ioby was founded in 2008 in order to make it easier for local leaders to gain the funding, knowledge, and resources needed to make positive change on a local level. For the past ten years we’ve worked alongside more than 1,600 passionate, committed community leaders and have watched as small projects have turned into larger initiatives and collaborations have become movements.

In the coming months, we’re taking a look back at the past ten years, and tell some of our favorite stories of positive neighborhood change. We want to know: what kind of things can start with a conversation, a neighborhood meeting, a few dollars raised?

Yancy Villa-Calvo, in Memphis, tells us about how she created a living art installation that responded to the danger that vulnerable communities experience and encourage empathy. Through ioby, she was able to access quick financial support in a way that she wouldn’t have been able to access through a grant, and that let her quickly react to the vitriol that came out of the 2016 election cycle. Read more about Yancy and her Barrier Free installation.