While “design thinking” is a dynamic improvement and innovation tool, it can also facilitate dehumanization and anti-Blackness. But when we combine the approach with community organizing — a powerful strategy for building people power and righting injustices — this collaboration has the ability to transform the well-being of our most vulnerable populations.
While “design thinking” is a dynamic improvement and innovation tool, it can also facilitate dehumanization and anti-Blackness. But when we combine the approach with community organizing — a powerful strategy for building people power and righting injustices — this collaboration has the ability to transform the well-being of our most vulnerable populations.
Here’s where you can learn more about the people, places, and ideas in this episode:
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This is an automated transcript. Please excuse any errors or hilarious mistakes.
Thank you all for joining this special discussion on designing through people power, um, with a group of leaders at the intersection of community organizing design and wellbeing. For those of you who do not know the center for care innovations yet, um, we call ourselves a CCI for short. We're a nonprofit based in Oakland, California, that builds capacity of organizations to build better care and services in underserved communities. my name is Laura Blumenthal. My pronouns are she and her, and I'm a program manager at CCI and I'm helping to facilitate today's discussion, um, and elevate your questions, uh, while we go through the discussion
Great. Um, so I'm first going to start by welcoming our cohost for today's discussion item, Marianne datas from dukkha decolonize design I'm based in Los Angeles, and Aida is a longtime organizer and designer, and has been a partner to CCI for some time. Her work spans community and labor organizing campaign management, leadership development, apply design thinking and policy consulting. And if you already follow CCI and get our newsletter, you may have seen a recent session that she did with us, uh, called li uh, innovating inner crisis. And, um, if you do like this session, you'll be able to catch more of her work in the coming weeks. Um, and now I'll pass it off to Aida to introduce our special guests, um, Celina called Culver [inaudible] and Kelsei Wharton. Um, and with that, thank you, Aida.
So, as Laura mentioned, my name is Aida and I am the founder of decolonized design. We are a community centered design firm that centers black and other indigenous voices. And so today I have the distinct pleasure to introduce you all to a group of dynamic community leaders who have been at the Vanguard for community wellness for a very long time. Uh, with us today, we have got the senior director of population health at, uh, Minneapolis based Pillsbury United communities. She's been an effective champion for healing and justice and community health. Um, by centering those who are most impacted, she is also a graduate of Harvard university. Next, we have Celina a community organizer with Pennsylvania United and she works to build power with working class people on issues like healthcare through deep relational organizing. And she is also a graduate of Princeton university. And finally we have with us today, Kelsei, a community associate with the Obama foundation and there, he focuses on youth organizing in support of young leaders in communities across the us and online. He is also a graduate of Stanford university. As you can tell, these are very incredible people. We have to join us on the panel today. Um, Kelsei, since you were the last person I introduced to, could you please, before we jump in, could you give us an operational definition of what community organizing is?
Uh, good afternoon, everybody? I absolutely can do that. Um, this definition comes from the Midwest academy, uh, an organization that's been around since the 1970s. So please, you know, do, do some searching and check them out if, uh, if you're interested in learning more about some of the work that they do. Um, but this definition of community organizing, uh, states a pretty, uh, simply, uh, it's a process of building power through involving a constituent constituency or specific groups of people in identifying problems, but then also starting to develop the solutions that those problems desire. Um, it's about identifying the people as well as the institutions or the structures that need to be moved in order to make those solutions possible. And, uh, last but not least, I think one of the most important things about community organizing is the fact that it's so rooted in, um, you know, democratic, uh, principles. Uh, it's really focused on identifying ways in which people from the margins can, you know, come closer to the center in order to identify the problems, but then also think in new ways about what kind of solutions can be developed. Aida, is that okay?
Yes. Nailed it.
So Ms. Celina, can you tell us about a time that you have used both design and organizing in your work and how it might relate to wellness and community wellness?
First of all, thank you all so much, um, to the CCI and to Aida for inviting me here today. I really appreciate it. Um, coming, coming at you from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, um, shout out to the Western Pennsylvania who may be on the call. So I'm going to just talk about, um, uh, a program that Aida and I worked on together a couple of years ago called the parent innovation Institute. Um, so this was a program where we taught teachers and parents, the tools of design thinking to problem solve in their own communities. Um, it was really marketed as a design thinking program, but it was also about leadership development and community organizing through a social justice lens. Um, and I think at that time we were finding that a lot of times, um, there's really top-down approach to developing prototypes and to iteration.
