“It’s not just activism, it’s our life work.”
White text on teal background in quotations: “It’s not just activism, it’s our life work.” - Reyes DeVore, Pueblo Action Alliance
Last Friday morning, I shared this post reflecting on a USDAC gathering I attended, still oblivious to the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade. For the next few days I found myself in a familiar cycle: shock (though not surprise), paralysis, numbness, annoyance, exhaustion, searching, and finally motivation and clarity.
I’ve found myself coming back to reflecting on the interconnectedness of systems and social movements. The right to bodily autonomy cannot be separated from Black Lives Matter, indigenous sovereignty, or even the wellbeing of the natural environment. These movements are not fads and they do not exist in isolation. They are manifestations of the interconnected web of white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalism. Individual incidents like the supreme court ruling, the murder of George Floyd, the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, and yes, even devastating natural disasters, are all symptoms of the same network of systemic oppression.
But just as these occurrences don’t exist in isolation, neither do the fights against them. To quote Ruth Wilson Gilmore, “These aren’t separate movements. The capacity to flourish intergenerationally- whether that means to bear children or not to have children, makes no difference- reproductive justice is abolition.” To continue, it’s indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and more. Whatever caus(es) we find ourselves most connected to as individuals are fundamentally linked. And I believe that the more we place ourselves within this web, the stronger we can become together. And this is where we will find our collective healing.
Individual, isolated actions aren’t enough. I still believe that voting is important, those with financial resources should donate them, we need to educate ourselves and each other. But our activism can’t stop there. Our collective healing relies on building communities of care, supporting organizations that are, and have been fighting and working in their communities, and finding as many ways as possible to make our activism our life work.
In my post I reflected that, “While Reyes was specifically talking about Pueblo culture and history, the phrase [‘It’s not our activism, it’s our life work’] spoke to my heart and echoes something I often say. Whether the topic is activism, social justice, equity, community care, ‘it’s not something I do, it’s how I do everything.’ My work, my business, my consulting, my personal relationships, my interactions in my neighborhood, how I spend my money, you name it. All take place within the context of justice, equity, and care. To reframe a now famous quote by Minneapolis-based artist and activist Guante, 'it’s the water.’”
The fact that I posted this at that specific time feels serendipitous. The last few days have not only strengthened this for me but given me clarity and encouragement on my own journey and how it joins in the larger network. Keep reading for a request and an invitation to strengthen our collective ecosystem.
A request and an invitation:
For a while now, I’ve been in the process of redefining myself as “not just an evaluator” (shout out to my fabulous coach Malla Haridat for helping me get here). My own personal ecosystem involves understanding the way I, and my work, connect to the “big picture.” Evaluation is a central support for nonprofits and most powerful when connected to nonprofit work and strategy as a whole- think strategic planning, fundraising, DEI(AB), and organizational management, as well as the day to day work of the organizations I partner with, their communities, and their networks. The connecting force of nonprofit consultants is getting community-based organizations the support they need to do their best work.
In this spirit I have been working on building the list of resources, people, and networks I incorporate into my own consulting practice, as well as updating the publicly available resources page of my website as a place for community-based organizations to find the resources they need to strengthen their foundation so that they can do what they do best.
If you know about resources that should be included, please send them my way. Right now I’m specifically looking for resources that support organizations, groups, and networks doing movement work, advocacy, mutual aid, and other systemic work.
If you represent one of these resources or are an individual invested in this work, please reach out to me to build community and collaboration.
If you are an organization working towards community transformation and disrupting the status quo, and are willing to have a conversation, please get in contact with me so that I can learn more about what you need.