Image Description: Illustration of a person with long black hair and closed eyes, wearing a colorful striped sweater. They appear calm as abstract lines and circles of various colors swirl behind them. By Yeti Iglesias via Unsplash.
Over the past 32 years, Interaction Institute for Social Change has supported thousands of leaders, hundreds of organizations, and dozens of networks to navigate challenges and build diverse collaborative power. We have done this in rural, suburban, and urban communities, in this country and around the world. Between the two of us, we have seen a lot, dealt with many different scenarios and situations, and worked with an incredible variety of people and groups. All that said, over the past several years, we have faced an increasingly “perfect storm” of forces that have deeply challenged us, and on some days have left us feeling overwhelmed. These are truly extraordinary times, and they call for extraordinary habits.
At a recent gathering of sustainable agriculture advocates and new economy thinkers, someone made the point that while we may not know what is coming next, this is a good time to develop these habits. In considering this some more, we started thinking about this time of “in-between” and “not yet” as an opportunity to develop stronger transitional hygiene: the small, sustaining practices that keep us healthy, grounded, and connected as the world shifts around us.
What seems clear is that regardless of what is coming our way, there is a set of practices that will benefit ourselves as well as others, foster stronger social connections, promote community well-being, and prepare us for the future.
Here are some of the habits that have helped us and the leaders we work with stay steady and open through uncertainty:
Curtis’s Seven Habits
Take care of ourselves: As they say on planes, put your own oxygen mask on first. It is difficult to be of service and support to others if we always think of others first and ourselves last.
Be kind and generous towards others: This is key to creating a sense of abundance and possibility. Without grace for others and ourselves, we can get caught in a spiral of doubt, anger, and grief.
Stay connected to what really nourishes us: Whether it is spending time with family, friends, a pet, walking in the woods, taking a bath, staying hydrated, or eating good food, staying grounded can keep our nervous systems from letting fear rule the day.
Get out of our bunkers/silos and engage with others, including across differences: Isolation can be a killer of our spirits, our creativity, and our hope. We will each have our own sense of what the right amount of connection is, and with whom/what.
Cultivate playfulness and curiosity: In times of seeming contraction, if we shrink too much, we can lose sight of the larger world. Sometimes it can be helpful to say to ourselves, “Step back. Step back again. What do I see now?” This can also be a good time to try new things, keeping in mind that through contractions, there can be birth.
Keep a healthy sense of humor and humility: Those who laugh, last. And they tend to have a better time, no matter the circumstances. Also, remember, we don’t know the full story. Our view is ALWAYS partial and limited, and influenced by our mood. So much remains hidden. What aren’t we seeing, including supports and new paths forward?
Commit to ongoing learning: This is how our species has survived this long and made it through some really rough patches. And it is especially helpful when we share what we are learning with and seek this out in others!
Kelly’s Seven Habits
Lean into your devotion: In times like these, don’t drown in the to-do list and tasks. Unlock your passion for your work and the people who are around you. Dedicate yourself to the bigger picture – what’s actually going to move us forward, you forward, and dive in with your fierce love and commitment. If it’s not moving you, find what is. A public health leader, Carlene Pavlos, shared that we must approach everything we do with “commitment to love and emotion.” Without it, we’ll be empty, used up, and isolated.
Tap in. Tap out: It’s tiring to breathe in the politics of this moment and work with fewer resources. Cross-train staff and create redundancies and shared leadership so that people can tap in and out of duties and leadership. Tapping in looks like taking on more leadership and projects when we have energy and time, so others can rest and renew. Tapping out looks like removing things from our plate, taking time off, and sabbaticals before burnout sets in.
Be ready to keep unraveling: It won’t be like this forever, and we can expect more challenges and shocks ahead. Accept change as the natural order of things, and normalize for yourself that each hour and day may feel different and require a different resource. When the culture and electoral shifts occur, be prepared to undo the damage and create anew, together.
