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Recently, I鈥檝e been enamored with the story of , a mother living in Highland Park, Michigan, who lost two of her children, 2-year-old Jakobi RA and 23-year-old Chinyelu, in 2007 and 2021, respectively. In Black American communities, we have an age-old saying: Parents should never have to bury their children; it disrupts the natural order of our life cycle. 

Harris, who鈥檚 affectionately known as 鈥淢ama Shu,鈥� has funneled her grief into action鈥攖urning a section of Highland Park into a restorative, self-sustaining eco-village called . Her efforts have grown into a nonprofit that uses land and property revitalization as tools to create safe, nurturing, and culturally affirming spaces within her community鈥攎odeling how to go from 鈥渂light to beauty.鈥� 

Not only did the story warm my heart, it also became my North Star as we put together this issue: If the idea of growth itself is neutral, what can we build from the ashes of our individual lives and losses that strengthens the whole?

That idea runs through this 鈥淕rowth鈥� issue, which aims to complicate the narrative of growth as morally good or bad. In our lead feature, we visit Jason Tartt鈥檚 bountiful West Virginia farm, where he, like Harris, is proving the community鈥檚 potential for abundance and shared prosperity. That feature, underwritten by a grant from the Kendeda Fund, anchors a forthcoming digital series that will more deeply explore the people and places that are actively redefining our conception of prosperity. 

This issue also ventures to Brazil, where Nicole Froio spotlights the power of the Landless Workers Movement as its members are elected to political office for the first time. We also think about what it means for families to grow, from addressing the dire maternal mortality crisis in Black communities in the United States to how kinship networks help keep children out of the foster-care system.

We鈥檙e also leaning into the complexity that comes from grappling with different kinds of growth鈥攚hether it鈥檚 U.S. demographic changes resulting in growing organized violence, or the rise of artificial intelligence, a timely topic as Hollywood鈥檚 writers and actors navigate a strike with widespread implications for how AI will interact with organized labor. 

As always, this issue is full of solutions, optimism, and hope鈥攂ecause that ethos continues to run through everything YES! publishes. It鈥檚 true that endless growth is always worth questioning. And we should also ask ourselves, what can we grow from the difficulties life presents us? As we ponder, let鈥檚 continue growing together鈥攁s people, as members of our global community, and as the beloved readers of this magazine.

Be well,
Evette Dionne
YES! Executive Editor