Um, sometimes nonprofit leaders or academics are the ones who are designing these programs. But if we use the tools of organizing to guide our work, we know that the best solutions are designed and implemented by the communities themselves, um, facilitated by deep levels of community feedback. So in the case of PI, um, the parent innovation Institute, I believe that we really couldn't shy away from the leadership development necessary to support the parents and teachers and being their own best advocates. Um, so I'm just want to share one example. Uh, one of the groups that we worked with was a team of workers and teachers and parents at a headstart in the Fruitvale community and Oakland, they were tackling the question of how I, how might me increase father involvement in the lives of children. Um, the team made up of parents and family advocates, and I'm thinking of one mom in particular, her name was Mazda.
Um, she's a mom whose primary language is Spanish. She had two young kids who were part of this program. Um, so as we were just getting started in this program, their first idea was to come up with a days with daddy, um, initiative and experience for kids and their dads to hang out and have some fun. Um, and the design process that we use incorporated, elements of community organizing log, then her team members had intentional and powerful conversations with their community about their ideas for days with daddy, do these con community conversations. The team realized that, um, too often moms really acted as a barrier between dads and their kids. So they went back to the idea process and through collective design and this collective process, it resulted in a reiteration of their prototype to include this like mommy self care portion. Um, and it was honestly so amazing.
They hosted six separate events, always increasing their attendance, dads, playing with their kids and moms relaxing with each other. Um, and through that we realized it's not about the community members implementing other people's ideas. It's about them realizing that their own communities, innovation, power, creativity, and that their ideas are the ones that are actually going to create change. Um, and Mazda, this leader, this mom went through a real transformation like so many leaders do when they learn the tools of organizing. She learned how to tell her own story. And she learned that she was creative and persistent and she felt valued because we treated people with excellence that they deserve. But by the end of it, she was setting up meetings with the principal at her children's school to demand better conditions and treatment. And her kids called her supermom. Um, she found her voice and her power. And I think that really happened because of the interlay of design and organizing that we did at the parent innovation Institute. Shout out to Aida for that to
Thank you silly night, and you are far too gracious, silliness hard work on that, made all of that possible. Um, and thank you for sharing sort of what design and organizing looks like when both are sort of at their best. Could you tell us maybe a little bit about when it's not at its best when design has been complicit in the dehumanization of black folks in the healthcare space and beyond
Yes. Hello, good people. Um, I appreciate that opening example and the story of the supermom and the community activated. Um, but I also appreciate this question Aida, because I think it requires us to be super duper real about what anti-blackness is. Right. Um, it requires us to be super real about how anti-black systems have been architectured and upheld by design, right? This is no accident. This is no moral departure of a few named people in history, white supremacy, and, you know, we can be more specific anti-blackness and even more specific anti-black violence, um, has been and continues today as well-resourced innovation, if you will, right. Calculated for and dependent upon the dehumanization of black people. Um, and I know this to be true in my embodied experience as a black woman in this country, from the age of one, I also know this to be true as an Ethiopian in the context of the harm and violence caused by anti-black colonialism and its impacts and reconfigurations.
Um, I've learned this in community through the cultural knowledge and wisdom of black descendants of slaves and indigenous communities. Um, and as a public health advocate and practitioner, I'm deeply grounded by the work of a brilliant black woman in journalist named Harriet Washington, who authored a book called medical apartheid. And in this book, she tells the story of medical innovation, um, rooted in violent non-consenting experiments on black slaves and their descendants. And to me, what's powerful about this work is the through line across history, how creative, you know, how innovative, how embedded in the design of medicine was, and is the dehumanization of black people, right? And, and today race is built into algorithms that are standards are used for diagnosis, uh, digital calculators, that support teams in clinical decision-making for treatments and specialist referrals and countless scholars and activists have done work and are doing the work to critically analyze these tools.
