In this episode, Naomi Washington Leapheart explores the role of community and solidarity in creating responsive and durable strategies of contestation—of resistance—in our contemporary political moment. As PRA's Strategic Partnerships Director, Naomi presents empowering stories of how we at PRA inform our resistance movements, and as a reverend and community organizer, she breaks down the philosophical concept of community organizing to present a vision and plan for self actualization, collectivized risk, and the possibility of triumph through solidarity.

Naomi Washington Leapheart, PRA Strategic Partnerships Director, is a Black queer daughter of Detroit, and a minister, professor, and movement strategist. She has worked as a faith organizer and director for Power Interfaith, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and the Mayor's Office for Public Engagement in the City of Philadelphia.

Naomi teaches emerging scholars of religion and theology at Villanova University, Arcadia University, and Harvard School for Divinity. Music was and is her first love. In her spare time, she delights in singing with an all volunteer choir whose mission is to bring audible comfort and kindness to the bedsides of people living in hospice care.

Episode resources: 

• To hear Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart on other podcasts, check out this list.
• Q&A: Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence: An interview with Scot Nakagawa and Hardy Merriman by Naomi Washington Leapheart
• Book Review: Commune or Nothing! Lessons for Building Grassroots Power Toward Liberation and Democracy by Hialy Gutierrez
• What Is Movement Infrastructure? How Movements Sustain Us Amid Rising Authoritarianism by Cloee Cooper
• Book Review: Reverberations of October 7: Mobilization Against Genocide Undeterred by Peak Anti-Palestinian Repression by Palestine Legal by Habiba Farh
• Fire Dreams: Making Black Feminist Liberation in the South: A conversation with Deon Haywood, Laura McTighe, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson by Kitana Ananda
• Book Excerpt: Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism by Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons
• Rising Against Authoritarianism: Amplifying Voices for Immigrant Justice by Cloee Cooper
• Synagogue Safety Beyond Higher Walls and Militarized Police: An Excerpt from Safety Through Solidarity by Ben Lorber and Shane Burley