Reflection and Resilience: Dispatches from Pathways to Equity 2020
By Shalini Agrawal, Robin Bean Crane and Garrett Jacobs
Starting with connection
Our ability to transform systems of power depends on our ability to transform ourselves. We believe this inner-work is the first step in engaging with communities. In our fast-paced world it is a rare and necessary act to make time for gatherings like P2E’s four days of intensive and collaborative workshops. These intensives are designed from a belief that prioritizing connection — with ourselves and each other — will move our work from transactional to relational in our long-arc towards equity. It is critical to set a shared foundation of understanding for a community of interdisciplinary practitioners who are called to bring these values into their practice. So we first build trust together to practice and support community design.
Our first two workshops centered relationship building, inner-work and self-reflection. We began our in-person program by learning from the Sogorea Te Land Trust about their resilient histories, community activism and present day resistance. We introduced ourselves by sharing objects — our “essence” items — that represent the core of who we are. This set the tone for our first workshop with Mazin Jamal, Creating a Space Where Equity and Inclusion Can Occur. Mazin offered a framework for us to assess our own biased lenses that block us from enacting our humane principles. We closed our first day together by gathering around the ultimate human unifier — delicious food. Shalini offered a home-cooked meal, demonstrating what it means to offer our gifts in abundance.
Addressing Trauma in Equity Work
In order to show up in full support of community partners throughout the fellowship, it was imperative to show up for each other first. Carlee Adamson guided us through this in a workshop, Trauma Literacy: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Communities & Cultivating Regenerative Approaches. Through experiential learning, we took a deep dive into the role that trauma plays in equity work. We learned about patterns of stress in order to better regulate our responses towards collective healing. This was followed by the Storytelling Blanket, an embodied experience based in indigenous traditions with Brandie Mack and Ana Sophia Demetrakopoulos .
Introducing our Community Partners
This year’s fellows are working with 4 community organizations spanning the sectors of public health, cooperative housing, arts infrastructure and environmental justice. We are excited to be working with West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project for a second year, building on last year’s team’s efforts to incorporate an equity agenda in the Oakland A’s stadium project. This years’ team may continue this work or address other remediation and environmental justice issues that directors Ms. Margaret and Brian Beverage and their community call for.
Another team is paired with Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST), a new nonprofit social enterprise focused on creating affordable workspace for the arts in San Francisco. CAST presented their multi-pronged approach to supporting artists at risk of displacement. They outlined ways in which the Fellows could support their community engagement initiatives, or support policy advocacy efforts.
We are also partnering with the Native American Health Center which provides comprehensive services to improve the health and well-being of Native American and vulnerable populations in the Bay Area. They described their holistic approach to healthcare that values cultural traditions and the overall well being of members. They are looking to expand their innovative community engagement efforts through designing a new cultural community center on the ground floor of a new mixed-use development.
Our fourth team is paired with East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, which aligns the technical, financial, and organizational inputs to support Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, and stewards mixed-use and residential properties in the East Bay. They are excited to work with the fellows on their governance structures in order to distribute decision making power, agency, and community engagement.
The excitement in the room was palpable as we heard presentations from community partners and asked preliminary questions about needs. It was important to hear a general overview of organizations, their theories of change, their growing edges and the role they see themselves playing in ecosystems of change.
Onwards
We find ourselves in a place of pause and reflection during this time of a global pandemic.
For a program that builds its knowledge on trust and building relationships, we are leaning into compassion, patience and adaptability. Our fellows are transitioning to online engagement with their partners and designing new ways to collaborate virtually. In addition, we are leveraging our experiences facilitating two online cohorts with Pathways to Equity virtual programming, and have developed new sessions that share strategies and tools for online community engagement. .
As we expand our peer to peer community building and content creation, we are asking ourselves — what are the ethics of engagement in this moment, when the already digital divide is a barrier to entry and equity? What are ways we can release old, business-as-usual patterns in this transition? What does building trust look like from a distance?
The fellows are having honest conversations with their community partners with patience and understanding, as we are all experiencing unforeseen stresses. We have seen some bright spots with organizational capacity-building, but most importantly we remain together in support during this time of unknown. Our approach has always been about embracing the uncomfortable and unknown. Our current circumstances highlight the pressing need for us to do this work at a local, national and global level.
Stay tuned for more updates and an invitation to participate in our upcoming Pathways to Equity virtual programming early this summer.