Um, I want to call out student led work by the Institute for healing and justice and medicine. That's based in the bay area who recently authored a report called towards the abolition of biological race in medicine that has really moved me. Um, and I hope would move others, especially those of us in public health and medicine. Um, but this is true of all systems, right? Um, I'm speaking directly to my peers in healthcare and public health. Um, but I know we have folks here across sectors from different backgrounds and I hope we can all ask ourselves, you know, how do we redesign or re-imagine systems that heal not harm? Um, how do we censor and lift up the creativity of communities most impacted in doing so in Salinas example and in Kelsei's wonderful definition of what community organizing should look like in sensory, um, investing in and actually resourcing communities most impacted who holds the solution, um, because that's high ambition. We really, at the end of the day up route, anti-black design across systems, right? And I'm starting here with healthcare and public health, um, and also inviting others across sectors and in their own spheres of influence to continue doing that work as well. I hear somebody else who maybe has thoughts with me. Um, so I'll pause there and kick the mic back to you, Aida,
Thank you so much like that. So Kelsei, from your vantage point, how would you characterize the similarities between design and organizing? Are there any, is there any overlap?
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the question, Aida. Um, so we all know kind of the design thinking process is rooted in empathy. Um, you know, defining your problem, ideating testing, prototyping, prototyping, and testing. Um, I would say in a lot of ways, uh, this sort of process of being user centered, um, and really kind of having conversations with the people that you're ultimately designing for, um, is, is a one-on-one, you know, sort of, uh, translation. So community organizing. Um, I would say that, uh, with community organizing in the definition that I, you know, presented at the very beginning, it's around power and it's around identifying ways that, you know, people that have lacked voice, uh, throughout, um, you know, uh, history, but then also in their communities now have an opportunity to be heard, but also be intimately involved in the designing of new futures and new realities.
Um, so I would say in a lot of ways, the five steps, very much so aligned. Um, but there's, there's a demand with community organizing that focuses on ensuring that these relationships, um, are not just, you know, had for an hour or a few forums or a few community meetings, but rather there is a deep relationship that has continued and sustained over a long period of time. Um, the beauty of community organizing is, um, is in getting to know the person that is typically overlooked, getting to know the people that don't often get a seat at the table, um, and making sure that, you know, they can raise their hand, they can use their voice, uh, to participate in what that redesign looks like going forward. Um, in a lot of ways, it, it, I think design thinking tries to, to build a space and a table for folks to, to, to, to be able to kind of get their hands dirty. Um, I think community organizing would not be what it is if people, um, were not able to kind of like continue that work over a longer period of time. I submit it. They normally don't put tomatoes on there.
All right. So the, the person talking about tomatoes, right? I know it's lunchtime. Could we ask you please to meet Nisha? I think you can hear us. Okay. Let's see if we can. There we go. Okay. Thank you, Kelsei. No problem. Uh, Celina, could you tell, you mentioned leadership development as like a core through line for community organizing and it sounds like even designed, what is the value in your work day to day? What does it, what does it look like and how do you sort of use it?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I wasn't taking notes while Kelsei was talking because I wanted to come back to a point that deal with making. I'm going to tell another story, um, about, um, the organization that I work with now, where we're a local grassroots organization working in Westmoreland county, um, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. Um, and last, last year we ran a membership drive. Um, it was the first project I worked on with them. We had a goal of, to have to do thing. Members worked a lot like a union. Um, and we could have done this just by myself and the two co-founders having maybe 100 one-on-ones with community members asking them to become a part of our organization. Um, but instead we invested the time and training into developing, um, the leaders of the organization. So they ended up taking on these, one-on-one taking on these tasks, doing the kind of card, uncomfortable thing of asking people for money because they didn't only believe in the vision, but they had a stake in the vision of the organization.
Um, and there was really a transformation of leadership during the process before in leadership meetings, all we would really do with kind of debrief, um, logistics, talk about scheduling things, but we weren't really in the core of like decision making, we weren't in the core of transforming our communities or designing what the transformation of our community could look like. Um, and after this, these trainings, and after this work that they went through, we have a group of these 10 consistent leaders who have ownership over the organization. They, they really demand this, um, decision-making power and we make these decisions together and they hold me as the organizer accountable and they also hold each other accountable because they own the work and the organization, um, leadership development means more distributed decision-making. Um, and when people are supported to see their own power, it gives them the determination and the skills to support other people and finding their own power, um, because we are way more powerful when we
Collectively working towards our liberation. Um, and I think that's what leadership allows us to do leadership development.
Thank you. Thank you so much. We are in a dual public health crisis. Uh, the first being the pandemic of anti-blackness and the violence associated with that in our most recent COVID-19 outbreak, how can community organizing be leveraged in this time?
