Places Where Students Can Donate or Receive Support: BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Organizations

While this list is a starting point, we encourage you to connect with individuals and organizations in your own community. 

If you would like to suggest an addition to this list, feel free to reach out using the Ask a Question button or by emailing support@chestnutherbs.com.

Click here for a database compiled by Jade Marks of Black Healers & Wellness spaces to support.

Scholarship Funds / Herbal Education

Ancestral Apothecary
“Ancestral Apothecary school is dedicated to the study of herbal, folk, and indigenous medicine.  We are committed to creating a multi-cultural learning community for the study of herbal medicine, which honors the diverse cultural healing traditions of the Bay Area. Ancestral Apothecary School was born of a dream and a prayer to create herbal educational spaces centered on people of color. Herbal medicine has always been integral to people’s resilience in the struggle for liberation and this moment is no different.  We believe in the power of plants and our ancestral medicine to help us heal individually and collectively from systemic racism and the impact it has had on Brown, Black, and Indigenous people.”

To contribute to the Ancestral Apothecary  Black Scholarship Fund, visit their PayPal page or donate via Venmo: @Ancestral_Apothecary

Hood Herbalism
“Hood Herbalism is a community based herbal education project for black, indigenous, and people of color based out of Lynwood, CA. It is a space where people learn useful herbal medicine making skills that can help support their health and the health of those around them. Our space also supports people in connecting with their own ancestral healing traditions related to plants and herbal medicine.

With everything happening in the world, some of the people who are registered to take our August classes can’t afford it. In order to honor our labor as indigenous folks facilitating the learning space and support folks in our community in receiving accessible and culturally relevant herbal education, we are reaching out to people who have the financial capacity and can help sponsor students to take the class.”

Click here to sponsor a student.

Rootwork Herbals / The People’s Medicine School
Located in central New York State, the focus of Rootwork Herbals is “accessibility, affordability and centering folks burdened with daily and systemic oppression. Oppression that not only makes and keeps folks sick and poor, but also removes them from their own medicine. Because of that, my teachings resonate with those who have few financial resources and who are dealing with various health issues.

Anything you can give will go directly towards the People’s Medicine Reclamation Project, our scholarship fund for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) to access the offerings of Rootwork Herbals including herbal medicine, individual consultations, and educational opportunities such as the People’s Medicine School. Funds collected above what is needed for scholarship will go towards the creation of a BIPOC land trust that will house the People’s Medicine School, learning gardens, teaching apothecary, and a safe space for healing.”

Seed and Thistle Apothecary
“Seed and Thistle Apothecary is an educational resource that supports folks to reclaim their ancestral traditions around plant medicine and healing and that centers the voices of the Black and Indigenous communities.  A year-long apprenticeship, Atabey Medicine, is offered as well as addressing issues of access to herbal medicine with the pop-up clinic, called the Seasonal Wellness Clinic, to serve marginalized communities of Portland, OR.  Workshops, classes, and customized sacred plant celebrations throughout the season are available along with Limpias and Individual Consultations to help empower you along the journey of cultivating the wild, the state in which we become aware of the truest parts of ourselves that connect to the inherent wisdom of nature and our bodies and begin our long journey to address the necessary healing from historical trauma.”

Click the link above to donate to the Atabey Medicine Apprenticeship BIPOC scholarship fund.

SkyWorld Apothecary
“We are fundraising to cover the cost of scholarships for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students for SEED, SOIL + SPIRIT Herbal Medicine School. This is a 6-month, 60-hour course that is intended for Queer, Trans, and racialized folks as well as their Allies. It will take place in Tkaronto (Toronto – In the City Where Trees Stand On Water). Our goal is to uplift and centre the history, living stories, and relationships of plant medicine from Indigenous, Diasporic, and decolonial perspectives.”

Harriet’s Apothecary
“Offering group and individual healing services, freedom schools, training and consulting, black healer leadership development, apprentice program, and much more. “With your loving support, we can continue co-creating innovative, generative, healing work in service of the individual and collective liberation & transformation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Please consider offering a donation to sustain our work and Black healers into the future.” 

Click here to donate.