Contribute to and support your culture: Move through anger and fear (or let them move through you/us) so we can be good to each other and generate good ideas.
Ask for help and ask again: Consider your friend, family, personal, and professional networks. Your relationships and resources are sturdier than you know. Expand your circles – new connections await!
Persist through contraction: Even if our organizations get smaller, we can still be mighty and effective by doing what we do best, and connecting to the rest.
Stop when you can’t move another step: Don’t force yourself past exhaustion or get caught spinning in fear. Stop moving your body and mind, listen to the silence, and see what messages, ideas, and decisions are trying to find you.
These habits are how we stay human in inhuman times – small, steady practices that keep collaboration alive when the world feels uncertain.
How about you? What good habits are you cultivating now, for the short and long-term? And what are you hearing from others? Please share your thoughts with us!
Image Description: Illustration of a person lying on their back in a field at night, gazing up at the stars. The sky glows with shades of blue and pink, and a shooting star arcs above. By Naila Conita via Unsplash.
In our July blog, we introduced five practices for organizations and networks seeking clarity in uncertain times. Over the next few months, we’ll explore each of those practices more deeply.
First up:Clarify Your North Star
The North Star has long served as a symbol of direction and survival. Enslaved people followed it as a guide toward freedom. The North Star imagery is both historical and gripping. In the late 1840s, Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany named their abolitionist newspaper The North Star with the slogan: “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”[3][4]
This history reminds us that clarifying a North Star is not just about strategy; it is also about values. It is about orienting ourselves toward survival, justice, and our shared humanity. In today’s turbulent times, organizations are facing funding cuts, political attacks, burnout, and an increase in community needs. A North Star helps organizations maintain their purpose while navigating change. The image of the North Star is about setting direction and grounding us in a clear purpose, something we can’t do without.
With that historical weight and justice orientation, we want to write about this step in strategic direction setting with clarity and heft. It asks us to plan with the right balance of focus and creativity, and at the right altitude. Strategic direction requires us to stay focused like a laser to move our missions forward, while also building in the flexibility and shock absorbers needed to navigate bumpy terrain.
Why Clarifying Your North Star Matters
So what is the “right altitude” for our planning in turbulent times? We believe it begins by clarifying your North Star.
Ask: What is the core purpose that must remain constant, even as the world shifts? How can you stay emergent and responsive to crises while still focusing on building long-term power and transformation?
While clarifying your North Star might seem lofty in tough times, if we don’t know where we are heading, we are sure to get lost. The North Star is a belief and is directional; it serves several functions:
Reminds all staff, board members, partners, and network of what we are striving for.
Provides a compelling vision that keeps us going beyond the day-to-day of our work.
Establishes criteria that can help us determine what to pursue and what not to pursue, grounding us in a strong identity.
Anchor decisions, strategies, and culture in tough times
Helps folks decide whether this is the right organization or network for them
Without a North Star, organizations risk drifting with funder demands, political winds, or the crisis of the moment. With one, you can adapt without losing identity.
Making It Real
A North Star is only useful if it lives beyond a vision statement.
To bring it to life:
Bring the right people around the table: Those most impacted by your work must be part of naming and having a voice in the core vision and destination
Embed it in decisions: Practice using your North Star in daily decisions, big and small. This will help make informed decisions when conditions or funding change, allowing for a focus on key elements of a program.
Use Your North Star as Anchor/Compass: During times of stress or transition, let your North Star be a touchstone, helping you stay grounded in what is most important and purposeful even as conditions shift or a crisis emerges.
To begin, ask yourselves:
What do we want to keep aiming for, especially in the toughest of times?
How do we ensure that our purpose is reflected in our decisions, not just in words? Whose voices are missing in naming or refining our North Star?
Clarifying your North Star is the first step in setting strategic direction with clarity and purpose. It provides focus and steadiness while leaving room for flexibility and emergence. External forces will always shape our path, but a strong North Star ensures they don’t paralyze us. Instead, it grounds us in clarity and steadiness, positioning us for thoughtful, flexible, and equitable direction.
