More Justice, More Joy
Creating Freedom Movements cultivates holistic, visionary leaders through an intensive and intimate cohort experience centering those most impacted by multiple oppressions.
We grow beloved community & cross-issue solidarity, and incubate justice & joy projects that push our world in a liberatory direction.
We see ourselves as part of a larger culture-shift movement dedicated to healing people and the planet by moving from cultures of separation & domination to cultures of connection & reciprocity. We believe no body is disposable, and thus practice transformative justice and cultivating environments in which we feel safe enough to take the necessary risks for transformation.
We grow beloved community & cross-issue solidarity, and incubate justice & joy projects that push our world in a liberatory direction.
We see ourselves as part of a larger culture-shift movement dedicated to healing people and the planet by moving from cultures of separation & domination to cultures of connection & reciprocity. We believe no body is disposable, and thus practice transformative justice and cultivating environments in which we feel safe enough to take the necessary risks for transformation.
the projects allow us to go wide in our impact;
the cohort program allows us to go deep
Our facilitators have decades of experience working at the intersections of social justice, community organizing, the arts, healing, and education. Through the workshops, participants become:
Alongside deepening our understanding and engaging in actions that increase justice, we also focus on cultivating joy. We believe joy is the antidote to overwhelm and getting stuck, prevents burnout, and attracts more people into this work.
Cross-issue solidarity is crucial to deep societal transformation, but interlocking systems of oppression have been very good at keeping us separated from one another. By spending meaningful time together on a weekly basis for 18 months, the participants in Creating Freedom Movements will get a chance to build meaningful relationships with people different than themselves in multiple ways. We believe that nurturing these relationships is as important to our work as the projects catalyzed through the program. In this way, we work to strengthen the local activist ecosystem and the networks and collaborations we need to grow our collective power.
- more well-rounded in practical skills
- more visionary in perspectives
- more creative in modes of expression
- & more connected as co-creators in a world of people, plants, animals, water & land who need us to act boldly
Alongside deepening our understanding and engaging in actions that increase justice, we also focus on cultivating joy. We believe joy is the antidote to overwhelm and getting stuck, prevents burnout, and attracts more people into this work.
Cross-issue solidarity is crucial to deep societal transformation, but interlocking systems of oppression have been very good at keeping us separated from one another. By spending meaningful time together on a weekly basis for 18 months, the participants in Creating Freedom Movements will get a chance to build meaningful relationships with people different than themselves in multiple ways. We believe that nurturing these relationships is as important to our work as the projects catalyzed through the program. In this way, we work to strengthen the local activist ecosystem and the networks and collaborations we need to grow our collective power.
Our Values
(in alphabetical order)
Accessibility
We recognize ableism as an obstacle to collective liberation – which is why we strive to be as accessible as possible.
We operate under a Disability Justice framework to inform our approach to access needs and accessibility. We give thanks to those who brought this important framework into the mainstream, including the team at Sins Invalid. Following the principles they lay out in their Disability Justice Primer, we recognize “the intersecting legacies of white supremacy, colonial capitalism, gendered oppression, and ableism in understanding how people's bodies and minds are labeled deviant, unproductive, disposable, and/or invalid.” We are particularly grateful to the DJ activists who brought this knowledge and practice to Creating Freedom Movements, including former core team member Stacey Park Milbern, as well as facilitators India Harville and Leroy Moore, and the core team members of Disability Justice Culture Club who participated in our 2020 Cohort: Patrice Strahan, Dana Garza, Charley Bowden and Jay Salazar.
Our commitment to accessibility includes requesting and honoring each others’ ongoing and emergent access needs. This process includes naming what is needed in order for someone to fully participate in a space or activity, which can include wheelchair access, scent-free space, closed captioning, being able to lay down, providing multiple options for participation that honor shifting mental and physical capacities, etc.
We see access needs as universal–because every bodymind has needs.
