Communications are Core
For grassroots movements, nonprofits, foundations, and other changemaking organizations, comms are all too often an add-on, an afterthought, despite the intrinsic connections between power and narrative. Developing the right narrative, through the right media, for the right audience must be at the heart of strategy and organizational structure.
Context is Key
History doesn’t generally repeat, but it sure can rhyme. We must understand the past to build a better future. We must also engage current national and global trends while starting with the immediate details of the particular community or cause we’re supporting.
“Nothing For Us Without Us”
Solidarity is grounded in empathy, not sympathy. Critical, compassionate listening is essential to building and maintaining trusting and accountable partnerships; to acknowledging power differentials; and to learning from successes and setbacks and adjusting course.
Many Paths to Justice and Liberation
Change can be political or cultural, tangible or intangible; it can come through grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, skills building, creative expression, and infinitely more pathways. Intricate problems don’t beget singular, straightforward solutions. Conflict, with careful stewardship, can be generative rather than destructive. Confronting these complexities is not a challenge to be avoided but an opportunity to be embraced.
