This year's Roots and Remedies—Praxis' annual convening of community organizers—centered on Pleasure in Praxis. This theme allowed us to spend time each day of the week of July 11th to play, relax, meditate and nourish ourselves through music, food, and the company of one another. We had a playful Bend & Flow session with Dr. Kristen Nichole, we learned to make a vegan lasagna with Chef Synovia, hopped on a cloud to the land of pleasure with Black Dream Escape, discussed healing with Elizabeth Summers, created mocktails with Deniseea, danced to the tunes of DJ Vonnie Mack, and enjoyed dreamy artwork by Amir Khadar. Roots and Remedies was "an opportunity to experience resting in community."
Thank you to all our speakers and community for being part of this week of events!
"I am deeply grateful to have had an opportunity to be in this space. I experienced something that I needed to the degree by which I didn't know I needed. It was nice to be "seen" and for my humanity to matter too. Thank you so much!"
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The Praxis programs team continues to work to center community in policy and power-building efforts:
- Rural Community Power Building: Praxis is convening BIPOC rural community organizers working to build power in their communities in a series of four Learning Circles. Our first convening is taking place in August, 2022. We are so excited to have representatives from Black Appalachian Coalition, Center for Common Ground, Holler Health Justice, Pueblo Action Alliance, Southern ECHO, Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative for Economic and Social Justice, Tewa Women United and Thunder Valley.
- Policies for Action: Praxis surveyed 20 community base-building organizations and 5 government agencies to learn more about declarations that have named racism as a public health crisis. We are currently analyzing the responses to assess the degree to which communities were involved in the writing, passing and implementation of the declarations. We are using the data from our surveys to help inform Learning Circles on the declarations later this year.
- Toward Better Rural Futures: We are currently working with ChangeLab Solutions and the National Governors Association to finalize a dissemination plan for this project. We look forward to amplifying our communities' thoughts on the policies that can advance racial justice and economic development in rural communities.
- Popular Education Workshop: In June, Praxis completed its three-part Popular Education Workshop series facilitated by Pancho Argüelles. This series focused on 1) the history and legacy of popular education as well as central concepts such as accompaniment, conscientization-political education and collective leadership development, and 2) exploring our understanding of how we learn and the connection between learning and healing.
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In Praxis Podcast: Check out all of the episodes of In Praxis Season 3, where we are exploring community driven strategies for food justice. Our guests are incredible community organizers working to advance fair farming practices, community-led urban farming, and equitable food procurement and retail. Listen to the season!
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Congratulations to Candace! She is pursuing her masters in public health degree at Columbia University! We are so excited for her and wish her the best in this next chapter of her life. Candace will still be part-time at Praxis until the end of the year so we encourage you to stay connected with her while she's still with us.
- Aliya's shared passion for helping marginalized communities along with her background in accounting and finance has led to her being involved in the nonprofit social justice community for more than 7 years, not including her board work. Aliya leads Praxis's financial operations, along with helping to develop Praxis' long-term financial strategy. Learn more about Aliya!
- Laura has been working in non-profit administrative roles since 2016, and she has seen first-hand the real human benefits that come from strong and dedicated administrative support. She applies that knowledge and experience to her role at The Praxis Project, helping the executive office to thrive as the organization grows. Learn more about Laura!
- Angel's bio is forthcoming.
- Riya is from New York City and is a rising sophomore at Cornell University where she is planning on majoring in Industrial Labor Relations and minoring in Environment and Sustainability. At The Praxis Project, Riya is a Health Justice Intern where she hopes to gain experience working closely with her team to decolonize research by highlighting the voices of those who are often silenced in academia and mainstream media. Learn more about Riya!
- Victoria is especially passionate about the support of mental health, especially within carceral spaces, for unhoused peoples and for new mothers, and equitable access to healthcare for all after working at her university's free clinic. Victoria is a 2022 Health Justice Intern looking to use her background in climate and reproductive justice organizing to work on initiatives here at Praxis and continue to listen to and amplify the voices of communities historically silenced in the space. She is currently pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science at Stanford University and a minor in International Relations. Learn more about Victoria!
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Movement Building Fiscal Sponsorship...
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Reminder! If you're someone who has general questions about fiscal sponsorship, or specific questions about our program, feel free to join us at our monthly Fiscal Sponsorship Office Hours! Hosted by our Senior Program Manager, Blair, and our Associate Director, Ariel, these are public Q&A sessions that will take place on the last Fridays of the month at 9am PST / 12pm EST. Feel free to bring your breakfast/lunch and pop in for as long as you need to. Access the link to office hours here. We ask that folks at least skim the content on our Movement Building Fiscal Sponsorship page before joining the call, to have a grounding in our approach to fiscal sponsorship and how it supports capacity and power building within movement work.
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Praxis's Research and Training team has had the honor of collaborating with partners to create shared spaces for learning an action.
- Regards to Rural: We discussed the findings of our Toward Better Rural Futures project on a panel at the Regards to Rural conference in Pendleton, Oregon in May. Our co-panelists were Pamela Perkins Carn, who works with Gwinett SToPP and the End Mass Incarceration Georgia Network, and Kim Libman from ChangeLab Solutions. Our session had over 100 attendees and we are excited to engage more people in conversations around policies that can advance racial justice and economic development in rural communities.
- Resilient Placer: Praxis is currently facilitating a process to understand the social determinants of health with a youth-centered collaborative focused on working towards health equity in Placer County. In July we convened Resilient Placer to discuss the root causes of health disparities in their community, and identify key issues facing youth in Placer County in order to identify potential solutions. We will be reconvening in August with key stakeholders to share participating youth priorities.
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