In our next blog series, we will explore how we can plan for multiple futures as a means to stay purposeful without being too rigid, keeping your North Star in view while preparing for the unknown.
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Image Description: An illustration of Earth surrounded by an explosion of colorful, stylized foliage and flowers. The continents are marked with small red hearts, and the colorful leaves and petals radiate outward in all directions against a black background. By Getty Images via Unsplash+.
There’s a quiet revolution underway. You can see it in church gatherings and small-town meetings, on Zoom calls between elders and young organizers, in community art projects, healing circles, and protest planning sessions.
Across the country, IISC has had the deep honor of supporting and witnessing this movement: the call for food justice in Mississippi, the fight for immigrant rights in Florida, and unincorporated towns in California’s Central Valley organizing and standing against corporate land grabs with the memory of ancestors alive in their bones.
This June marked 32 years since IISC was founded to build collaborative capacity for social change. As we reflect on more than three decades of work, we are clear that real transformation is rooted in the relationships, strategies, and structures that make long-term change possible.
This is what power-building looks like – not only marching or resisting, but reimagining how we live, lead, and make decisions together.
We’re living in a moment full of pressure and possibility, where movement leaders are not only responding to harm but also building blueprints for belonging, designing ecosystems of mutual care, shaping decision-making structures that reflect their values, and challenging the status quo about who leads, who benefits, and who gets to be fully seen.
And in the background, behind the chants and policies, something quieter (and often invisible) is also happening: Movements are collaborating in deeper, more intentional ways. And we are helping to seed and shape that work together.
Power Building Is Infrastructure Work As capacity builders, we’ve learned that what sustains movements isn’t just energy or the rightness of the cause – it’s the infrastructure that doesn’t always show up on a stage, but holds everything in place. While people typically think of “infrastructure” as technology, tools, funding, and flows of information and resources, there is a deep need for relational, human infrastructure and the skills that enable people to make and sustain change together.
Behind every campaign or viral hashtag, there is slow, deliberate work. Networks negotiating values, grassroots leaders navigating conflict and decision-making, and organizers choosing to stay in relationship when things get hard because they know liberation isn’t a solo act.
This is the kind of power that movements are building and that we co-construct with them. Power built through:
Clear strategy rooted in shared values
Equitable decision-making across lines of difference
Leadership that centers collaboration, healing, and shared accountability
Networked action that multiplies impact rather than fragments energy
This kind of infrastructure does not emerge overnight or from passion alone. It takes facilitation, training, culture-building, relationship tending, strategic clarity, and people who are willing to hold space for discomfort, emergence, and transformation. It takes collaborators who understand that the right kind of structure does not limit people; it liberates them to move together toward something more powerful than any of us could hold alone.
Movement Work Is Evolving, and So Must Our Support In this era, the most critical support for power-building groups is not marketing or messaging or a one-time DEI workshop – it is long-term, trust-based relationships coupled with visionary strategy that build the muscle of collaboration, collective care, and self-governance. It is support that meets movement leaders where they are, with tools that are grounded in deep equity, shaped by experience, and designed not just to help organizations “function” but to help them thrive in alignment with their purpose and people.
This is the kind of capacity-building work we at IISC and many peers in the practitioner ecosystem are committed to:
Facilitation that invites truth and transformation
Strategy development that is relational, emergent, and rooted in values
Cohort design that cultivates brave space
Network weaving that strengthens interdependence
At its core, this work is about building the capacity for collective liberation, and doing so in ways that reflect the values and visions of the people who are most impacted.
Deep Investment and Choice We are witnessing a moment of both resurgence and retaliation in the U.S. and globally. While movement leaders dream and deliver bold new futures, political parties and their supporters are doubling down on repression. And yet, movement leaders keep showing up. They keep convening. They keep trying to do the impossible: imagine a future where everyone can thrive and build together toward that day while under attack.