Yes, I, yeah, we're, we're envisioning together right here. Um, but I'll start by saying, you know, both COVID-19 and, and police violence, which is the moment that, um, captured national attention is to actually be thinking about anti-blackness. Um, but they, these crises disparately impacts black people, indigenous people, communities of color. And, you know, we like to think of crises as acute moments as codified by periods of time or, um, history or elaborate grass, Allah flattening the curve, right. And, uh, in these understandings of the crises that we sit in, um, we risk little to nothing collectively to achieve the easiest finish line at the detriment of our most vulnerable. Um, and if we can ground ourselves in the reality that we are fighting generational, anti-black violence, that pervades all systems, then we can connect how COVID-19 desparately impacts people of color and black people and indigenous people, and how police violence, this really impacts black indigenous communities of color.
Right. Um, I think community organizing equips us with, in the words of, uh, Mariame Kaba to, to ask with the urgency of the moment and the patients of a thousand years, right? How do we sustain ourselves? Can we know and, and share and implicate and heal ourselves toward justice, right? How do we prioritize healing and practice joy? How do we move both inward and outward, um, in community, right? Building power, importantly, shifting power, right? Somebody has to lose something. A lot of us have to lose something and in collective struggle and action toward shifting power to free us all. I think I'll add that you we're all hurting, but we're not all hurting the same. Right. And you know, both calcium, Celina has shared beautiful examples and, and grounding principles around how we must send to her. We must lift up and importantly, we must resource folks most impacted.
Right? So Mina's example, I love it because it's not just about developing leaders is actually about distributing the decision making, right? So once leaders are developed, they actually have a real stake, real authority empowered in making decisions that affect their own lives. Right. Um, so clearly from the examples that have been shared by the other panelists community organizing provides us with some of the language, some of the tools to do that, um, that work of censoring, the communities and the people that are most impacted. And that I think is what we absolutely need to leverage in order to, um, in order to survive this moment. But in order to collectively liberate, uh, from, from a moment that span generations, that span history and time, um, predestined. So thinking beyond just, just how uncomfortable the past two weeks has been for you, or how, um, retraumatizing or traumatizing the past few weeks have been for you, um, how do we sustain ourselves and actually doing that work?
Thank you. It's like that. Well, I'm going to throw it back to Kelsei to sort of build a little bit more, so it's kind of clear that it is clear that organizing is an effective tool. It can be an effective tool. Kelsei is all organizing the same though.
No, absolutely not. Um, what I would name is that there are different types of organizing. Um, so, you know, we have essentially been touching on, you know, grassroots organizing, which is, you know, thinking about the, the, the relational, um, you know, um, impact that, uh, bringing people to the center of the work can, can have in changing, uh, our realities as well as our communities. Um, but they're also different types as well. Um, there are different tactics that, that can be leveraged. Um, Aida, I think, you know, uh, pretty intimately, you know, some of the work around, uh, faith based organizing, um, there are organized organizations like Pico, you know, that are out right now using, um, you know, congregations as kind of the tool to build those relationships. But then also start to identify what are some of the wins that, um, you know, we should be moving toward.
Um, there are also, you know, different ways like broad based organizing as well as is another, you know, uh, form of organizing, uh, what we're seeing during this time as well. And, and I think I'd be remissed to not bring it up, bring it up is, um, the power of, you know, the digital tools that we also have, um, at our disposal. Um, I think, you know, when you say grassroots, you always think that, you know, it has to be a face to face interaction. Um, but I think a of what we're seeing, you know, today and honestly for, for, uh, uh, a decade plus now is, you know, the emergence of these digital tools that allow for us to do the work with depth, but then also with scale, um, you know, black lives matter movement, for example, would not be what it is without the amplification, without the conversations, without, you know, tools like zoom meetings and, and tweet a tweet storms, you know, in order to kind of, um, get eyes, uh, as well as, uh, provide tangible action steps that people can take afterwards. Um, so I think there are different types of organizing that, you know, we can, we can think about, and there are different tools that we can start to integrate into our own practices, uh, regardless of what space we're in.
