Movement Strategy Center Highlights Milestones, Stories, and Achievements from the Ecosystem
Community Chronicles is a seasonal shout-out to our ecosystem partners and their incredible achievements. Read on for some of the ways our ever-growing list of over 150 community-led and centered partners — including Fiscally Sponsored Projects (FSPs), the Movement Strategy Network (MSN), and grantees — are making the world a brighter place.
The seasonal metaphors about rebirth, rejuvenation, and emergence seemed more fitting than ever this spring. As the days grew longer, temperatures rose and movement among animals, plants, and people gained momentum; we found ourselves frequently considering how we can support these interconnected networks — and each other — as we continue to create a world of liberation, interdependence, and resilience. We might not have all the answers, but our partners’ commitment to their work on the frontlines of racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice inspires us to keep looking.
This showcase of spring happenings throughout the MSC ecosystem is a reminder that among today’s struggles there are activists, allies, and communities using art, advocacy, education, storytelling, and more to heal, grow, love, and stand up against hate. Read on for some highlights, stay informed with our monthly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads so you don’t miss a moment of motivation.
AI and MSC Journey to Alabama
In March, Frank Gargione and Allison Mudge of MSC’s Communications Team and Karmella Green of MSC’s MIIC Team joined our partners at After Incarceration at the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth, and Reconciliation (SCNTR). Located in Selma, Ala., SCNTR overlooks the Edmund Pettus Bridge (site of Bloody Sunday), offers a slate of nonviolence trainings, and recently launched a monthly book club. We were honored to participate in a Kingian Nonviolence Training based on the philosophies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a close associate of SCNTR co-founder Dr. Bernard LaFayette. We were able to cross the Pettus Bridge and explore The Legacy Sites — dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, and humiliated by racial segregation — in nearby Montgomery. Read more about our takeaways and AI’s intergenerational trip on our blog!
Welcoming The Seamstress Project
“In every community I’ve walked alongside … it is women, and people who lead with feminine strength and care, who show up after the devastation.” Abby Reyes believes transformative action begins in the stories we dare to carry, and the women who carry these stories through grief lead the way. “Seamstress leadership” is the basis for The Seamstress Project, which supports climate-vulnerable communities and is one of our newest partners. Reyes’ book “Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice” is a call to remember, to grieve — and to act. The memoir is a powerful story rooted in the true events surrounding the 1999 murders of her partner and two colleagues in Colombia. Listen to more from Reyes — who is also the Director of Community Resilience Projects at the University of California, Irvine — on “Green Dreamer with kaméa chayne,” “The Planeteers Podcast,” and “The Mental Illness Happy Hour.”
Celebrating Five Seasons of EARTHseed Farm
EARTHseed Farm, a project of our partners at Sankofa Project, kicked off its fifth season of celebrating Afro-Indigenous heritage through land stewardship! Explore EARTHseed’s 2024 Annual Report here; and if you’re local or visiting Sebastopol, Calif., check out their programming, which includes tours, retreats, and glamping. Their 2025 U-Pick season runs through November and allows folks to pick their own fruit while reconnecting with the Earth and our more-than-human kin. Learn more about EARTHseed and its regenerative farming practices on our blog!
Welcoming Qommittee for Qreative Freedom
This spring, we also welcomed partners Qommittee for Qreative Freedom. Qommittee for is a national network of drag artists working to protect and celebrate the art form’s power to transform communities through joy and in creating spaces of celebration and belonging. Qommittee, which celebrated their first Qo-Founders Day in May, has released several powerful handbooks and primers. The “Drag Defense Handbook” contains best practices for addressing a number of crises, including online harassment, employment discrimination, and threats of physical violence. Their “Know Your Rights” primer contains information regarding First Amendment rights and what to do if presented with restrictions. Qommittee recently responded to demands placed upon a Vero Beach, Fla., restaurant by the state’s attorney general, who issued a call for guest lists, surveillance footage, and personal information following a legal drag event. Qommittee shared resources on personal rights and the law in support of Florida-based performers. Support their efforts by signing their petition to stop attacks on drag and Pride events and/or sharing their Instagram post, and learn more about Qommittee’s work here, here, and here.
Rebuilding and Reimagining Clayborn
Located in Memphis, Tenn., Historic Clayborn Temple served as the organizing site for the 1968 Sanitation Workers’ Strike, hosting nightly meetings and printing the campaign’s iconic “I AM A MAN” posters in its basement. In recent years, Clayborn has been the subject of a massive restoration campaign, thanks largely in part to Executive Director Anasa Troutman, who is also the founder and CEO of The BIG We (BIG We Foundation is a Movement Strategy Network member).
A devastating fire, which investigators determined was set intentionally, broke out at Clayborn in the early morning of Monday, April 28. On May 28, community members gathered on Clayborn’s lawn to remember its history and reimagine its future. At the event, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund announced a $1.5 million collective grant to rebuild Clayborn. Troutman set a goal of reopening the church in 2028 — just in time to mark the 60th anniversary of the strike. To make a monetary donation in support of Clayborn’s efforts to rebuild, click here.
And Right Here at MSC
Reimagining What’s Possible — Together
Our 2023-2024 Annual Report is a retrospective look at a powerful year of impact, the crucial work of our partners, the spirit of our entire ecosystem, and the ways we’re reimagining what’s possible — together. The report celebrates our fiscally sponsored projects, regrantees, and partners; and uplifts MSC’s role in supporting movement leaders through capacity building, storytelling, and bold experimentation. While we’re immensely proud of the joy and progress featured within this report, we acknowledge where we are today. As you know, many nonprofit organizations, intermediaries, and foundations find themselves at risk of funding shortfalls, shifting trends, culture wars, and the hostility of the current administration. These issues have the potential to affect all nonprofits — no matter their mission or affiliation. At a time of growing challenges for nonprofits, it’s a powerful reminder of what’s possible through collective vision and care.
Presenting Our Newest Resource
Our partners work tirelessly to create a more equitable world through their environmental, economic, gender, and racial justice work — which leaves little time for fundraising. Thanks to a grant from the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, MSC formed a Fundraising Task Force to expand our service model to support financial sustainability with a co-design approach. MIIC Senior Advisor Alejandra García Lezama and Communications Director Frank Gargione share more about the program in a piece for Proximate’s (an MSC fiscally sponsored project) Common Ground series. For a deeper dive into the 2024 inaugural cohort, its achievements, and our learnings, explore our “2024 Fundraising Support Initiative Evaluation,” compiled by Rubayi Estes of Estrat Solutions.
Talking Fiscal Sponsorship with Carla Dartis
Catch our Executive Director, Carla Dartis, on the June episode of “Network Exchange.” The podcast from the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors seeks to demystify the world of fiscal sponsorship. Dartis and host Lee Stabert discuss community building, resistance, and staying true to MSC’s mission to weave, build, and amplify power to accelerate a Just Transition from a world of domination, extraction, and violence to a world of interdependence, liberation, and resilience. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts!
Discover What’s New!
Catch up on all the latest happenings and insights in MSC’s monthly newsletters.
Want your happening or achievement included in the next Community Chronicles, in our newsletter, across our social media channels, or in a feature blog? Contact us!
