In addition to our Guiding Principles, two core beliefs underpin our approach:
• Transformation happens through our connections with other people, particularly in small intentionally curated groups.
• Transformation happens through practice.
Our understanding of the most successful efforts at large-scale social transformation lead us to this conclusion: convening small groups—intentionally curated for diverse perspectives and committed to embodying belonging—to practice the future we long for is among the most catalytic things we can do to advance transformation.
To advance our mission of transforming systems and culture, we follow five steps:
• Curate. Our commitment to transform systems and cultures starts with the “who.” We focus on bringing together “liberatory leaders”: people who have cultivated the inner capacity to engage in transformative work, have an analysis of power and how systems of oppression operate, and have demonstrated the ability to collaborate effectively across difference.
• Convene. We convene these liberatory leaders within a given system we are seeking to transform. We seek to bring together both the necessary wisdom and access to structural power, such that the group as a whole has the capacity to transform the system through collaboration.
• Design. Grounded in our Guiding Principles, we practice world-building: imagining the future we long for and co-creating strategies for how we get there from here.
• Practice and learn. Together we practice building the capacity we need to embody our liberatory vision.
• Take action. Then we engage in the world, individually and collectively, choosing those interventions that feel most catalytic and likely to bring us collectively closer to a world where everyone belongs.
We are committed to learning out loud in community; we welcome engagement and co-creation (via Medium, YouTube, and events). We encourage folks to use and re-purpose content they find helpful for their own networks and communities.