Power of the People:

The work I am currently celebrating is the work being done behind the scenes. While the focus in social justice organizations tends to be the organizers and front line, the people in the background make the work move and flow, which creates solid ground for the team to run on.

M.A.M.A. has been instrumental in creating meaningful change in my life and the lives of many others in our community… What stood out to me was the simplicity and accessibility of M.A.M.A.’s support process… This approach allowed me to focus on what truly mattered—caring for my grandparent and managing our immediate needs—without the additional stress of navigating a complex application process… Inspired by the help I received, I began to learn more about mutual aid and its principles… I have since dedicated myself to giving back in various ways, participating in mutual aid efforts, and advocating for those in need.

We have long dreamed of deepening our youth work and recently promoted three former leaders and founders of our youth programs, Black Man Rising (BMR) and Black Girls Rising (BGR) from part-time to full-time positions as the Youth Organizing Team. They are leading all our youth work including the #NoMorePrisons Campaign. They have grown tremendously over the past two years and have fully assumed leadership of building out our youth base.

We are celebrating our youth and student organizing efforts to build and use power to implement policies  and programs in our schools that have led to a 90% reduction in school-based arrests as well as the schools enacting new policies to protect[] and support LGBTQIA+ students in accessing a gender-neutral and inclusive restroom system.

Young People for Progress (YPP) has been at the forefront of empowering and mobilizing youth in Montgomery County, MD… leveraged digital tools and social media… organizing rallies, engaging with policymakers, and running voter registration drives… established mentorship programs that connect students with community leaders and activists… Their innovative engagement strategies, commitment to advocacy, and focus on empowerment have not only activated a new generation of changemakers but have also resulted in concrete improvements in their communities.

From my work this year, I have learned that resilience is a part of my DNA, but it doesn’t have to continue to be that way. While maintaining a strong and determined mindset is essential, so is stopping to rest and find balance. It’s okay to slow down and restrategize where we are going next. I learned we can lose our focus or view when we stay on the battlefield for too long. This work is a long war that we chose to engage with on different fronts, and our health should always be prioritized. Without the humans behind the work, there would be no movement.

I’ve learned that we need to always prioritize the organizations health and wellness by prioritizing our own individual health and wellness. We need to always check in about capacity and ensure we can set plans in motion to address capacity gaps, needs and low capacity in general. I’ve learned our work is important and impactful and with more annual plans, retreats, and program plans we can do great work.

A lesson here was that nothing can grow infinitely, and that tending to ourselves as healers and as simply human is necessary along the path. It was gratifying to practice care mapping deeply and to consult with care workers outside of ourselves in a practice of receiving support.

A lesson we’ve learned from our work this past year has been that trust-building is slow and continuous work that requires consistently showing up with curiosity and openness. we found ourselves needing to re-ground internally to get on the same page in terms of how we safely and sacredly make public offerings, and how we can honor the varied lineages that exist within our team. We did a great deal of reflection and deep inner work, which reflects the cycles of nature.

We have continued to grow as an organization by confronting and dealing our own contradictions and doubts. This has been very powerful because it puts us all in the same level: we are all in the same boat, open to recognize contradiction, to express doubt and thrive for transformations, not only outside but also inside. Our team has learned not to deduce that the community is ready to reflect on all the issues, cases and actions, and that other cultural and artistic activities and themes must be sought, for example, to convene and promote collective action, support and advocacy networks… We cannot impose whatever ideologies are the most appealing to us as activists.

Shoutout to Borealis! Also wanted to uplift the healing justice funds that Borealis provided last year – that was invaluable in giving our team the capacity to have an multi-day in person strategic planning and team building retreat in a comfortable space. It would be really helpful to have access to those additional funds which are difficult to set aside with all of our programming and mutual aid needs.

It would also be dope if Borealis could resource some internal conflict transformation / mediation as we move through some growing pains in expanding our collective.

Borealis can use their connections to support other philanthropic partners to adjust their approach to how they fund more in line with what Borealis is doing. It’s very important to be mindful of general support funding that allows us to maneuver through crises and pivot if needed. Our work with directly impacted families is very complex. We are fighting against systems. We need open avenues to take care of what is needed – like flexible support for mutual aid.