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.
Looking back on the past few months, references to the long, dark days of winter are imbued with more literal meaning than ever before. More long, dark days likely await — but can’t last forever. We remain steadfast in the commitment to our work, and to the work of our partners, movement leaders, and allies who are working to create a future where we all can thrive. We’re transforming the pain of the last few months by reflecting on the positive happenings within our ecosystem, and using them as a call to action as we build a future of solidarity, liberation, interdependence, and resilience.
This showcase of winter happenings throughout the MSC ecosystem is a reminder that among today’s struggles there are activists, allies, and communities using art, advocacy, education, music, poetry, stories, 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.
A Destination and a Way Forward
Beloved Communities Network (BCN) designed their first-ever cohort to build Beloved Community across the country. “10,000 Beloved Communities,” a graphic guide by Root. Rise. Pollinate! co-founder Kristen Zimmerman, provided a framework for the experience. After meeting virtually over eight months, the inaugural Beloved Communities Cohort culminated with an in-person retreat in January. The cohort convened in Westerbeke Ranch in Sonoma, Calif., for a summation of their work in Beloved Community — part of an arc of people and place, past, present, and future, that hopes to transform communities through collective practice, deep democracy, and radical connection. Learn more about the experience, which used the principles of Beloved Community as “both our destination and our way forward,” and enjoy a video recap of the retreat, on BCN’s blog!
A Light at the End of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel
Love Wins NYC is a queer-centric organization that helps 30,000 community members, many of whom are LGBTQIA+ individuals, migrants, and/or survival sex workers, combat food insecurity annually. In December, members of MSC’s Communications Team joined and members of the local community in Queens, N.Y., for their annual Regalos Night. In addition to raising funds for the organization, Love Wins NYC collected and distributed over 200 regalos (gifts) for children at a local shelter. Read more about this inspiring evening filled with food, music, laughter, community, connection, and, of course, love on our blog!
Building Equitable Food Systems
HEAL Food Alliance announced the members of its School of Political Leadership 2025 cohort! The six-month cohort will provide community activists, organizers, land stewards, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, and storytellers with the tools, knowledge, and skills to help build equitable food systems and center the voices of BIPOC communities. The cohort, which consists of 14 members on four teams, is “determined to take on the exploitative systems impacting our communities’ ability to grow, produce, and access nourishing food.”
Exploring Liberatory Masculinity with BBP
Brown Boi Project (BBP) works to transform the way communities of color talk about gender with a commitment to racial and social justice, and to recasting masculine privilege as a tool for social change. BBP held their annual Liberatory Masculinity Retreat in Tucson, Ariz., last November; and hosted an alumni dinner during the National LGBTQ Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference in Las Vegas, Nev., in January. You can learn more about BBP on the Move Blog!
Community-Driven Planning for Racial and Climate Justice
The 2025 VISION | POWER | SOLUTIONS (VPS) series kicked off in February. The four-part series runs through November. Hosted by the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners (a People’s Climate Innovation Center core program) in partnership with Rosa González and Julian Mocine-McQueen of Facilitating Power, it’s designed to “build capacity for community-driven planning among facilitators, organizers, leaders, and educators who are accountable to Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) communities.”
And Right Here at MSC
Meeting the Next Generation of Activists
In February, MSC staffers visited Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, Calif. Daniel Parada, Director of Fiscal Sponsorship, and Christine Juang, Projects & Partnerships Steward, presented the Practices of Transformative Movement Building, offering alternative and expansive ways of viewing justice and community building, to the school’s Justice Club. Students asked questions about practicing inclusivity and ways to get connected to MSC’s ecosystem. One student said their involvement in the club was due to their interest in pursuing a law career, and shared “Little did I know, ‘justice’ wasn’t confined just to becoming a lawyer … a form of justice can be found almost anywhere, everywhere in the world.” Learn more about their visit on our blog!
Congratulations, Jacqui Patterson!
MSC board member Jacqueline Patterson was awarded the Carnot Prize from the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy for “distinguished contributions to energy policy through scholarship or practice.” Patterson is a Kleinman Center Senior Fellow, founder and executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project (TCLP), which supports Black women on the frontlines of climate justice; and an MSC board member.
This winter, Patterson also wrote of TCLP’s visits to more than 200 rural Black communities, where they witnessed shocking levels of poverty, and urged philanthropic organizations to reframe the way they address those communities with the deepest needs. The piece mentions MSC’s partnership in Sandbranch, Texas (a rural community less than 20 miles from Dallas that lacks access to running water).
For more on Patterson, one of Time Magazine’s 2024 Women of the Year, check out the Kleinman Center’s Energy Policy Now podcast and visit our Storytelling Series!
MSC and Participatory Grantmaking
In Oct. 2023, MSC was one of three organizations to receive funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s new initiative to advance racial and health equity by “establishing those most affected by racism as decision-making equals through the entire grantmaking process.” Along with Brooklyn Communities Collaborative and I Be Black Girl, we’ve been able to develop our own participatory grantmaking processes to disburse funding to frontline, community-based nonprofits. For more on the initiative, Building Local Alignment, and its Grant Advisory Committee, check out the Inside Philanthropy piece here!
Taj James in His Own Words
Taj James, co-founder of MSC and Full Spectrum Labs, spoke with the UC Center for Climate Justice as part of their Climate Justice Careers Series. James talked about multigenerational relationships to the land, the importance of ancestral wisdom, our relationship to nature, and helping communities equitably and sustainably build wealth. He described how his work as an anthropology student and community organizer ultimately led to the creation of MSC, the Transitions Initiative (learn more here and here) and the work that became Climate Justice Alliance, Beloved Communities Network, and Movement Generation. You can watch the full interview here!
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!
