Ditmas Park Health Collective Needs $25K To Stay In Business

DITMAS PARK, BROOKLYN -- Ditmas Park's holistic health collective needs $25,000 to combat financial problems and reconcile internal issues of oppression, according to a new crowd funding campaign.

Third Root — the community health center at 380 Marlborough Road that has provided yoga, acupuncture and herbal medicine remedies to the neighborhood for about a decade— launched a GoFundMe campaign on Oct. 2 asking local residents to "put your money where your healing is."

Third Root faces an "immediate financial crisis" caused by low staffing, high turnover, low wages and concerns about the treatment of members who are also people of color, wrote Geleni Fontaine, an owner-member and acupuncturist at the center.

"We're needing to pay back loans, and bolster up so much of a shortfall we've had this summer," Fontaine told Patch. They also noted, "some of our structure and practices around being a co-op have made it difficult to feel like there is equity. "

"We're working against the oppression so many of us feel in the world," Fontaine said. "It's a time of growth as much as it is a time of challenge."

Fontaine reported that Third Root continues to struggle providing workers, who once made just $5 an hour, with a fair wage, which means many members who would like to remain with the organization cannot afford to, they said.

"Our history, work practices, and structure have created circumstances that have resulted in inequity for many of us, particularly compounded for those of us who are Black and POC," Fontaine wrote.

"Our intention to center POC, and especially people of African descent and those from immigrant communities has fallen short of our mission, internally and externally."

The organization has already begun raising the cost of individual yoga classes, increasing the number of pay-what-you-can classes and increasing wages for all workers, wrote Fontaine.

The acupuncturist also told Patch an open house event last weekend has energized the community, and a group of about 20 followers will continue to brainstorm new solutions for financial concerns, such as accepting health insurance or hiring a business consultant.

"We're so grateful, especially for the past two weeks," said Fontaine. "It's been great, there's a sense of people having an ownership."

Third Root members hope to raise $25,000 by Jan. 1; its GoFundMe campaign had raised $7,330 as of Oct. 25.

"It's collective on a really deep level and reminds us that we're not alone," said Fontaine. "We're all healing together."

Photo courtesy of GoFundMe, a Patch media partner