EmpowerTHEM Collective: Rooted in Liberation, Powered by Community
Real systems change doesn’t start with programs. It starts with people. EmpowerTHEM Collective was founded in January 2021 with a bold but grounded belief: the people most impacted by injustice are best equipped to lead the solutions. Born out of the African American Infant and Maternal Mortality (AAIMM) Prevention Initiative, EmpowerTHEM Collective exists to challenge the root causes of inequity while building sustainable, community-led pathways toward liberation. This work is not theoretical. It is lived.From Lived Experience to Collective Power
EmpowerTHEM Collective was founded by Tavia Wooley, a longtime Antelope Valley resident, nonprofit leader, and mother whose personal experience with infant loss became a catalyst for her life’s work. After publicly sharing her story during an AAIMM meeting in 2020, Tavia made a pivotal decision: to fully commit herself to systems-change work that centers Black families, community voice, and shared power. With more than 20 years of experience across public service, mental health, youth development, homelessness services, and community systems, Tavia brings both professional expertise and lived experience to everything EmpowerTHEM Collective builds. At the heart of her leadership is a simple but radical truth: lived experience holds equal value to academic credentials and professional titles.What Makes EmpowerTHEM Collective Different
EmpowerTHEM Collective is not a traditional nonprofit. It is a systems-change organization that understands community challenges, like maternal health disparities, housing insecurity, youth disengagement, and economic exclusion, as interconnected outcomes of larger systems rooted in racism, disinvestment, and power imbalance. To address this, the organization operates through the PEARL framework:- Policy – Building policy fluency and civic leadership among community members
- Economic Empowerment – Creating access to entrepreneurship, workforce pathways, and community-owned infrastructure
- Advocacy – Training people to navigate and challenge systems that impact their lives
- Research – Treating community voice and lived experience as essential data
- Leadership – Developing leaders at every level, not just those with titles
Backbone to Community-Led Change
EmpowerTHEM Collective serves as a backbone organization, providing strategy, coordination, and infrastructure for large-scale initiatives, including:- The Antelope Valley African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative
- The LA Countywide AAIMM Policy and Advocacy Initiative, including support for The Motherboard—a 21-member advisory council of Black women with lived birthing experience who help shape maternal health policy and accountability
The 661 Creator Space: Community-Owned Infrastructure in Action
One of EmpowerTHEM Collective’s most visible expressions of its values is the 661 Creator Space, a social enterprise and creative hub designed to support entrepreneurs, artists, youth, healers, and grassroots organizations. More than a coworking space, the 661 Creator Space is a living example of what community-owned infrastructure can look like. It offers:- Creative workforce training for youth
- Media production and storytelling as advocacy
- Entrepreneurial and nonprofit incubation
- Sponsored access for community leaders historically excluded from opportunity
Leading With Equity, Care, and Shared Power
Across all of its work, EmpowerTHEM Collective is grounded in:- Shared leadership and shared power
- Trauma-informed and healing-centered practices
- Targeted universalism (shared goals, tailored strategies)
- Collective liberation, recognizing that none of us are free unless all of us are free
The Work Ahead
EmpowerTHEM Collective is not here to fix people. It is here to transform systems. By centering community voice, investing in leadership, and building sustainable infrastructure, EmpowerTHEM Collective is redefining what equity-centered, community-led systems change can look like, starting in the Antelope Valley and extending far beyond it. Rooted in liberation. Powered by community. Built for lasting change.Connect
Chat | (661) 483-6783
Visit | 548 W. Lancaster Blvd. Unit C Lancaster, CA 93534
Email | [email protected]
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Visit | 548 W. Lancaster Blvd. Unit C Lancaster, CA 93534
Email | [email protected]
FB | The EmpowerThem Collective
IG | theempowerthemco