Activism as an Ecosystem
We all benefit from strong coalitions, cross-issue solidarity, and the multiple modalities through which people pursue change. We honor the contributions of all who seek to create a more just and joyful world, and recognize those contributions as part of a larger ecosystem of freedom movements.
While we have theories of change which we share, we know we can never know exactly how change will happen in any moment. We do not dismiss people or approaches for being too large-scale or small-scale, or too rooted in policy, human services, faith, the arts, education, direct action, or other focus areas. We all have a role to play.
Compassion & Accountability
We are all constantly growing, learning, and changing. We are willing to meet people where they are at, and are grateful to others for extending that same welcome to us. This does not mean we remain silent in the face of harmful words or actions—it simply means that we remember each others’ humanity, even as we challenge one another.
Our work is guided by the teachings of both transformative justice and restorative justice as we practice honesty, forgiveness, and accountability. As Nora Samaran writes in Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, “violence is nurturance turned backwards.” In its place, she proposes “nurturance culture” as the opposite of rape culture, suggesting that models of care and accountability—different from “call-outs” rooted in the politics of guilt—can move toward dismantling systems of dominance and oppression.
We commit to cultivating compassion for ourselves, and each other, as we do this deep work.
Decolonization & Reparations
We believe that no human is illegal and do not take nation-states for granted. We commit to learning about and responding to the horrors of Indigenous genocide and the ongoing settler-colonization of Turtle Island. We believe in following Indigenous stewardship of the land, and in decolonization processes, including the Land Back movement.
We commit to learning about and responding to the horrors enacted upon the peoples stolen from Africa and their descendents (from chattel slavery through to the contemporary prison industrial complex). We believe in reparations processes to address the generational trauma as well as the racialized wealth, health, and power disparities which exist as a result of the myth of white supremacy.
Embodiment, Healing & BodyMindHeartSpirit
We pursue full aliveness in the service of justice and joy. Living a fully embodied life also helps to sustain our long-term commitment to this work. We are excited about the recent upswing in somatic practices that are permeating movement spaces, to support our individual and collective capacities to heal and transform at the cellular level.
We believe that the deep changes we seek require both inner and outer transformation. Revolutions in which people have not done significant inner work have shown, over and over again, that the same logics of domination persist even after other people with supposedly different values have come into power. Activists need to do inner work to embody, not just fight for, our values.
All of the values, commitments, and practices named here and in our program are pursued with the intention of healing. We practice healing the fractures in ourselves and in our relationships to others, the land, and our work.
Interdependence
All of us are interconnected and interdependent—there is no such thing as an individual who is not impacted by others and does not impact others.
Our program is designed to help us feel and understand the ways in which we are interconnected. We embrace this as a path to collective liberation—learning to rely on one another rather than seeking to separate ourselves as independent individuals who don’t need anyone or anything else.
If we only have ourselves to rely on, we create a scarcity model in which all potential hardships become threats for which we feel we have to hoard resources. When we learn to both graciously give and receive, an abundance of resources is generated that combats scarcity mentalities. No one is a “burden” and we can circulate excess resources to those who need them, trusting that in our times of need (and we will all have them, sooner or later, by aging, illness, injury, unemployment, etc.), the resources we need will also be circulated to us. This practice is also known as a form of mutual aid.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality, coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of one's identities interact to create different modes of marginalization and/or privilege.
Throughout our cohort, we explore the intersectional nature of our identities, individually and collectively, and reimagine a world that makes space for, honors, and fully celebrates each of us.
Additionally, we recognize each of us as intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, and creative beings. As such, we strive to honor all of these ways of knowing, being, and experiencing rather than elevating one over the other.
Joy
Centering joy enables us to experience resilience in the face of oppression and feeds our capacities and creativities while building a more just world. There are so many forces in this world that seek to oppress us—materially, emotionally, and spiritually. While working to end material oppression is essential, we see the cultivation of joy as an absolutely crucial component of freedom movements.
Justice
Justice is equitable treatment for all.