Fantastic. Thank you for, uh, uplifting the online organizing aspect, as well as giving us some, some buckets to understand, uh, how organizing happens. Well, I'm going to ask now location specific questions since the three of you are in very interesting locations. Uh, uh, God, I will start with you. You're in Minneapolis, you're in Minnesota. Tell us what's going on there. I think a lot of us are interested, you know, post George Floyd, Briana Taylor, Tony, McDade all of all that's happened in the past few weeks. Um, how has that impacted your work? How, what are you seeing? How are you doing feel free to share?
Um, yes. Thank you for asking. I know I have Minnesota people on this loop, so you guys better stand up in the chat, you feeling what I'm saying, or if you have things to add. Uh, but yeah, Minnesota more specifically the twin cities, um, I will say, is experiencing, you know, deep pain and, and the relentless assault and of anti-black violence and like many communities globally. This is our experience every day. Um, and we're experiencing the real and familiar grief and trauma and fear in, um, in witnessing the murder of our brother towards Floyd on May 25th, 2020 in broad daylight, and maybe rest in peace and power. And a lot of us are holding that in our bodies, in our minds and our spirits in our day-to-day work, whether we get a paycheck to do quote unquote community organizing or justice work, or whether we live in a service industry, um, or whether we live without work right now in the midst of COVID-19 and employment crises that predated coma COVID-19 right.
So there's a lot of hurts. Um, but at the same time, I think we are experiencing the hope and the resilience and the vision and the crazy imagination required for our collective liberation, um, for our healing, right, for our transformation. And I want to be clear led by the labor of young people, of black people, of black people of brilliant bold leaders, some who you may have seen via news coverage and via social media and, and many who you have not. And you may never know if you're not living here. Right. Um, and as a black woman, who's called Minnesota home for most of my life. Um, living on the east coast for some time is coming back. About two years ago, I tell people a gust of wind brought me back. Um, I have an interesting relationship with this place, but I can say I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support for our twin cities.
Um, at the same time, I'm not interested in performative love, um, that does not require action, right? So I, I fear the spectacle. I fear the obsession with black deaths and I encourage and challenges all to move locally, to move into personally, to move inwardly in our own spheres of influence in an active in daily resistance to the anti-black violence that conspired in this murder. Right? And, and if we're outraged, if we are, um, practicing empathy in this moment, we have to be called to action. Um, and, and this violence, I know there's a lot of important and necessary conversation around abolition of police and prison system. Um, but we can, we can, uh, deepen and widen that conversation, um, to, to engage abolition of anti-black violence, that pervades all systems, right beyond policing in prisons, in healthcare, we're out here, right in education, we're on the line in economic development, you know, systems that shape our lives and that harm black people every day, right?
Not just when it becomes the hashtag. And these are systems that we sit in and that we have the capacity is the courage to transform. So I won't share any Minnesota organizations for you guys to support, not even my own. There are hundreds of organizations and there are thousands of individuals without the institutional backing of a nonprofit, right, who are doing the work every day, um, here in the twin cities and globally. And so my call to action would be listened to those leaders, trust those leaders, invest in those leaders and learn your unique role in this struggle. Um, I'm so grateful to be here. Like I said, there are Minnesota people out here, so I want to see you in the chat. Um, and I hope I've communicated in a way that, that honors and holds you all in love and light. Um, but thank you for asking I to, I appreciate the time to reflect.
Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing with all of us. I know I speak for most of us on the call and we just appreciate your work and passion and energy. So thank you. It's like that Kelsei you're in DC. Could you tell us a little bit about what's going on there and the youth and sort of community leaders you work with regularly, um, around wellness and, and in addressing this, this dual pandemic this moment?
Absolutely. Um, I don't, so through the organization that I work with, uh, we do a whole lot of work focused on young people, young people's voice, um, but then also providing kind of the skills and the resources necessary or to, um, to have the, the, the tools necessary to kind of go deep in their communities. Um, one thing that I see time and time again, is the fact that health and wellness does not feel like, um, something that they have to engage in only if they have a degree only if they have a position within their community. Um, young folks, you can see it on the internet, but in conversations with folks day in and day out, um, are deeply rooted in, in understanding themselves. But then also how to start to dismantle and start sort of strip away some of the past trauma that, you know, we have come from.
