Beautiful Solutions: A Toolbox for Liberation
Order the book here.
Edited by Elandria Williams, Rachel Plattus, Eli Feghali and Nathan Schneider
“Capitalism can’t get us out of this crisis. If you’re wondering what can, take a look at Beautiful Solutions.” —Naomi Klein
“Shows us that we are not starting from scratch and we are not alone in imagining an economy that allows us to love each other!” —adrienne maree brown, author of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
“A loving and thoughtful gathering of our stories…a celebration of our collective genius…takes on the revolutionary question of how we create worlds where we all thrive.” —Makani Themba, author and movement strategist
Resistance is essential, but it’s not enough. As we fight the injustice around us, we also have to imagine — and create — the world we want. We have to build real alternatives in the here and now — alternatives that are not only living proof that things can be done differently, but that actively challenge, and eventually supplant, the power of the status quo. Beautiful Solutions is an online platform, book, and training program that disseminates the most promising and contagious strategies for doing just that.
Beautiful Solutions is a partnership of Beautiful Trouble, New Economy Coalition, Highlander Center, and PeoplesHub.
Some of my other solidarity economy work:
MAPPING OUR FUTURES, Trainer and Curriculum Development Partner
Through my work with Beautiful Solutions and PeoplesHub, I was a co-creator of this curriculum, which explores our economic and governance systems through a participatory community-based process to create knowledge and share solutions that foster community, equity and healthy communities. The curriculum also features original hand-drawn graphics that I drew in thought partnership with Elandria Williams.
Learn more at: highlandercenter.org
SOLIDARITY ECONOMY PRINCIPLES, Initial Co-Convener
This work is a loving response to the urgent need for greater cooperation, education, and self-governance in Solidarity Economy (SE) and co-operative organizing at all levels. SE organizing, whether it is within a single group or a federation of groups, is developed through study, reflection, and practice. If you are involved in SE organizing at any level the principles and practices are for you.
Our movements for freedom thrive when we share and develop knowledge together. We learn from what we have in common, and we learn just as much from our differences. We value deep study, and we honor what we have observed and experienced ourselves. This work is meant to support all of us in learning rooted in practice, no matter how new or how experienced, in the craft of making solidarity economies possible.
Learn more and offer feedback at: solidarityeconomyprinciples.org
I have been studying somatics since early 2020 in the lineage of generative somatics and the Strozzi Institute. I am offering somatic coaching at a reduced rate while I complete my somatic coaching certification. Reach out for more information!
Learn more about the lineage and some of my teachers:
Learn more about generative somatics
Check out Dara’s work
Check out Ream’s work
Check out B’s work
I am committed to holding open the space for connection, imagination, and the possibility of repair. When I work with groups, I work to listen to each of you as individuals and to all of you as a collective to get on the same page about what's been happening, where you are now, and where you want to go. I rarely work alone, so if you're coming to me as an individual I'll likely suggest some possible co-facilitators for our work together. I believe in doing enough relationship building before we work together to ask for your informed consent to hold space for you.
I have a bunch of experience doing this work with different kinds of groups. My hope is to take the pressure off of you holding all of this space for each other and give you room to be with each other in the changing conditions and the big questions of this moment. I also hope that we can all learn together about what it might take to be the fullest expression of what's being asked of us in this time.
In particular, I bring my decade of experience working with (and on) core teams that staff national networks and as a facilitator and popular educator. I also do a lot of racial justice work with both multiracial groups and white folks fighting racist systems.
I also bring my ancestors with me in this work. I bring my Grammy, whose kitchen table I sit at every morning in my apartment in Cambridge and who taught me that the secret to finding the conversation that wants to happen is strong coffee and a whole lot of chocolate chip cookies. And I'm bringing my beloved friend and comrade Elandria Williams who taught me that being in messiness and imperfection together is how we draw out each other's brilliance.
In my facilitation and my coaching practice, I love holding space for conversations with clear enough goals that we can be unapologetic about what we know and curious about what we don't.
Other kinds of space I can hold for you: I love to offer skilled tech support & slide deck design for virtual gatherings, curriculum design and planning consultations, and support for transitioning in-person events online. Schedule a consultation with me to learn more about these specialized support services.
I am trained as a Spiritual Director through the Still Harbor Spiritual Direction Practicum. Contact me to learn more or to schedule a session.
What Is Spiritual Direction?
(from the Still Harbor Spiritual Direction Practicum website)
Spiritual direction is the process of contemplative listening carried out in the context of a one-to-one trusting and confidential relationship. A trained spiritual director journeys with another person, listening to that person’s life story with attention to the movement of the spirit or sacred, offering supportive responses as appropriate and encouraging reflection about new paths of growth.
Stewardship Team
Taproot comes from a deep longing of Jews alienated from their roots to sink deeper into the groundwaters of Jewish Spirituality as a source of meaning and relevance in our everyday lives.
We serve an intergenerational group of educators, organizers, & artists to develop Jewish spiritual practices, creative strategies, and critical relationships for healing, resilience, and liberation.
Learn more at: taprootcommunity.org
I am part of the team stewarding a retreat center space in Leyden, Massachusetts. We are currently pausing retreats to grow our capacity and deepen in right relationship with the land and our people.
In May 2022, our network of liberatory organizations became stewards of a beautiful retreat center situated on 19 acres of land in the small town of Leyden in Franklin County MA. Nestled within a northern hardwood forest and atop gently sloping grassy hills, this retreat center provides a space for profound healing and rejuvenation for our collective movement(s) for liberation in the region.
Over the past two years, the dedicated team at the Bent Birch Retreat Center has been diligently working to realize the generations of visioning and organizing that brought this project to life. In the short time that the land has been under our collective stewardship, hundreds of organizers, activists, and movement builders have sought refuge underneath the oak trees reconnecting with nature, each other, and themselves.
We are so grateful for the generous community support that has gotten us here, and are ready to roll up our sleeves and embark upon the next chapter of stewarding this land, ensuring it continues to nurture our vibrant movement(s) for liberation for generations to come.
Learn more here.
We support new and seasoned groups through conversations to work effectively as a team and make movement toward their goals.
This series was developed by PeoplesHub trainers with a depth of experience with organizing and facilitation with groups working in different political and cultural movements. Our trainings guide groups through visioning, strategy conversations, work on interpersonal group dynamics and development practices that address the most common reasons that groups get burned out and fall apart.
The Thriving Communities curriculum is now held by a collective of current and former PeoplesHub trainers. Reach out to us to talk about bringing the curriculum to your community.
