As alum of Leadership for Social Change, you’re invited to join in co-creating a community of practice where we will support each other to apply our learnings sustainably and in real life situations.

  • 1

    Welcome to Building Collective Power!

    • Meet the Groundswell Team (again)!

    • Online Platform Tutorial

    • Course Flow + Dates: What to expect in Groundswell's Building Collective Power Program

    • How To: Prepare for our first session together

    • Practicing Inclusive Language

    • Policies / Agreements + How To Get Support

    • Online Community

    • Support, Access, & Capacity Funding

    • PAUSE Tool

    • Writing Prompts for Building Collective Power (BCP)

    • How To: Join the cohort group chat
  • 2

    Course Sessions + Zoom Link

    • Course sessions + Zoom Link
  • 3

    Week 1

    • Recording of SESSION 1: Welcome Back!

  • 4

    Week 2

    • Session 2 Slides: We are all connected

    • Resources on Palestine

    • Getting grounded with Mercedes Baines II
  • 5

    Week 3

    • Recording of SESSION 3: Community Leadership Narrative

    • Community Leadership Narrative (CLN) PDF

    • Session 4: The Growing Threat of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracies with Evan Thornburg

    • Recording of SESSION 4: With Evan Thornburg

    • SESSION 4 Slides (from Evan)
  • 6

    Week 5

    • Social Change Ecosystem Map
  • 7

    Week 6

    • Recording of SESSION 6: Groundswell Story
  • 8

    Week 7

    • Cooperative Approaches with Christine Clarke

    • Recording of SESSION 7: Christine Clarke from Freedom Dreams
  • 9

    Week 9

    • CLN Discussion
  • 10

    Week 11

    • Recording of SESSION 11: Aileen and Susanna from Freedom Dreams
  • 11

    Week 12

    • Recording of SESSION 12: Relational Design
  • 12

    Week 13

    • Recording of SESSION 13: Land Based Relationships with Kirsten Dobler

    • Recording of SESSION 14: Relational Design II
  • 13

    Week 14

    • Recording of SESSION 15: Panel on Collaboration

  • 14

    Week 15

    • Recording of SESSION 16 : Shanique - from idea to Level UP
  • 15

    Week 16

    • Recording of SESSION 17: Angela on Evaluation

Groundswell is launching our new program, Building Collective Power, in Fall 2023 to provide this care-filled space for LSC alum who are women, trans, and gender non-conforming individuals that identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour. In it, we'll practice resistance, imagination, advocacy, critical thinking, and alternative ways of working, together. We'll grow our resources, learn from each other, and lift each other up.

We want to move towards a world where our livelihoods are guided by care, and honour our relationships with people, the land, and ourselves as sacred.

And we know we can’t get there alone.

We need to build collective power - the power of solidarity, care, and collaboration - so we can grow our capacity to resist the status quo, and expand the possibilities of our liberation.    

Let's practice resistance, imagination, advocacy, critical thinking, and alternative ways of working, together. We'll grow our resources, learn from each other, and lift each other up.


Who is this program for?

Building Collective Power is for LSC alumni who want to keep practicing and bring your learnings into your communities.

Perhaps you...

...want to nurture a care-filled space or initiative in your community. E.g. start a QTBIPOC urban gardening group.

...want to resist and dismantle white supremacy culture in your work, organization, family, or other community. E.g. address racial pay disparity at work.

...want to use your art practices to bring people together and encourage self-expression. E.g. practice taking up space.

...have a question or curiosity about how social change work towards liberation can happen. E.g. how can non-hierarchal organizational structures work?

...want to bring elements of the Leadership for Social Change course into communities you are a part of. E.g. lead a workshop on part of the LSC curriculum for your colleagues.

What will we do?

We’ll embrace queer, feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-oppressive practices to support us to:

- choose and change our roles in community.

- recognize power structures so that we can build power with others and avoid recreating power hierarchies.

- get more comfortable with conflict by practicing conflict engagement, de-escalation, and accountability mapping.

- learn tools that assist in nervous system regulation and take the time and space to practice them. 

- apply our learnings in real time to projects we want to start or are already working on.

This will take place through a mix of workshops, skills shares, one-on-one conversations, community roundtables, mentorship, and peer group discussions.

Wrap Around Supports

We believe we learn and connect with others best when we don't have to worry about some of our needs and when we feel comfortable and supported.

As you take part in the Building Collective Power program, we will provide you with extra supports to help you participate more easily and feel more comfortable. Read more about them here: Support, Access, and Capacity Funding.

   

Schedule + Time Commitment

This program starts on October 12, 2023 and runs until February 22, 2024.

We will meet every Thursday evening from 6:30pm-9:30pm PT on Zoom and we will occasionally meet on Tuesday evenings.

We ask that you set aside 4-8 hrs a week, including 2-4 hours of in-class time and 2-4 hours of project work, depending on your capacity and the nature of your project or question.

Applications for Building Collective Power are open until August 31, 2023!

APPLY NOW!