Who is The Tree Yoga Cooperative?

Rita, Jonié (aka J.Cole), Jana, and Jenni launched The Tree Yoga Cooperative in August of 2020 after years of teaching yoga and meditation throughout South Los Angeles. Their community leadership at The Tree South LA (nonprofit organization) united them to reimagine the ways we connect, heal, build and celebrate ourselves and community. 

The Tree Yoga Cooperative is a BIPOC worker-owned cooperative in South Central Los Angeles, which is a values-driven business that puts worker and community benefit at the core of its purpose. Worker cooperatives are a democratic alternative to inequality, gentrification, and the gig economy and provide a pathway to a better future of work.

What are we raising funds for?

All campaign funds will go towards our worker-owned community wellness hub that we hope to launch by Fall of 2021. 

We are eager to re-open in a new community space for our growing yoga school, weekly classes, workshops, and for additional wellness services. It is important that our South Central Los Angeles community has access to wellness practices that support individual and community health. We’ve also had the opportunity to expand virtually over the past year and intend for our new space to have the capacity to continue to produce digital content. 

What is the impact of your donation?

Your donation will go directly to securing a new facility that will serve as our wellness hub. We are committed to educating and empowering individuals, communities, and professionals to improve the health disparities and become health equity advocates. 

This space will also serve as the new home for our transformative 200hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) program. That means that your donation will allow community members (BIPOC, LGBTQ, differently-abled, low-income individuals) to deepen their own yoga practice, evolve their leadership in community health, and expand their opportunities as entrepreneurs in wellness. The bedrock of this training is mindfulness, social justice, and public health. We seek to diversify yoga by training yogis from underrepresented groups to become yoga instructors as this is one of our approaches to democratize wellness and remove barriers to healthy living. We are the only Black-led 200hr YTT emphasizing yoga as a tool for social justice, grassroots community building and addressing racial health inequities in our community.

It is important that People of Color know they have a safe space with us to enjoy this practice and to teach, work, and offer their services. 

Our Fundraising Goal to Re-Open

We need $143,000 to cover the initial expenses for our first year back in a physical location since we closed our doors due to COVID. If we meet our goal we would consider using it as a down payment for purchasing a building. We have outlined our expenses to include commercial lease rent, renovations, operational expenses (utilities, subscriptions, COVID protocols, etc). and legal fees. Any additional funds from our initial goal will go towards Yoga Teacher Training scholarships and supporting operational expenses. 

Other Ways You Can Help

Please share with friends, family, and through your networks. If you happen to have any media contacts, let us know. We are excited to share about our unique story and the impact it has had on BIPOC wellness practitioners throughout South Los Angeles and worldwide!! Please utilize the indiegogo share tools to help spread the word about re-opening our BIPOC worker-owned wellness hub.