of PORTAL: a healer's immersive learning cohort.

PORTAL is a 6-month, peer-led, co-learning, collaborative unlearning, and growth incubator. This Black, Queer-led space centers Black healers looking to ensure their work and life are in alignment with expansive visions of Black liberation. This space is created with the intention of inviting participants to investigate the stories, patterns, practices, and beliefs they are holding and embodying in their lives and their healing work.

Each month the cohort will focus on a different topic, building upon the previous month’s work. Through movement space, facilitated dialogue, contemplative practice, and speaker series we set the vision of curating a space that allows for our collective wholeness, healing, and community building. Please find an overview of the monthly focus points below:

Month 1: Exploring Your Wholeness
Month 2: Valuing Community
Month 3: Reimagining resources
Month 4: Making your work ethical, authentic, and accessible
Month 5: Expansive Visioning for collective liberation
Month 6: Embodied Practice

Applications to apply to join are open NOW and the deadline for applying is June 25, 2022 at 1159pm.

Click the link in our bio to apply

06/07/2022

Your/our favorite plant-based cook and creative extraordinaire of is hosting the first Liberation Dinner of the season this Saturday in Charlotte! 🙌🏾 ✨
Swipe left to see the menu 🤤😋and then go ahead and cashapp her $jasiatic to reserve your spot.
If you can’t make it, feel free to sponsor a seat at the table for someone else because a portion of the proceeds will go towards funding the healing space we help offer to black people who live with eating disorders. Not to mention helping continue to sustainably create the life she deserves by paying her for sharing her many gifts with us 🙏🏾
The minimum donation is $75
The preferred donation is $150+
Well worth every $$$ because Liberation Dinners are a full, nourishing, and beautifully intimate experience for those who attend.
Go ahead and reserve your spot now via cashapp: $jasiatic
Treat ya self to something lush

04/14/2022

Much love and gratitude to for shining light on the work has been doing! We’ve been partnered with them to help raise funds to support Black women who need help leaving/escaping from violent intimate partners for some time now. It feels so good to know word is getting around about the work we’ve been doing ☺️
To donate to the Eva Lee Parker fund and help us keep Black women safe from domestic violence, click the link in our bio.