What would it look like if we, as capacity-builders, met their courage with our own?
What if philanthropy prioritized sustained infrastructure for movements instead of short-term wins?
What if intermediaries slowed down to listen deeply and moved at the pace of trust instead of deliverables?
What if everyone pursuing justice understood that strategy, facilitation, and organizational development are not extras but essential nutrients and foundation for the long road to justice?
The Invitation If you are building power, thank you. If you are funding frontline power building, consider funding infrastructure as well, to resource the ecosystem as a whole. And if you’re an infrastructure-building organization, be humble, be bold, and be in right relationship with folks who are building power.
Change is already underway. And what grows next will depend on who is willing to hold it with both courage and love.
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“When the music is strong, the movement is strong.” – Harry Belafonte
In these times when justice is under attack, truth feels fragile, and hope can flicker, it’s culture that keeps us rooted and reaching. As Harry Belafonte reminded us, movements aren’t only built in boardrooms or shaped by policy. They’re born in the heartbeat of community, in the songs we sing, the stories we carry, the rituals we repeat.
Culture is more than expression, it’s resistance. It’s how we remember who we are and imagine what’s possible.
When culture is strong – when art pulses through our organizing, when dance and drums and poetry pour into our protests and planning – our movements for justice are stronger, deeper, more alive. Culture is not decoration. It’s the fire and the fuel.
At IISC, we’re building a living “culture bank”: a collection of music, performances, artwork, and creative expressions that move us and ground us. This is a love letter to the songs that keep us steady, the paintings that call us forward, the practices that tether us to lineage, land, and liberation. Here are some examples:
Staceyann Chin reads The Low Road by Marge Piercy
“This poem by Marge Piercy is a celebration of what is possible when we work and imagine collectively. It acknowledges the strength found not in fleeting moments of glory, but in the consistent, shared labor that builds a better world. It suggests that liberation isn’t a solitary ascent but a collective journey taken together, brick by humble brick, grounded in the profound significance of everyday acts of creation and connection.
Staceyann Chin’s reading emphasizes the power of collective action against oppression and underscores the poem’s central message: while an individual may feel powerless, the impact ripples exponentially when we expand our idea of solidarity.”
Image Description: Illustration of a younger and older woman seated with eyes closed, their long hair flowing together. The older woman reaches out gently, symbolizing ancestral connection. A hummingbird hovers above, with a glowing moon in the background. By Soni López-Chávez.
“As a detribalized Indigenous Mexican, I find deep resonance in the work of Soni López-Chávez, not just in what she creates, but in how and why she creates. Her journey reflects the fragmentation and reclamation so many of us carry: navigating life between nations, languages, and legacies that colonialism tried to sever.
Her art is a bridge across the rift of displacement, an offering, a reclamation, a mirror. Through her work, I see my reflection, a powerful reminder that I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams and that the path of remembrance and reimagining is not only possible but necessary!”
– Shared by Sandra Herrera, IISC Communications & Marketing Manager
“This performance from Usha Jey inspires me to dream, to celebrate fusion, and to remember cross-BIPOC solidarity. As an artist, Usha is so committed to her craft. And as she says, ‘the aim is to keep the essence of each dance and create something that does justice to who I am.'”
We invite you to join us in building this culture bank. What music holds you when the work gets heavy? What art cracks you open and calls you forward? What rituals or rhythms help you remember what you’re fighting for?
Because when the culture is strong, the movement is unstoppable.
Image description: A soft yellow bird perched on a branch adorned with green leaves, flowers, and red cherries, set against a soft sage green background. By BiancaVanDijk via Pixabay.
In March, our team gathered in North Andover, MA, for an in-person retreat – our first in five years. After half a decade of virtual collaboration and navigating global upheavals, coming together in person felt nothing short of revolutionary. And in the age of 47, with political uncertainty and social justice work more critical than ever, the timing could not have been more important.