Um, I've been so, um, excited by just kind of that commitment that I see time and time again, with a lot of the folks that, that I, uh, had these conversations with, um, and to, to, you know, uplift the point that Sarah just made around the fact that it's not just a singular issue. Um, you know, health and wellness shows up in all of the systems that we navigate health and wellness shows up in the ways in which we, you know, communicate with each other on an individualized way, but then also what are the things that we accept and, and choose to overlook versus the things that we choose to push back on and build power to change. Um, so it, it, there's a, there's a wide range, um, in terms of, you know, some of the work that's been happening, uh, locally in DC, uh, as been, um, encouraged by, you know, uh, the fact that, uh, you know, the conversation around the movement for black lives is not just about police brutality.
It's actually uplifting the fact that, um, you know, education matters. Uh, the digital divide is only, you know, expanding during this moment. What does that mean for some of the young people that are, you know, losing out on, um, on the educational outcomes that they need and that they deserve? Are we talking about the fact that, you know, without school and without the resources, you know, that that provide for lunch during the day is for a lot of kids, are they being fed, are they being nourished? Are they being taken care of? I think this sort of holistic approach is one that, um, I'm encouraged to see more and more kind of enter our conversations in our dialogue, but also I think needs to be at the core of any sort of organizing work, because you can try to change and reform and, and, and, and tinker with one system here while you know, the 10 other systems that are wrapped around, you continue to have very pernicious, uh, implications, uh, for people's futures. Um, so I think it's important to kind of hold all of the, the, the, the, the contradictions and the difficulties of all of that in order to truly make change.
Absolutely. Thank you, Kelsei. Thank you. This through line of the interconnectedness is it's so important. Um, Celina, I'm going to throw it to you in terms of what's going on in Pennsylvania, what's going on with working families, sort of what kind of campaigns are happening from the grassroots level to sort of respond to these designed system?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I think, um, I worked, I worked for an organization that is all about building power for working class families. Um, and I think, uh, when, when Kelsei was talking about is all organizing the same, I was thinking a lot about, um, community organizing versus political organizing. And one thing that as an organization we take really seriously is that we're not tied to a political party. We, we care about holding leaders accountable on both sides of the aisle. Um, and that's really core to the work that we do. Um, and the issue that comes up for us in, in basically every campaign that we run in every con in almost every conversation we have the Telecare because poll after poll shows, this is the issue that transcends political party lines. Um, and, and we're doing this work right now in, in a way that we're trying really hard to be transformational and not transactional.
And one of the tactics that we're using is deep canvassing, um, and using a race class narrative lens in our conversations with people where we're a primarily white community. And so this is one of the ways that we are, we are teaching ourselves how to have these conversations at a local level while at the same time supporting the black leaders, not only trying to not be performative, but supporting people through resources, right, giving people money that they need to come up with the solutions that they will to perform the solutions that they already have for their communities. Um, and so those are kind of the ways that we are working on this crisis right now. I mean, it started with, started with COVID started with this pandemic. We, we having conversations with people about how this has just pulled back the curtain on the healthcare, the broken healthcare system that has been at play for centuries here in the United States. Um, and people are really responding to that conversation and are being activated in this moment, um, to come together and have these conversations in their community.
Thank you, Celina. So I feel very lucky that you all are just answering all of my questions. I think it might be time to open it up. I see a lot of questions here in the group chat. Uh, Laura, should I hand it over to you? I know you've been tracking them in order, so
Yes, yes. We've um, gotten, I would say tons of just affirmations and love for what, um, the, our guests are sharing. I think that has just been a lot of what has been shared, just really resonates with people, um, who are joining. There were a couple questions. Um, one is kind of gets to, um, Celina what you were just talking about with deep canvassing. Um, this is from, uh, one G goo and gari. And the question is, uh, how do you as organizers and designers integrate the class angle into your work?
I can, I can, um, talk about it a little bit. So, um, one way that we incorporated it through this race class narrative, um, I'm curious if Aida, if you've, if you've used it at all or heard about it, um, or other people on this call, but it's about this idea of not being afraid to talk about race and class in the conversations that we have naming that white working class families could be struggling and could be having challenges, but that black and brown communities are strong because of oppressive systems are, are often facing these challenges to a larger degree. And so it's about naming that in the conversations that we're having with people. And we find that people are really responsive to that when we name race and class upfront, and we incorporate that into all of our messaging and to every email we send into every social media posts that we post, we're talking about race in class. Um, it, it becomes our narrative. Uh, and I think like that's been a really powerful thing that we're trying to incorporate more everyday.
