Social Justice Stewardship:
Relational Skills for Sustainable Change
Unfortunately, the two-day training scheduled for June 20-21 has been cancelled due to low enrollment. Please reach out to let me know if you’d like to be notified of future events with similar content: james.boutin@mailfence.com
Background
Who is this for?
This two-day in-person training is designed for folks actively working on social justice across various sectors (education, law, healthcare, food access, climate justice, etc...) who are passionate about strengthening the relationships and communities out of which this work grows.
This training is ideal for…
Social justice organizers, activists, and advocates
Teachers, trainers, and facilitators
Anyone interested in personal and relational growth in social justice spaces
Why Focus on Relational Skills?
Social change is not easy. It takes time, commitment, and vision.
But most importantly, social change requires community and partnership.
None of us can implement a vision for social change on our own. Relationships within and between communities are the very foundation of long-term efforts.
The larger the vision, the stronger the communities and relationships need to be.
Because relationships are so crucial to the success of the work, the work risks falling apart when they are not supported. That’s why an essential task in any social justice effort is stewardship.
What Does It Mean to Be a Steward of Social Justice?
Stewards track and support not only the relationships between various individuals and communities. Stewards also track and support the larger community that those relationships exist within.
Not everyone needs to be a steward. And even those who excel at it don’t need to do it all the time. But any social justice effort that lasts will ultimately come to rely on the quality of stewardship its members are able to offer.
Stewards tend to relationships and community so that trauma and conflict will have less room to sow disconnection - the root of social injustice.
When trauma and conflict do arise, as they naturally will, stewards work together to hold space toward healing, insight, and deeper connection. In doing so, they play a key role in actualizing social justice values.
In short, social justice work relies on its stewards.
If you are called to this kind of stewardship, and you’d like to deepen your skill set around it, this training might be a good fit for you.
Registration
$500
Reach out if price is a barrier. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.
Organizations that purchase three or more tickets will automatically receive a 15% discount.
A Focus on Our Roots
Social justice work has two aspects. There’s the more visible side, which is where we work to change systems, policies, and practices. This side is like the part of a tree above ground. It’s what most people see. And there’s the less visible side, which is where we invest in the relationships that provide us with the resources we need to have the impact we want in the world. This side is like the roots of a tree. It’s less visible, but it’s also foundational.
Social Justice Stewardship is about the less visible side of our work. You’ll practice the skills it takes to nurture the relationships that provide the foundation of our power.
What You Can Expect
A mixture of theory and exercises that support the relational work needed to affect systems transformation
A trauma-informed, healing-centered, relationship-forward, humanizing style of facilitation
Opportunities to build relationships with like-minded folks
Conversation and exercises around some potentially triggering topics, like trauma, oppression, and violence. We will balance the heavy stuff with play, relationality, and creativity.
You’re welcome to opt out of any exercise, but if you choose to sign up for the workshop, please check with yourself to make sure you feel resourced enough to engage with this type of material in a space with people from diverse backgrounds.
What Will You Leave With?
13 hours of intensive training that will include…
Skills for stewarding sustainable social justice work
A framework for thinking about systems of oppression that humanizes everyone AND points toward effective action
Practices for accessing inner capacity for the responsible and effective use of power
Networking and community with like-minded people from across our region
Want to Know More?
There are three ways you can continue learning about this training before you register.
1) You can watch the four-minute video to the right to get an overview of the training.
2) You can watch the videos below for more information about the specific content.
3) You can sign up to my newsletter to receive regular updates and free content related to this training.
Registration
$500
Reach out if price is a barrier. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.
Organizations that purchase three or more tickets will automatically receive a 15% discount.
The Implications of Stewardship
Exploring the nature of social justice stewardship, as well as the psychological and emotional capacities needed for it.
How We Use Our Framework
Exploring how frameworks or analyses can both grow AND limit our capacity, depending on how we use them.
Metaphors for Social Justice Stewardship
Using the metaphor of a tree and a well to articulate the resources that stewards curate and care for.
Relationship and Conflict
Addressing two frames for navigating conflict: 1) Do we use our relationships to solve problems?, or 2) Do we use our problems to deepen relationships?
Developing Your Second Attention
Defining the idea of “second attention.” Articulating why we need to develop it, and how we can use it.
Personal Work
Using Processwork practices to establish a depth of contact with our sense of self. Anchoring in that sense of self to support others when appropriate.
Supporting Relationship Through Conflict
Using our rootedness to hold space in moments of conflict. Using conflicting polarities as an opportunity to support growth and awareness for everyone.
The Trainers
The Value and Limitations of the Training Team
Our team (who you can learn more about below) brings many strengths, and we also have blindspots. Here’s how we navigate that complexity.
Martha Hurwitz
Martha Hurwitz is an equity and oppression awareness coach, consultant, and facilitator.
A longtime educator, Martha applies a distinctly non-pedantic approach to the tender work of understanding how systems of oppression function societally, and live within each of us individually.
Martha has pursued an interest in power, liberation, and society for decades, both formally and experientially, including an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in democracy and education.
She is the granddaughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe fleeing anti-Semitism who arrived in the U.S. just as Jews became seen as white. Reconciling her family’s transition away from Judaism into white-identity is a recent focus of Martha’s self-reflection and study.
Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a teacher based in Seattle. She has taught high school language arts in the Bay Area and SeaTac, Washington. She currently teaches in Highline College’s high school re-engagement programs.
Emily holds a bachelor’s in English and public health and a master’s in education. She is a facilitator and co-founder of Beam Pedagogy, an educator wellness project. In her free time, she enjoys teaching recreational watercolor classes for youth and adults.
Her teaching practice and adult facilitation centers around storytelling and bridge building, which are shaped by her upbringing in a big immigrant family. Her other personal interests include pottery, family history writing, and long-distance running.
James Boutin
James is an educator, facilitator, and trainer for social change.
After fourteen years of public school teaching and union organizing, he stepped away from public education for some deep reflection about the challenges of social justice work in the 21st century. This led him to a deep investigation into methods for supporting the personal transformation needed to create systems transformation.
He’s been teaching about systems of oppression and their history for nearly twenty years. He has degrees in education, facilitation, history, and conflict studies. His style is informed by Processwork, Nonviolent Communication, as well as various schools of critical theory and liberatory pedagogies. He thinks of his work as holistic abolitionism.
© 2024 james boutin