For many, it was the first time meeting face-to-face. For others, it was a chance to deepen relationships with longtime colleagues and friends. And, because this room was mostly full of seasoned facilitators, you know we spent time reflecting on process, holding space, and (let’s be honest) probably overanalyzing the agendas. Over three days, we didn’t just talk about collaboration and love; we practiced them, in all their beautiful, messy, necessary forms. And perhaps to the surprise of no one, we reaffirmed that the strength of our work is rooted in the strength of our relationships.
A few takeaways from our time together:
Trust Grows in the Big and Small Moments We Share
Building a culture of trust is something that needs to be nurtured again and again through intentional actions and shared experiences. It’s not a bullet point on a strategic plan. Our retreat was designed to help us build trust in ways both big and small, and each activity played a role in strengthening our collective leadership.
Through laughter, tears, storytelling, sharing meals, nature walks, and so much more, we connected for the sake of connection. We engaged in Aikido, a martial art that teaches balance, fluidity, and responsiveness. Through movement, we explored what it means to be in a relationship with one another, practicing how to meet resistance without aggression and how to move in alignment rather than opposition. These lessons are central to how we navigate power, conflict, and change in our daily work.
To meaningfully close out our time together, we stood shoulder to shoulder in a circle and affirmed our commitment to one another as part of the journey ahead. We picked stones that drew us in, their colors and textures calling to us in various ways. Around the circle, each person had a chance to be heard and seen, and to drop our chosen stones into a jar filled to the brim with others. It was quiet, simple, and deeply powerful. We were reminded that while we each have a part, none of us can do this work alone.
Inclusion Is a Verb
Not everyone could physically be in the room, so we needed to ensure that our affiliates who joined virtually weren’t just passive observers but fully engaged participants. That meant:
Projecting their incredible faces as large as we could into the room.
Carrying a mic to each person speaking so remote participants could hear every voice clearly.
Facetiming them into breakout groups so they could participate in real discussions rather than just listening in.
Giving them key roles in in-person activities, including narrating performances and guiding discussions.
Hybrid spaces can easily feel exclusionary, but we worked to make everyone feel like they were part of the collective experience. A helpful reminder here: Inclusion isn’t just about who’s invited but how they are meaningfully included.
We also created “silent tables” during meals, so folks who didn’t feel like being social could have a space to just be. In a field that often prioritizes extroversion and constant engagement, this was a small but meaningful way to honor different needs.
Sometimes You Need to Dance Through the Hard Stuff
If you’ve attended our trainings before, you know it wouldn’t be an IISC space without joy. Yes, we had deep conversations. Yes, we held space for complexity. But there was also movement, play, and celebration. We shared poetry, sang, played board games, and even had a dance party. This work has always been challenging, and we know it will continue to be. And if we don’t make space for joy, movement, and real connection, we won’t last.
Why does this matter? Because social and racial justice work is long-haul work. Burnout and exhaustion are real, particularly for those historically marginalized, and our ability to sustain ourselves depends on how well we tend to joy, connection, and rest. This isn’t a distraction from the work; it literally is the work. A team that trusts one another and knows how to get through the hard stuff together is a team that can face what comes next with more clarity and strength.
Practice Makes…Better
IISC isn’t perfect. No organization is. We make mistakes, we hit rough patches, and we sometimes struggle to live up to our values. But what makes this work possible and what keeps us moving forward is our commitment to love and relationship.
As we return to our day-to-day work, we carry these lessons with us: the power of presence, the necessity of trust, and the radical act of making space for joy. After five years apart, this retreat was a reminder that our culture always needs tending to and that how we show up for one another while doing this important work really matters.
To everyone who made this gathering meaningful, thank you. May we continue to build a stronger ‘we’ and find ways to move forward.
Photo of over 20 IISC staff members at a retreat space in early March.Leave a comment