Great. Thank you. Um, and if folks want to actually vocalize their questions in the participants area, there's a way you could do like a thumbs up or a clapping, and that would be a way to let us know that you want to share something. I think we have a couple more questions from the chat. Um, uh, this is, uh, let's see, can you talk about how community organizing scales and this is from Daniel Freedman, uh, how does organizing for large groups of distributed people that may never meet, um, you know, I guess in person across economic, cultural, religious demographic location sustain itself, um, how does community organizing continue to function, uh, when the acute emotional reactions feed,
That might be a two-part question. And I might direct the first question to Kelsei. And the second question I've got, if, if that makes sense.
Yeah, that, that makes a ton of sense. Um, and I think this is like a common question as, um, and I'm not saying common in that it's easy to answer, but common in that, like, we want to figure out how to do this, uh, in a widespread way. Um, you know, one of the things that we keep on speaking about is the fact that local matters that the relationship matters. Um, and ultimately the more that you can bring people closer together and be in community with one another, the deeper, um, the deeper and more lasting, the impact of that. Um, so it's hard to say, you know, like, because we have one, you know, unit or one, you know, community organizing group that, that just scales because we can just share the model elsewhere. But I think there's something to be said about the fact that you can show the wins.
You can show the tactics, you can show the strategies that do work on a local level, um, and you can find ways to teach and, and build kind of the capacity of others to then apply that to their own space. Um, because every city looks different. Every rural area looks different. Um, the ways in which our power structures, you know, here in the United States look could be completely different than what it looks like on the continent of Africa and in different nations or in south America, it could be completely different nuances. And it's important to kind of have an understanding that what those nuances look like has to be a part of the conversation time and time again. Um, there, there's no way to just kind of like replicate the model, um, in a, in a very simple way. Um, another thing is the fact that, uh, with, with community organizing, like literally anybody can, can, can start, you know, like you can, if you, if you've decided that you want to be a part of it, like you, you can have the conversation and just kind of build from there.
Um, there's no need to have like a founder syndrome and that you have to be the leader, because I think, um, more so than anything else right now, um, uh, you know, I think this, this generation I could speak for millennials gen Z, and then there are many others as well. Um, folks that are, you know, moving further and further away from like the leader at the front, uh, you know, sort of orientation and thinking more about, uh, Ella baker model, uh, leaders, leaderless movements in which the capacity developed in each and every one of us can be the, the, the necessary, uh, element that helps them move the work forward. Um, so yeah, I'll pass it to Tsega.
Um, yes. And amen. I was trying to find my clap button, but it took me two bucks. So, but I was a medic on mute. Um, so the, the, the second part of the question about kind of, how do we move or sustain ourselves after the attention kind of goes away. Um, and, and you know, what I want us to stay grounded and centered in is that people are under attack every day, like all the time, and there are named and unnamed, um, um, lost that people are grieving, right? And, and so when a video of a black man murdered by police in broad daylight, or, or a video of the Minneapolis mayor call to accountability at a public protest is shared millions of times, but I don't see millions of people moving, transforming, committed in their personal spheres of influence. There's something deeply wrong about what we're calling allyship and, and specifically what we're calling white allyship.
So I'm, I'm, I'm calling out, um, and calling in people who, who have a very different embodied experience than my own, but, um, I think we need to be real about who for attention fades away, right? Cause, cause I can't forget this three weeks from now, I I'm, retraumatize on a daily basis, right. And if we think of intersections of gender, class and race, um, some of my brothers and sisters and non binary folks are, are retraumatized in ways that I'll never understand as well. Right. So I think if we can ground ourselves and center ourselves in that, that we may not feel it every day that we are hurting, but we're not all hurting the same, um, that that, that can allow us to keep pressing forward. Um, and then I'll also offer up that we have to prioritize, we have to prioritize healing.
Um, I'll lift up Audrey Lord. Um, beautiful words, caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare, right? Um, so we have to prioritize risks. We have to practice joy, we have to prioritize healing. And this is for all of us, right. In all of our identities. And if that's not central to our movement and our struggle for collective liberation, then we're not going to make it to enjoy it. Right. So, um, there's so many different practices that I could offer up in that. I'm sure people, um, people participating on the zoom have different practices that they've established for themselves or within their own cultures, um, or traditions, but prioritizing healing, practicing healing is super important to this work.
