365 Days After Ferguson: Vision More Than Ever

More Than Ever We Need to Come Together to Realize Transformative Change by Aisha ShillingfordOriginally published on August 8, 2015. One year after Michael Brown’s murder and the uprising in Ferguson, we need vision more than ever. As a Black woman, I know that we must aggressively imagine what it looks like when we are free, that there must be a prize to set…

In Memoriam:
ibrahim abdul-matin

Movement Strategy Center Remembers ibrahim abdul-matin, Environmental Activist, Urban Strategist, and Dear Friend of the MSC EcosystemIt is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of ibrahim abdul-matin, a bright, playful spirit who made a lasting impact as an environmental activist, urban strategist, and beloved friend. At 46, he leaves behind his devoted wife…

Four people stand in front of a wall of botanical greenery at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco

MSC’s Advancement Team Meets in the Hills of Oakland for Team Building

Movement Strategy Center’s Advancement Team Met in Person for the First Time for Strategy, Culture, and Fun by David MalinowskiOriginating from Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Texas, MSC’s Advancement team converged in the hills of Oakland, CA for their first in-person retreat. Meeting together in person for the first time helped the team…

Moving Money Where it Matters

Movement Strategy Center on Shifting Philanthropic Power Dynamics Towards Interdependence and ResilienceEvery degree of warming intensifies the risk of species extinction, highlighting the urgency of addressing climate change. As we watch the weather report on any given day, the unfolding realities of our changing climate become strikingly evident — the record…

Parenting for Liberation: My Practice and the MSC Transitions Labs

How Liberation, Freedom, and Self Love Form the Foundation of Parenting in White Supremacy by Trina Greene BrownOriginally published on August 19, 2015. I am raising a young Black boy in a society that is set up to set him up for failure. This means I am often in protection mode: protection against educational inequity, unfair discipline practices,…

A group of people holding their extended arms out to either side of their body in front of towering windows with trees outside.

Navigating With Vision: Transitions Lab Nurtures Leaps Into the Unknown

MSC’s Transition Labs Offer a New Perspective on Transformative Movement Building by Julie QuirozOriginally published on April 16, 2015. “Reality is not destiny,” wrote Eduardo Galeano, the extraordinary Uruguayan writer who inspired social justice activists around the globe with his unflinching commitment to truth. Galeano, who lived through imprisonment and…

A person holds a poster board sign that reads #Black Lives Matter. They are surrounded by people holding candles in the dark of the night.

#BlackLivesMatter: “It’s About How We Are Together”

With Great Love, MSC Offers This Excerpt From Love With Power: Practicing Transformation for Social Justice by Julie Quiroz and Kristen ZimmermanOriginally published on February 12, 2015. In early October 2014, Alicia Garza arrived in Ferguson, Missouri. Less than two months after Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael…

Young activists hold their fists in the air while holding a variety of poster board signs.

It’s Time for Healing-centered Youth Organizing

How Personal Healing and Social Change can be Aligned for Transformative Movement Building by Nicole LeeOriginally published on April 15, 2015. As an activist and youth organizer who deeply values the power of healing and transformation, I have come to see that too often, within our movement, “healing” and “social change” occupy two separate spaces that have…

Calling for Love With Power

With Great Love, MSC Offers This Excerpt From Love With Power: Practicing Transformation for Social Justice by Julie Quiroz and Kristen ZimmermanOriginally Published on February 12, 2015. We, humanity, need a movement, a really big movement.  A movement big and bold enough to get us out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into, and one that will get us to a…

A New Graphic Novel Celebrates Beloved Community and the Wisdom of MSC’s Transitions Initiative

Beloved Communities Network Launches Kickstarter for Ten Thousand Beloved Communities In the earliest and most precarious days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Leila McCabe of Beloved Communities Network (BCN) and Kristen Zimmerman of Root. Rise. Pollinate! hosted a series of powerful conversations with ecosystem buddies including Aisha Shillingford of Intelligent…