Americana World Community Center provides a broad spectrum of educational and social support services for immigrants, refugees, and the economically underserved in Louisville. It is not just a campus of buildings. It is a globally-minded community space. Based in the Beechmont neighborhood, Americana provides holistic services in partnerships with seven other nonprofit organizations that are housed and hosted there.
Executive Director Emilie Dyer, who has been at Americana for 14 years, and Associate Director Karen Moyen, who has been at Americana since 2018 (and became Associate Director in October 2024), enumerate some of the services Americana offers: After school and summer programs for kindergarten to 12th grade students; a partnership with JCPS to administrate the largest English language learning site and the second largest GED certification site in Louisville; a community garden that serves 130 gardeners and provides 6,000 pounds of fresh produce to the community each year; and a fiberworks program that brings together women from all over the world to create their own products and sell them to generate supplemental income for their families.
Americana’s campus partners include Kentucky Refugee Ministries, who provide citizenship classes; the Louisville Asset Building Coalition, who provide VITA volunteer tax assistance; Family Health Center, which serves more than 5,000 patients a year (80% of whom speak a language other than English); and Adelante Hispanic Achievers, who support college and career readiness for the Latinx community.
Americana exists “to provide a safe, welcoming space for community members to feel like they belong,” Moyen said. “This organization has spent the past 30 years perfecting and working towards culturally responsive, culturally appropriate services and programming, building trust with the community,” in order to cultivate a place of stability for the Beechmont and surrounding neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, when Americana assessed its mid-year financial position, the result was the identification of an immediate need: bring in $150,000 by March 31 and $520,000 by June 30 or close its doors.
What Has Changed Since January
Americana is supported by grants, sponsorships, its own fundraising events, and individual donors. A majority of grant money that Americana receives comes from local and regional foundations, who are the primary recipients of federal funds. When the Department of Government Efficiency eviscerates federal funding, Americana feels the effects. “We are a secondary awardee in many cases,” Dyer said. “What we’re noticing is that the trickle down effect of these federal executive orders is that grant opportunities around around the work we do are drying up… The structure of the entire nonprofit sector will be compromised by current federal policies.”
Approximately 90% of Americana’s budget comes from grant awards. The remaining 10% to 12% comes from private donations and sponsorships. “What we’re seeing because the grant opportunities are getting smaller is that the awards are getting smaller, because they’re just evaporating,” Moyen said. As a result of this evaporation of tax-funded financial support, “the community is going to have to show up for organizations like ours until the grant funds change. We’re always keeping our eyes on that, but that’s how we’re seeing it shift. We’re… leaning more into donations, volunteer work, and in-kind donation work.”
Dyer and Moyen have been living and working in the South End for a long time. They understand the way Americana informs the safety and stability of the Beechmont neighborhood, as well as other neighborhoods, by providing basic services and a place to go for people who might not be able to access resources otherwise. “Our intention is to continue to do that in whatever capacity is possible beyond June 30,” Dyer said. “We are working with our board to create that strategy, but we’re also assessing… [how] we might be able to continue through the support of partnerships with some of our fellow nonprofit community providers.”
“We didn’t plan for this situation,” Dyer said. “We had a plan at the beginning of this year; a strategy was built out by our leadership and board to make our budget like we always have for the past 30 years. But now, we have to pivot and come up with highly creative solutions to get us across the finish line.”
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What Louisvillians Can Do To Help Americana
One way Louisvillians can support Americana is to make a donation online and then challenge others to do the same. Americana’s Instagram account has activated the #50from5 challenge: give $50, recruit four friends, then share the inspiration for your donation on social media.
“If we can get 2000 people to donate $50, we’re going to make our mark by the time that we need to in order to keep pushing forward,” Dyer said. “We’re going to keep communicating with our community and our supporters about how we’re going to continue this fundraising effort to get to June 30.”
In addition to the #50from5 challenge, Americana asks followers to use the hashtag #SOSAmericana across social media platforms. Dyer and Moyen also encourage donors to attend the International Women’s Day Breakfast, catered by M Venue, on Saturday, March 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
“We’re going to have to lean in more than ever to the support of the community to provide these essential public services,” Dyer said. …they’re not going to be funded in the traditional ways they have been in the past.” If people want to take it to the next step, make it a monthly donation — make it recurring.”
The movement to keep Americana World Community Center alive and thriving is already gaining traction. In the first 24 hours after the first announcement of the risk of closure, 350 individual donors gave more than $30,000. Be counted among Louisvillians who value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Donate now.
This article appears in Feb 14-27, 2025.