Colonization, capitalism, ableism, CisHeteroPatriarchy and the myth of white supremacy have led to an accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a minority by oppressing and exploiting the majority of people and the planet.
In a just world, some people will need a measure of upward mobility, while others will need a measure of downward mobility. This will require substantial redistribution of power and resources.
Justice recognizes that intersectional identities require a dismantling of all oppressive systems in order to make way for alternative infrastructure-building and co-creation of new ways of living. These new ways must be pro-Black, pro-Indigenous, pro-Migrant, pro-POC, pro-Trans, pro-Disabled, pro-Queer, pro-Woman, pro-Youth, pro-Elders, and pro-Poor.
Listening & Leading with Love
We believe that deep listening is one of the most effective ways to heal ourselves and one another, and to build the connections necessary for Beloved Community. We also practice speaking up and sharing our own perspectives so that others might learn from us. We lead with love, which is to say with a commitment to everyone’s well-being. We do not see anger or rage as the opposite of love but as reasonable responses to oppression that actually arise out of love for those being harmed. We seek not to condemn such emotions but to channel this energy into actions that increase freedom and well-being for all.
Mixed Levelism
We celebrate the varied experiences and bodies of knowledge that each participant brings to the cohort. We humbly step into the roles of both teachers and learners, practicing communication across multiple lines of difference.
We honor the fact that knowledge comes from multiple sources and do not value credentialed knowledge over lived experience.
We recognize that we all bring different things to the table as we strive for a community where everybody eats.
Power-Conscious Beloved Community
Liberation is a collective process, but it does not look the same for everyone. While we commit to radical inclusivity (no one left out of the circle), we also commit to recognizing the power dynamics among us, regardless of how much work we have done, individually or collectively. This means that some of us will need to practice taking up more space, while others will need to learn to take up less. This is not a zero-sum game; in order to co-create a just & joyful world, it is vital for our consciousness to be rooted in abundance.
Practice, Not Perfection
Since the world is dynamic and always in process, there can be no such thing as a static 100% “right” way of being. We focus on practicing our values, rather than on attaining perfection. This includes resisting disposability politics. None of us are perfect and we are all going to make mistakes. The focus then becomes how we support each other through compassion and accountability to grow away from harmful ways and towards ways of care.
In spite of anyone’s best intentions, it is also impossible to 100% opt out of oppressive systems until they have been dismantled. We move ahead by acknowledging where there are contradictions between our values and our lives, and allow this to stoke the creative fires we need in order to more fully forge a truly just & joyful world.
Praxis & Integrity
Praxis = theory + action. We need both. We commit to this process of praxis and to the humility it entails: always being open to suggestions and constructive criticism, while also resisting getting stuck in endless analysis.
We practice what we preach by integrating these values into the functioning of our organization as well as our own lives. In the spirit of praxis, we are constantly evolving as the needs, awareness, and agreements of our community change.
Radical Imagination & Infinite Creativity
The natural world reflects the infinite creativity of life. We believe that fostering radical imagination through the arts and practicing healing are crucial to expanding our sense of what is possible.
Through our cohort, we nurture visionary leaders & beloved community. Together, we build infrastructures of justice & joy to manifest (we prefer femmifest!) our freedom dreams.
We recognize ableism as an obstacle to collective liberation – which is why we strive to be as accessible as possible.
We operate under a Disability Justice framework to inform our approach to access needs and accessibility. We give thanks to those who brought this important framework into the mainstream, including the team at Sins Invalid. Following the principles they lay out in their Disability Justice Primer, we recognize “the intersecting legacies of white supremacy, colonial capitalism, gendered oppression, and ableism in understanding how people's bodies and minds are labeled deviant, unproductive, disposable, and/or invalid.” We are particularly grateful to the DJ activists who brought this knowledge and practice to Creating Freedom Movements, including former core team member Stacey Park Milbern, as well as facilitators India Harville and Leroy Moore, and the core team members of Disability Justice Culture Club who participated in our 2020 Cohort: Patrice Strahan, Dana Garza, Charley Bowden and Jay Salazar.
