Up With Community

How do we manage when parts of ourselves (our power, courage, warts, energy) scare us? How do we find the humility and grace to fully see ourselves, and share ourselves fully with the world? Check out our conversation with Cathy Kidman! Original publishing date: June 13, 2019

What does it mean to organize for climate change solutions in your own backyard? What can we do to live our racial justice values in organizing with our neighbors? Every time I sit down with Devon Hall, Executive Director of Rural Empowerment Association for Community Help, I learn something that I can take back to the hard work of organizing back in my own community in Lewiston, Maine. We hope this chat shines some light into your backyard. For More on Devon's work: https://www.ncruralempowerment.org/ Original publishing date: April 15, 2019

How do we stop using pain as our barometer for life? How do we find new shapes that let us take new risks in our work? Check out our conversation with Jennifer Sconyers, President and Founder of Abundance Leadership Consulting - http://www.jennifersconyers.com/ Original publishing date: January 28, 2019

Gratitude is the oxygen of my fire. And yet, this season of Thanksgiving, it's easy to start to feel like gratitude is cliche, something we do for others or because of obligation. Thanks to Grayling, I've been spending the last few weeks slowing down during my day and stopping to breathe in all I'm truly grateful for - staying connected to others and myself in the process. Original publishing date: November 15, 2018

Welcome back to Up With Community: Brass Tacks, our series on the tough questions for moving from ideas to action. Today, we’re taking an in-depth look at how we can experience joy in tough times with Veronica. Hope you enjoy this episode and subscribe for the next one! Original publication date: September 1, 2018

Welcome to Up With Community: Brass Tacks. This season we tackle your toughest questions on moving from ideas to action.. Join me and Dean Danielle Conway if you’re seeking practical skills for leadership, organizational development, adult learning or team building. And subscribe for more episodes! Original publication date: September 16, 2018

How do we ensure that our movements, our communities and our momentum towards change survive into the future–no matter the results of the coming election? What can we rely on to serve us if our social systems, fiscal systems, and/or safety nets fail or abandon us? How do we plan for the unknown? This month we spoke with Trish Tchume, Sterling Network Organizer with the Roger Sterling Clark Foundation, to start to formulate an answer to some of those questions. Trish brightened our path with her offerings on the power of active imagination and the practice of continual hope, even in the face of daunting systemic injustices.Original publishing date: October 22, 2020

What messages from our bodies should we be heeding, and which of those from nature can fuel courageous racial justice work?As a sense of isolation deepens, how does our relationship to the earth offer hope and healing? Aram Mitchell, Executive Director of Renewal in the Wilderness, has been “helping those who help” for years, by leading wilderness trips for educators, medical personnel, caregivers and service workers. These trips are meant to re-ground and rejuvenate people with some of the most difficult jobs on earth. We spoke with Aram about how we connect with the wilderness in this time of pandemic and how we can bring those connections into our work for racial justice. For more of Aram’s work visit: http://www.renewalinthewilderness.orgOriginal publishing date: August 14, 2020

Last year we saw an incredible victory for our community here in Lewiston, Maine: Safiya Khalid became the first Somali-American and youngest person elected to our city council. I had the honor of watching her campaign, her courage, and her hope spread through our city. That's why I wanted to sit down with her and hear more of her story.Original publishing date: February 19, 2020

Narrative shift happens when we stop basing decisions, strategies, and policies on the current dominant narrative and start, instead, to purposefully ground our work in our personal values and principles. What are dominant narratives? “Lift yourself up by the bootstraps,” “America First!,” and “It’s a dog-eat-dog world,” are just a few examples. But what about personal values? Well, for me those include mutual support, iterative learning, and putting the planet first. But you probably have a totally different set of values. Almost all organizations claim to pursue their goals in the most well-intentioned and even idealistic way, not operating from inside the dominant narrative but somehow above it. But sadly, many of these well-meaning groups, having been born and built from inside this narrative, actually operate according to the very values they’re trying to dismantle. Unfortunately, many of the ways we seek to shift this dynamic are ineffectual and insufficient. We try to double down with workshops or trainings to change ideas, or write new values statements–but that's not solving the underlying root cause: We haven't decolonized our minds and worldview from the dominant narrative. We don't really believe in the values we say we are working towards. Check out our chat with Erik Peterson of Bending the Arc Strategies on what narrative shift is, why we need it, and how to start!Original publishing date: January 29, 2020