A lot can happen in seven months—just ask the creative minds behind the Bethlehem-based grassroots movement Afros in Nature. “I was just saying to Melanie [Lino], it’s like we’re getting ready to have a baby,” says Amanda Jimenez, who, along with Lino and program developer for early learning and wellness Nia Watson and outdoor recreation coordinator Louis Rivera, serves as the group’s informal leadership board. “We all have different superpowers that, when put together, really balance each other,” Jimenez says. And, as the calendar turned from 2020 to 2021, they were able to take stock of everything they had accomplished during those brief seven months of Afros’ infancy, and to enthuse about their new “baby” on the way—a nonprofit café and community space in Allentown that aims to turn the hospitality industry on its head. “In our area there’s nothing like this,” Lino says.
The idea for the collective had been percolating for a while. Its founders wanted to find a way to connect Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) with the natural scenes around them. Lino, an Allentown native and co-owner of Bethlehem’s Lit Coffee Roastery and Bakeshop, where she sells treats from her Made by Lino line, says that meant creating an environment that provides accessibility to outdoor recreation and farming for fellow people of color. But first she had to find her own sense of inner peace about being out in nature. Her family is from the Dominican Republic, where being outside often is the norm, she says. She spent a lot of summers there. But the freedom to roam and explore that made those summers so memorable didn’t extend to the Lehigh Valley. “My mom wouldn’t allow me to do anything alone out in the wilderness, ever,” Lino says. “Bad things could happen to people like us.” She found a shared experience in talking to other people of color in the area—a general unease about spending time alone in natural spaces, coupled with a lack of local outdoor recreation groups specifically geared toward them. “We decided we were going to do this to reclaim space in the outdoors,” Lino says.
Afros in Nature co-founders Melanie Lino, Amanda Jiminez, Louis Rivera and Nia Watson.
One of the group’s first acts of outreach last summer was assuming guardianship of a community garden along South Bethlehem’s greenway that Jimenez says was in need of some TLC. It was an undertaking that certainly appealed to Jimenez, a Texas transplant who moved to the Lehigh Valley four years ago in part to cultivate her interest in farming. She says they tended to the plants that were there and added new ones, while using the garden rehab mission as a means to strike up conversations with people who happened to be walking by on the greenway. All of this was happening as the Lehigh Valley, like the rest of the world, was grappling with the ongoing challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was a nice way to ride out the wave of isolation,” Jimenez recalls.
Soon, other outings began to populate on the collective’s calendar. Paddleboarding at Lake Nockamixon in Bucks County was among the most in-demand repeat excursions, even though, according to Jimenez and Lino, the vibe at the lake wasn’t always completely welcoming. They recall the group getting a lot of stares from passersby; once a fisherman cast his line a little too close for comfort to the group. “When you have five people looking at you like you don’t belong, it’s hard to not notice it,” says Lino. But, Jimenez says, they always opted to take the high road: “We’re not going to engage in this. We’re here to have a peaceful time.”
The group also organized yoga sessions, a bike ride along the D&L Trail and disc golf outings. Other activities were home-based, like a virtual book club and home healing workshops. Regardless of the setting, the goal, the group says, is creating a safe space—physically and emotionally—for all participants. “This will be a place for healing, learning, crying, screaming, dancing, playing music and building stronger connections with fellow BIPOC in the Valley,” says Lino in her Afros in Nature bio on the group’s website, afrosinnature.org.
Jimenez says the feedback so far has been positive; the Afros in Nature mission has been spreading via word of mouth and social media. “People are really enjoying how it makes them feel and how it shifts their mindset,” she says. Some participants have become regulars at the group’s outings, while others have pledged to work on their newfound connection with nature on their own time. Jimenez says that feeling of belonging is key; it’s important to pay it forward. “Help someone else experience something beautiful. It’s the small things that make the biggest impact.”
Those activities, along with some new additions, like rock climbing, will continue in 2021. The group also hopes to take on winter sports like skiing and snowboarding at some point. But the collective is perhaps most excited about what it’s cooking up in Downtown Allentown. The Afros Homestead and Café is on 7th Street between Gordon and Chew streets, not far from where Lino grew up. “I immediately felt attached to this neighborhood,” she says. She first began looking at the space as a possible second location for her Lit coffee shop in Bethlehem. The pandemic forced her and her business partners to pump the brakes on those plans, but Lino still felt the building and the neighborhood had potential and didn’t want to walk away from the chance to do some good. “I asked [the property owner] how she felt about opening a nonprofit café.” The owner—and the team—were on board.
The café aims to be much more than just a neighborhood coffee shop; it will offer employment as well as teaching opportunities to young people of color in the region. “It’s not just a job. You’ll be trained on how to be a leader,” Jimenez says. “We just want to prepare people to be their best selves.” Beyond the typical duties in the front of the house, workers in the kitchen can expect to learn food storage, food prep and knife skills. Outside, there will be garden beds to grow food that will be incorporated into the café’s menu offerings. A community space indoors will host workshops and meetings. “The goal is to support this community, not make money,” Lino explains. She hopes to offer the café’s wares on a sliding scale, while also providing discounts to people who live in the neighborhood.
Of course, making those plans a reality requires more than just a vision: there’s also the physical work of renovating and refurbishing a building that Lino says has been abandoned for decades and was on the verge of being demolished. Earlier this year, construction crews and contractors were tackling the bigger jobs of redoing the walls and flooring and fixing the plumbing. Once those items are crossed off the to-do list, the Afros in Nature team will roll up its sleeves to bring the café to the finish line. Lino says the community has already been generous in offering time, resources and donations to help them power through any challenges that have popped up. She’s hoping that kindness will continue. “The way the community has come together has been such a blessing. Everyone is coming through to make sure this happens.”