Our commitment to accessibility includes requesting and honoring each others’ ongoing and emergent access needs. This process includes naming what is needed in order for someone to fully participate in a space or activity, which can include wheelchair access, scent-free space, closed captioning, being able to lay down, providing multiple options for participation that honor shifting mental and physical capacities, etc.
We see access needs as universal–because every bodymind has needs.
Activism as an Ecosystem
We all benefit from strong coalitions, cross-issue solidarity, and the multiple modalities through which people pursue change. We honor the contributions of all who seek to create a more just and joyful world, and recognize those contributions as part of a larger ecosystem of freedom movements.
While we have theories of change which we share, we know we can never know exactly how change will happen in any moment. We do not dismiss people or approaches for being too large-scale or small-scale, or too rooted in policy, human services, faith, the arts, education, direct action, or other focus areas. We all have a role to play.
Compassion & Accountability
We are all constantly growing, learning, and changing. We are willing to meet people where they are at, and are grateful to others for extending that same welcome to us. This does not mean we remain silent in the face of harmful words or actions—it simply means that we remember each others’ humanity, even as we challenge one another.
Our work is guided by the teachings of both transformative justice and restorative justice as we practice honesty, forgiveness, and accountability. As Nora Samaran writes in Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, “violence is nurturance turned backwards.” In its place, she proposes “nurturance culture” as the opposite of rape culture, suggesting that models of care and accountability—different from “call-outs” rooted in the politics of guilt—can move toward dismantling systems of dominance and oppression.
We commit to cultivating compassion for ourselves, and each other, as we do this deep work.
Decolonization & Reparations
We believe that no human is illegal and do not take nation-states for granted. We commit to learning about and responding to the horrors of Indigenous genocide and the ongoing settler-colonization of Turtle Island. We believe in following Indigenous stewardship of the land, and in decolonization processes, including the Land Back movement.
We commit to learning about and responding to the horrors enacted upon the peoples stolen from Africa and their descendents (from chattel slavery through to the contemporary prison industrial complex). We believe in reparations processes to address the generational trauma as well as the racialized wealth, health, and power disparities which exist as a result of the myth of white supremacy.
Embodiment, Healing & BodyMindHeartSpirit
We pursue full aliveness in the service of justice and joy. Living a fully embodied life also helps to sustain our long-term commitment to this work. We are excited about the recent upswing in somatic practices that are permeating movement spaces, to support our individual and collective capacities to heal and transform at the cellular level.
We believe that the deep changes we seek require both inner and outer transformation. Revolutions in which people have not done significant inner work have shown, over and over again, that the same logics of domination persist even after other people with supposedly different values have come into power. Activists need to do inner work to embody, not just fight for, our values.
All of the values, commitments, and practices named here and in our program are pursued with the intention of healing. We practice healing the fractures in ourselves and in our relationships to others, the land, and our work.
Interdependence
All of us are interconnected and interdependent—there is no such thing as an individual who is not impacted by others and does not impact others.
Our program is designed to help us feel and understand the ways in which we are interconnected. We embrace this as a path to collective liberation—learning to rely on one another rather than seeking to separate ourselves as independent individuals who don’t need anyone or anything else.
If we only have ourselves to rely on, we create a scarcity model in which all potential hardships become threats for which we feel we have to hoard resources. When we learn to both graciously give and receive, an abundance of resources is generated that combats scarcity mentalities. No one is a “burden” and we can circulate excess resources to those who need them, trusting that in our times of need (and we will all have them, sooner or later, by aging, illness, injury, unemployment, etc.), the resources we need will also be circulated to us. This practice is also known as a form of mutual aid.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality, coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of one's identities interact to create different modes of marginalization and/or privilege.
Throughout our cohort, we explore the intersectional nature of our identities, individually and collectively, and reimagine a world that makes space for, honors, and fully celebrates each of us.