Thank you. It's like that. There's so many great questions and, and, um, statement. So mark shares that transformational healthcare starts with the understanding of value-based care team-based care and changing the mindset away from fee for service reimbursement. This is a little bit more of a technical question sunglass, since we have you on the line, uh, could you talk a little bit more about sort of how this looks in a healthcare setting?
Yes, absolutely. Our value system tasks has shifts. Our value systems have to change radically. Um, and, and that's what we've been able to do to some degree through payment reform within healthcare. Um, but I would encourage that again, we bring folks in and patient centered engagement, whatever we want to call it. Right. But we bring folks in who, um, who have the Olympic experience and who have the expertise, um, to decide for themselves what their futures can and should look like in how we continue that policy front forward. Um, I say this, um, in the spirit of some work that's happening here locally in Minnesota to advocate for, um, doula reimbursements, um, and, and, uh, increased reimbursement for community health worker services, right? Roles, specialized roles that can be implemented within a really violent infrastructure that is Western-based medicine that are rooted in cultural knowledge and wisdom.
Right. And we can use the mechanism of, of policy reform and payment reform within healthcare to actually list those roles up and to lift up community voice there. Um, so it's an amazing, uh, call to action and, and reflection about how we can transform, um, our values. Right. I think we've all said it different ways that really, how do we resource the change that we want to see? Um, in the past several weeks, millions of dollars came into the twin cities, millions of dollars unlocked out of nowhere, right. From our neighbors and then from folks across the country. And why did it require a tragedy? Why did it require a black deaths on display for that to happen? Right. So I appreciate this question because it challenges us to do that work of resetting our values of redistributing resources of shifting power every day and here on a policy front and healthcare. So I, yes. And amen. I've got some homework based on that question.
Thank you. Thank you. Well, so Sarah asks, and this is for Celina and Kelsei, you know, design work is broken down by project or funding code, and I'm going to extend that. So is community organizing, right? We have metrics, they have numbers we have to hit. It is a very, um, sort of numbers driven industry or line of work. Um, how do you work around those restraints to really build deep relationships, Kelsei or Celina or both?
So Celina, do you want to kick it off and I can, or, or no,
You kick it up.
Uh, the question, the question. So how do you prioritize, um, you know, outside of like funding and
Budget restraints?
Yep. Yep. Uh, I, because we're, we're running kind of short on time. I will keep this super concise. I think, um, we were just speaking about values and, uh, during these past few weeks, people have started to value, uh, things that they might not have necessarily take an action on, um, as, you know, as rapidly as they have during this dual pandemic. Um, I think there, there are things that you could do in a nine to five, and then there's also the deep relational work that happens, you know, in the five to nine. Um, I think there's so much community organizing that is done, uh, day in and day out. Um, not necessarily informal structures, you know, it might not be, you know, the, the, the people or the organization that's paying you that helps you to go do that deeper work. Um, you know, maybe there's stuff that you can do within those formal institutions to ask a harder question to, you know, really make sure that the rhetoric is actually matching the, the way that you walk and do the work. Um, but then also I think there's a commitment that each and every one of us have, have to make, um, you know, to, to kind of do the work outside, to make sure that those relationships are deep. Um, but then they're also actionable afterwards. Um, and I think, you know, uh, there's a way to, to bridge the two, I would, I would say, um, yeah, Celina. Yeah,
I don't, I think all I would really add is, um, in terms of values, like this idea that we're coming back to you of investing in the local leadership, but is doing the work in your community. Um, and also, uh, we talk about how building power is organizing money and organizing people. Um, and so we have, I, when people give money sometimes to our organizations, they say, I might not be able to give my time, but I am able to give my, my resources or my finances. And so I think, um, having people who are able to organize money is really important as a way to kind of work around some of the more traditional funding structures that we find ourselves in.
Thank you. Thank you, Laura. We're running close up on time, so I'm going to hand it off to you, but before I do, I just want to give my sincere gratitude to sunga Celina and Kelsei. And if folks could join me in a, uh, you know, virtual round of applause or unvirtuous feel free to clap it,
Um, yeah, just want to
Echo Aida Celina Tsega, Kelsei, thank you so so much, um, for just a really thoughtful, powerful, and heart felt discussion, um, and a lot for all of us to think about, um, even the, the ones of us who are putting this together, um, tremendous gratitude for all of the time. Um, and the, yeah, just ways that we all kind of need to be better and think about doing our work differently.