In an effort to create an engaging yet informal space for dialogue, the Integrated Rural Strategies Group is planning a series of stand alone Rural Organizing Dialogues to take place over the course of the summer!
Conversations will build on one another throughout the series, so you are more than welcome to join whichever you are able. We welcome any funder who is interested in learning and building community to join us for this lightly facilitated dialogue. Come prepared with questions or reflection to share, or just join us to listen in quietly!
The goals of these dialogue are to:
- Deepen relationship among funders in IRSG’s network by creating spaces where they can engage with one another - rather than listen and learn passively as is more customary in standard webinar formats.
- Foster awareness of and learning from/with IRSG’s Movement Advisors.
- Live into NFG and IRSG’s mission to build relationships between philanthropy and community.
We aim to have approximately 15-25 participants in each dialogue, and will cap registration. Please email Stephan Cheney, IRSG Senior Program Coordinator, with any questions. We look forward to you joining us!
Session #3:
Rural Organizing and Racial Justice:
What Funders Need to Know
September 7, 2022 at 10am PST | 11am MST | 12pm CST | 1pm EST
Join us for the third and final conversation of our Rural Organizing Dialogue series as we speak with three IRSG Movement Advisors, each of whom bring a diversity of perspectives on organizing in rural communities to advance racial justice. We will explore what this looks like in organizing white agricultural communities in the Midwest/Upper Plains, building power among Latinx farmworker communities throughout California, and spreading Black joy in rural Oregon. Bring an open mind, curiosity, thoughts to share and questions to ask!
Speakers:
Eowyn Corral (they/she)- Dakota Rural Action
Juliane Jackson (she/her/they/them) - Black Joy Oregon
Angel Garcia (he/him) - California for Pesticide Reform and CAPS Coalition Advocating for Pesticide Safety
Session #2:
Honoring land and culture:
A Rural, Transnational, and Indigenous Approach
July 20, 2022
The second dialogue in IRSG's Rural Organizing dialogue series was intimate, rich, informative, and powerful! Honoring land and culture: A Rural, Transnational, and Indigenous Approach included IRSG Movement Advisor Jaime Arredondo of the Capaces Leadership Institute, Luis Marcos of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim and Marcus Briggs-Cloud of Ekvn-Yefolecv.
This dialogue provided direct insight into how groups are moving as whole communities toward economic and cultural independence in rural areas. Speakers shared about the many layers of disruption, trauma, and societal barriers they face when centering justice and liberation for the peoples and lands they live on and call home. They also spoke about what grounds their work as they move through these barriers and how philanthropy can move to support and resource efforts of re-establishing connection and identity of lands and cultures. There are many pathways and entry points for funders to mobilize and support this work at different levels. The first step forward is realizing that our collective liberation is inextricably tied to genuine relationships with eachother and to the health of the land itself.
Session #1:
BIPOC Farmers:
Building power and the role of land
June 22, 2022
IRSG kicked off our Rural Movement Advisors dialogue series with a conversation on BIPOC Farmers: Building power and the role of land. The dialogue was led by IRSG Movement Advisors Janssen Hang of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) and Brandi Mack of The Butterfly Movement.
In this dialogue Brandi and Janssen educated funders on the strategies and tactics their organizations are utilizing to navigate the barriers BIPOC farmers face in building power. In the face of challenges such as climate change, being under resourced and underfunded, grappling with discrimination and racism in agriculture and food systems, land access, and bridging the gap of the rural urban divide, the Movement Advisors led a beautiful conversation that centered around relationship building facilitated through the land itself.
Event Details
When
Sep 7, 2022
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Where
Virtual
Posted 07/26/2022 in