Our work

After three weeks of listening and convening, administrators, students, faculty, and police gathered despite lack of trust and belief that “things will never change on campus.” In two hours many found common ground. In two days they saw their way forward, agreeing that “Yes, we can change this together.”

Pittsburgh is racially divided. Finding a cross-race community that supports your growth is rare. Together with Medina Jackson we gathered a mixed-race cohort for 15 weeks to practice the skills of personal transformation--being with strong emotion, healing pain, holding trauma, coming into right relationship again, and fueling our creative fire.

As misfit plans were being foisted on our neighborhood, we gathered a representation of neighbors to help them speak in a unified voice to outside developers. They got past their differences, discovered a shared sense of belonging, and created a Voice of the Neighborhood document. The eventual result: new affordable housing.

Social systems are living systems, woven with patterns of oppression and trauma. How do we engage with change? We gathered people from many sectors and roles around this question. They grew a community of learning and support, grappling together with the difficult work of change. See adaptivespacelearninggroup.wordpress.com.

After the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, faith leaders acted with compassion and community. We were honored to play a small role in support of those leaders—hosting an interfaith “How are you?” gathering, and weeks later a “What actions now?” open space (with JCC Center for Lovingkindness).

Now in its second year, we are co-holding a space for learning, conversation and collective action among white members of foundations in our region. Together they engage in the personal and organizational work of shifting their role in oppressive patterns and centering black liberation. Co-hosted by Tiffany Wilhelm.

How does an 80-year-old basic research institution hold a conversation about its intentions for the future? Over two months we hosted several rounds of conversations using group model-building, dialogue and reflection. (In partnership with Summ()n)

We're creating “kits”—packages of audio, video, facilitation and reflection guides, coaching support—for faculty at a state university to develop personal, relationship, and group skills needed to weave “Racial Justice Pathways” into their work.

This early effort in system-sensing took us across the entirety of a regional food system: farmers, distributors, local markets and grocery stores, restaurants, manufacturers. The resulting map of relationships and issues transformed their conversation.

A national non-profit campaigned to shift harmful behavior, with little impact. In a “collective story harvest,” managers and staff put their assumptions on hold and listened to the people they sought to influence. The result: a shift from “other” to understanding, and from strategies of shame to offers of support.

The pandemic came down especially hard on nonprofits serving underserved communities. Together with Maurice Stevens, we hosted a virtual resting retreat for nonprofit leaders experiencing burnout. This respite served as a place to fall apart, be held in community and reconnect to the support within and around them.

Despite long-term anti-racism training, the culture in this nonprofit was slow to change. Sheba Gittens and Hanna du Plessis hosted separate affinity groups and cross-race dialogue to support the organization’s ability to create a brave culture, able to work through difficulties and towards collective liberation.