Mill Creek Urban Farm
“Founded in 2005, Mill Creek Farm is an educational urban farm that is led by people of color. We cultivate and distribute fresh produce, host farm-based learning programs for people of all ages, and demonstrate ecological technologies to provide for basic needs. Located in West Philadelphia, we are dedicated to improving local access to fresh, chemical-free produce at sustainably low cost for the immediate Mill Creek community and surrounding neighborhoods. We are dedicated to building a healthy community and environment and promoting a just and sustainable food system.

There are many ways to pitch in at Mill Creek Farm. If you have administrative, educational, fundraising, finance, trade skills (e.g. culinary, carpentry, arboriculture, plumbing, electrical work), or other talents to contribute, please let us know using our volunteer form.” 

Make a donation at the link above.

Medicine Donations

Lenapehoking Freedom Fighter Herbal Care Kits
Catherine Feliz, Chestnut School Student
For Black organizers on the ground and at home. Located on Lenapehoking Land, NYC.
Contact Catherine at freedomkits@protonmail.com

Solidarity Apothecary
“The focus of the Solidarity Apothecary is making and distributing plant medicines to people experiencing state violence and repression. This may include people being arrested, on trial, imprisoned, detained or recovering from these experiences. Or it may include people bereaved due to state violence, such as police shootings or deaths in prison. I also make medicines for the people doing the support and solidarity work during these times, such as organising intense support campaigns, doing prison visits, court support and so forth.”

Visit the website above to make a donation.

Solidarity Apothecary also provides a directory of herbalists offering free or sliding-scale herbal medicines to support people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out this resource for more places to donate or receive support.

LA Herbalist Collective (donate herbal medicine or funds):
The LA Herbalist Collective formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They provide support for “frontline activists and organizers, unsheltered folks, and healthcare workers across Los Angeles, indigenous lands of the Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash, and San Fernandeño Tataviam Nations. We work in service of indigenous sovereignty and black liberation.”

View their needs list here.

NC Mutual Aid Network for Black Lives + BIPOC Healing (donate herbal medicine or funds):
“The goal of the network is to collect resources, herbal medicines, and financial contributions to purchase medicine-making supplies. The resources that are collected will be distributed to Black and NBPOC as well as frontline organizers who are needing the support of the plants to resource their everyday wellness. Resources will also be distributed to BIPOC medicine-makers.”

Donate herbal medicine or funds here.

Hawthorn Community Herb Collective
“The Hawthorn Community Herb Collective (HCHC) was birthed by a group of herbalists who recognized the need for more accessible health care in a climate where such basic needs are not easily attainable. We strive to be a community hub offering tools to build and support wellness resiliency and health justice through herbal care and other alternative modalities of health, healing & education in Asheville, NC, and surrounding area.”

View their wish list here

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Donate Money Towards Medicine Making

Moon Mother Apothecary
Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Moon Mother, is an AfroDominican herbalist, artist, and community organizer located in Brooklyn. “Funds go towards making & distributing free herbal medicines for BIPOC protestors, activists, organizers, and community members mobilizing for justice as well as families directly affected by police and state-sanctioned, systemic violence.”

People’s Justice League fundraiser
“In collaboration with the Appalachian Ohio Herb Clinic and its affiliated product line, Wildfire Herbs, People’s Justice League is working to gather funds to make and ship herbal medicines to support frontline communities through the Covid-19 pandemic. The Clinic is based in Meigs County Ohio where many of the herbs are grown or ethically wildcrafted.  The clinic does a lot of sliding scale work with low-income clients locally and has recently been donating hundreds of dollars worth of medicine to frontline people, such as Indigenous mutual aid COVID relief efforts and people who’ve been in the streets fighting against racial injustice and police violence, particularly Black organizers…We would like to be able to distribute this medicine to as many people as desire it, to have this resource on offer without complication.  All donations to this project will go directly to cover the costs of making tinctures and teas and shipping them to people who’ve been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”

Visit their GoFundMe page to make a donation.