Additionally, we recognize each of us as intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, and creative beings. As such, we strive to honor all of these ways of knowing, being, and experiencing rather than elevating one over the other.
Joy
Centering joy enables us to experience resilience in the face of oppression and feeds our capacities and creativities while building a more just world. There are so many forces in this world that seek to oppress us—materially, emotionally, and spiritually. While working to end material oppression is essential, we see the cultivation of joy as an absolutely crucial component of freedom movements.
Justice
Justice is equitable treatment for all.
Colonization, capitalism, ableism, CisHeteroPatriarchy and the myth of white supremacy have led to an accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a minority by oppressing and exploiting the majority of people and the planet.
In a just world, some people will need a measure of upward mobility, while others will need a measure of downward mobility. This will require substantial redistribution of power and resources.
Justice recognizes that intersectional identities require a dismantling of all oppressive systems in order to make way for alternative infrastructure-building and co-creation of new ways of living. These new ways must be pro-Black, pro-Indigenous, pro-Migrant, pro-POC, pro-Trans, pro-Disabled, pro-Queer, pro-Woman, pro-Youth, pro-Elders, and pro-Poor.
Listening & Leading with Love
We believe that deep listening is one of the most effective ways to heal ourselves and one another, and to build the connections necessary for Beloved Community. We also practice speaking up and sharing our own perspectives so that others might learn from us. We lead with love, which is to say with a commitment to everyone’s well-being. We do not see anger or rage as the opposite of love but as reasonable responses to oppression that actually arise out of love for those being harmed. We seek not to condemn such emotions but to channel this energy into actions that increase freedom and well-being for all.
Mixed Levelism
We celebrate the varied experiences and bodies of knowledge that each participant brings to the cohort. We humbly step into the roles of both teachers and learners, practicing communication across multiple lines of difference.
We honor the fact that knowledge comes from multiple sources and do not value credentialed knowledge over lived experience.
We recognize that we all bring different things to the table as we strive for a community where everybody eats.
Power-Conscious Beloved Community
Liberation is a collective process, but it does not look the same for everyone. While we commit to radical inclusivity (no one left out of the circle), we also commit to recognizing the power dynamics among us, regardless of how much work we have done, individually or collectively. This means that some of us will need to practice taking up more space, while others will need to learn to take up less. This is not a zero-sum game; in order to co-create a just & joyful world, it is vital for our consciousness to be rooted in abundance.
Practice, Not Perfection
Since the world is dynamic and always in process, there can be no such thing as a static 100% “right” way of being. We focus on practicing our values, rather than on attaining perfection. This includes resisting disposability politics. None of us are perfect and we are all going to make mistakes. The focus then becomes how we support each other through compassion and accountability to grow away from harmful ways and towards ways of care.
In spite of anyone’s best intentions, it is also impossible to 100% opt out of oppressive systems until they have been dismantled. We move ahead by acknowledging where there are contradictions between our values and our lives, and allow this to stoke the creative fires we need in order to more fully forge a truly just & joyful world.
Praxis & Integrity
Praxis = theory + action. We need both. We commit to this process of praxis and to the humility it entails: always being open to suggestions and constructive criticism, while also resisting getting stuck in endless analysis.
We practice what we preach by integrating these values into the functioning of our organization as well as our own lives. In the spirit of praxis, we are constantly evolving as the needs, awareness, and agreements of our community change.
Radical Imagination & Infinite Creativity
The natural world reflects the infinite creativity of life. We believe that fostering radical imagination through the arts and practicing healing are crucial to expanding our sense of what is possible.
Through our cohort, we nurture visionary leaders & beloved community. Together, we build infrastructures of justice & joy to manifest (we prefer femmifest!) our freedom dreams.
This program was life changing and challenging. It pushed me to confront myself, see myself, my cause, my meaning, my purpose. I found my voice. And I was introduced to so many different people bringing healing to the world in many different forms.
–Karla, 2019 Cohort