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In this episode, Amy Cantrell returns to speak of her life’s work and calling.
Amy Cantrell lives in Asheville, North Carolina and is founder and Co-Director of BeLoved Asheville dedicated to creating home, health, equity, and opportunity for all. BeLoved is a community of people putting love into action every day. We bring people from all walks of life together to create innovative solutions to some of the most challenging problems of our time: housing and food insecurity, poverty, lack of healthcare, systemic racism, and climate change. BeLoved’s projects includes: BeLoved Villages of deeply affordable homes; rapid relief, community health, and vaccination equity efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic; the first homeless/formerly homeless Street Medic Team in the nation; Racial Healing & Cultural Organizing; creating healthy food access through Free Farmers markets, Plants for the People and community gardens; as well as advocacy campaigns around affordable housing, homelessness, food equity, gentrification, and systemic racism. Our projects work at the intersections of community, creativity, and equity. Amy was school educated at Converse College (BA) and Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA (MDiv.) and was “street educated” at the Open Door Community in Atlanta and at BeLoved Asheville. In 2020, she passed the NASCLA national licensing exam and became a general contractor to help support BeLoved’s project to build deeply affordable homes. She received the Western North Carolina Peacemaker of the Year in 2017 and was recently named one of the USA Today Network’s Women of the Year, 2024. Recently, she co-led BeLoved’s response to Hurricane Helene serving 15,000 people daily across Western North Carolina’s impacted zones in the aftermath of the storm. BeLoved became the largest local rapid response group in the wake of Helene supporting equitable responses including Well Check teams and Flush Brigades to support elders and people with disabilities. Hike teams hiking miles to remote areas. Creating temporary water infrastructure for communities, schools, and childcare centers. Sharing 67 tiny homes on wheels as immediate temporary shelter. Currently, BeLoved is doing 30 home repairs and has started their first whole home replacements as well as building a new BeLoved Village in Swannanoa. BeLoved has been featured in stories by ABC News/Good Morning America, PBS News Hour, CBS, NBC,MSN, Accuweather, the Washington Post, and People Magazine. She is married to Adrienne Sigmon and loves being mom to twin 11 year olds, Myla and Eleecia. She loves the color purple, playing guitar, making art, and studying movement history. Find her on Facebook and Instagram @Amy Cantrell and @BeLovedAsheville For more information about BeLoved Asheville, visit www.belovedasheville.com.