Free Clinics / Disaster Relief (Donate medicine or funds)

Los Guardianes de las Tradiciones Medicinales Ancestrales/ ​Keepers of Herbal Traditions
“After Hurricane Maria, the island of Puerto Rico has struggled to regain strength in its infrastructure, economic independence, and most importantly, healthcare access. It is a right of the people to receive health options that provide long term benefits and healing in their hearts and minds….The Keepers of Herbal Traditions works to provide immediate holistic care through weekly mobile clinics providing herbal and nutritional consultations throughout the island.”

View their wishlist at the link above.

SF Bay Area LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Relief
Support the LGBTQ+ community by volunteering your time or contributing to COVID-19 relief funds by clicking the link above.

Yanawana Herbolarios
Serving the Greater San Antonio area. “A woman led and Indigenous founded organization. Not collectively affiliated with any specific nation, our team members come from ancestries such as Chichimeca, Cherokee, Eastern Creek, and Lumbee. We established ourselves in January of 2016 to meet unaddressed needs in the areas of healthcare and preparedness in the underserved communities of Bexar (and surrounding) Counties, with a special focus on BIPOC communities…Providing free and accessible botanically integrative healthcare clinics, offering free educational programs for adults and children on topics of wellness and self-sustainability, and responding to disaster situations with rescue, medical, and infrastructure services to all our relations.”

Learn how to donate supplies, funds, or volunteer time here.

Community Health Herbal Network
Community Health Herbal Network is a network of communities in the South that offer free herbal care, education, and wellness services that are geared towards preserving and re-cultivating a sustainable relationship with herbal medicine.  Our resources are dedicated to our elders, our ancestors, our communities, and all those harmed by land and resource colonization, environmental racism, war, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, sexism, addiction, the prison industrial complex, and the medical-industrial complex. Your support goes directly towards funding free community clinics, stocking community medicine chests + first aid kits, and hosting training and community workshops that are geared towards the preservation and re-cultivation of the widespread and sustainable uses of herbs.”

Street Medics

UJIMAA Medics
“We are Black community organizers, activists, pastors, healthcare professionals, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, cousins, and friends of African Descent in Chicago… We teach people to be the heroes of their own neighborhoods with Urban Emergency First Response Training.”

Learn more about UJIMAA Medics and donate at the link above.

Reparations

Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
The food system was built on the stolen land and stolen labor of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and people of color. Members of the Northeast Farmers of Color Network are claiming our sovereignty and calling for reparations of land and resources so that we can grow nourishing food and distribute it in our communities. The specific projects and resource needs of farmers of color are listed here. We are so excited about this powerful opportunity for people to people solidarity.”

La Mala Yerba
“We ​co-create spaces of remembrance for black, indigenous, people of color, explicitly including Asian, Pacific Islanders, Hawaiian folx [bipoc], where we ritualize healing ourselves, each other, and the sacredness of earth + ancestor. we create multi-hour to multi-month healing experiences where we call home the sacred that has been displaced by colonization + capitalism. we co-create with you, where ever you live, in your hood, on your reservation, in your home, because we know that all revolutions began here. we welcome in the medicine of your ancestors as we remember the healing possible in sacred community, ceremony + sharing intimacy with earth’s sacred offerings: the elements + the plants.”

Click here to offer reparations funding their work.

Flying DogHeart Farm
“We are earthworkers of a small urban farm located in the unseeded lands of the Kalapuya, Chinook, Willamette, Cowlitz, and other bands of these lands known as Portland, OR and Wapato Island, OR. QPOC, Indigenous, Veteran Owned in partnership with other Black and Brown Farmers in the Raceme Farm Collective. Participant of the Pathways to Farming Program through Mudbone Grown, LLC,  the Oregon Food Bank. 

Flying DogHeart Farm is working to join the movement to change the face of farming and herbalism in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest by working in solidarity with the Canoe Journey Herbalists, Black Food Sovereignty Coalition. We envision a diverse community of plant medicine participants – making, growing, and building in a community where food as medicine is not a novel concept.”

Soul Fire Farm’s Reparations Map for Black-Indigenous Farmers
Includes a list of Black-led farming organizations

For more places to connect, Queering Herbalism offers a directory of herbal practitioners, schools, and organizations run by people of color and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

Mimosa blossoms arranged into a heart.