Asheville, North Carolina

10 11 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 11 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 11 ASHEV I LLE , NORTH CAROL INA PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Brooks Network Services www.brooksnetworkservices.com | helpme@brooksnetworkservices.com Brooks Network Services is a veteran owned business headquartered in Gibsonville, NC. We offer fully managed IT services (MSP), project-based deployments and security solutions. We are proven, with 30 years’ experience in Government, Manufacturing, Insurance and Healthcare. We are HiPAA certified and Cisco Premier Partners. supports in times of need, like the COVID emergency?” “There’s always been a structural divide in our community,” Jiménez maintains. “And there’s incredible organizing that happens across our communities to try to figure out how we heal from that and build equity. But it’s a process, and the city’s only really just started.” From the city government’s perspective, Bulan says, “Motivating connection and conversation about why climate is so important seems like low hanging fruit but is in fact part of a real effort toward transformational change that starts with authentic engagement.” She admits, “It’s hard to name exactly what that looks like , but I think there’s a cultural shift that we’re trying to navigate through. Not just listening, not just asking for input, but really learning how we can be led by our community members on issues that are central to health, safety, and wellness.. Establishing shared definitions and language along with trust- building and follow through is foundational to better understanding how institutions and community leadership collaborate to generate relationship-based ideas to begin addressing critical climate issues alongside compounding factors of oppression.”