The birth of a new activist housing collective in Wilmington, North Carolina happened this month of July 2009 when 4 members of the Be Yr Own Hero collective (which organizes Wilmington’s monthly Really Really Free Market, Food Not Bombs chapter, annual DIY fest, and a bike recyclery in the works) moved into a 2-story apartment building downtown. The idea of the building is to turn it into a space where activists, artists, radicals, and anyone with a socially-conscious creative mind can live and build a community. We plan on transforming the vacant land next to the building into community gardens and a workspace for the bike recyclery. We want to beautify this area which sits right at the main exit point out of this city.

Right before we moved in, we organized a clean up day to clean up the empty lot pictured above. It was full of glass, rubble, sand and other goodies. We plan on using this space for community gardens and other beautification projects, home of the bike recyclery and a space to hold the monthly Really Really Free Market and to step up the frequency of Food Not Bombs.

Inside the building, there are 12 one bedroom apartments and one studio apartment. The studio apartment is now the Be Yr Own Hero headquarters where we have a permanent kitchen for Food Not Bombs, meeting space, and future plans for an infoshop, film screenings and other fun things.

If you are interested in moving into this space or want to get involved with the collective, please be in touch: beyrownhero@gmail.com