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Interested in supporting our work?
We're now accepting donations through our Open Collective Foundation webpage for one-time or reoccurring contributions. Check out the different donation tiers and projects you can support directly.
Purpose & Vision
The Womanist Working Collective is a radical grassroots social action and support collective for Black folks of marginalized gender experience, specifically women (trans* and cis), femmes, and other gender expansive folx. While this language will never be enough to encapsulate all of the Black folx we center, we want to be clear that we affirm the full breadth of Black gender expansiveness and explicitly reject cissexism. Our Community of Practice unapologetically centers our Quality of Life and livelihoods through Community Organizing, Mutual Aid and Holistic Wellness.
Vision
1. To exist as a supportive and empowering community network to shift Black womyn & femmes in moving past merely surviving, but thriving; Prioritizing physical, emotional, moral and social safety (or using trauma-informed care practices/Healing Justice Frameworks); Centering the overall health and wellness of our members and extended community.
2. To transition ourselves and our communities into an Ecologically Just* society. This umbrella concept encompasses bringing balance to the environment(s)/ecosystems we live in, ending social inequality (racial justice, economic justice, gender justice, reproductive justice, environmental justice, etc.) and dismantling oppressive governing structures guided by Imperialist White Supremacist Capitalist CisHeteroPatriarchy.
*[Ecologically Just] Ecological justice (JUSTICE BASED ON APPLIED KNOWLEDGE OF HOME) Ecological Justice is the state of balance between human communities and healthy ecosystems based on thriving, mutually beneficial relationships and participatory self-governance. We see Ecological Justice as the key frame to capture our holistic vision of a better way forward.
3. Black Liberation which improves our overall society at large.
#SayHERNamePhilly Healing Space & Vigil (New Voices Philly)
@yourfavoritejawns_ giving us a word.
What's on the agenda for 2022?
Katie G. Cannon
Summer Archival Project
2020 - 21
After our Spring 2019 organizational hiatus, we had begun archiving our organization’s herstory in our WWC Resource Corner Folder which we’d been preserving as much of our discovered and developed Black Womanist literature and artifacts. Once COVID-19 began, we finally recruited help by recruiting professional archivists and creatives. The Womanist Working Collective’s archival project started as a summer fellowship for 1 person, but ended as a fellowship cohort of 5 Black women, femmes and non-binary fellows from various disciplines who were able to capture and document our work from multiple lenses across the Philadelphia movement landscape. Project completed July 2021. View the Zine!
For 2022, our collective’s primary focus is on building our capacity by hiring 2 additional part-time community organizers, investing in the hard-launch of our Womxnist Liberation Co-op, launching our community-led Black Health Equity Podcast and re-opening our collective’s membership (virtual for now; in-person later as we monitor COVID-19).
We're also doing year-round fundraising for our 2 mutual aid projects:
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Black Liberation Therapy Fund
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5th Annual Healers & Helpers: Therapy Matchmaking Helpers Panel
2Ubuntu: Reciprocity Time Bank
We currently have 3 offerings related to our time banking work. We currently offer 2Ubuntu: Reciprocity Time Bank orientations each Saturday through September 3, 2022. Please use the calendly to sign-up for your orientation date below or here.
The three available trainings are:
1) Time Banking 101 orientation for the general public: This is great if you are looking to start your own time bank, but need a general overview. Additional start-up orientations may be offered after completing Time Banking 101 if more support if requested. The suggested follow-up is the Offers and Needs Market training journey starting this fall for anyone in Philadelphia who can commit to the training journey and time bank platform launch afterwards. Contact Coordinator@2ubuntu.community directly.
2) 2Ubuntu: Reciprocity Time Bank*: This is ideal for Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC) in Philadelphia, PA looking to join the online platform and make exchanges.
*2Ubuntu: Reciprocity Time Bank is a free afrofuturist virtual community market where Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC) exchange services and support to other BIPOC in our networks. This concept more commonly referred to as a skillshare network allows us to:
(1) connect to the tangible support and material resources in our area; (2) invest in Black self-determination, interdependence and community-rooted solutions to our everyday needs; (3) engage us in a sustainable and reciprocal method of giving and receiving; (4) prioritize “Centering the Margins” of the already marginalized (i.e. people living with disabilities, youth, elders, queer and trans folx, women, returning/re-entering citizens, etc.); and (5) improve our overall quality of life.
3) Offers and Needs Market** Facilitators training journey (Starting September 2022): This is ideal if you want to facilitate time bank exchanges in your neighbors or with an established group of people, but would like indepth training support. This is available for anyone in Philadelphia who can commit to the training journey and time bank platform launch afterwards.
This 5 week (10 hours total) training journey aims to develop skills around asset-based community facilitation, inclusive design, and impact evaluation. Through this community of practice, facilitators build their capacity for empathic leadership by considering the needs of diverse audiences. They use these approaches to infuse trust, generosity, and vulnerability into the culture of their organizations and communities. Contact Coordinator@2ubuntu.community directly.
**The Offers and Needs Market (OANM) is a 2-hour guided process where community members meet (virtually or in person) to identify and exchange their passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs. From finding a place to live or a creative partner to offering graphic design services, public speaking techniques or even a special food recipe, anything's possible at an Offers and Needs Market!
Questions? Contact: Coordinator@2Ubuntu.community
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Healers & Helpers:
A Therapy Matchmaking Event
The Womanist Working Collective knows how important mental health and wellness are to Black folks' Quality of Life and the overall well-being of our communities, so we’re hosting our annual provider matchmaking event called Healers & Helpers where participants will have an opportunity to connect with mental health practitioners with whom they'd like to work.
Who are the Healers (participants)? We believe that everyone holds the capacity to heal themselves, but sometimes we need help. A Healer in our context refers to someone seeking support from a provider as they pursue their healing journey.
Who are the Helpers (practitioners)? We consider Helpers to be anyone who is trained to respond to trauma, crisis, or the life management of others within the Healing Justice Framework. This may include but is not limited to therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage and family counselors, doulas, life coaches, natural/holistic healers, sex therapists, herbalists, spiritual/pastoral care counselors, doulas, midwives or therapeutic aestheticians. The practitioners invited to participate in our event are Black folks of marginalized gender experience, specifically women (trans* and cis), femmes, and other gender expansive folks.
Click here to register to attend this year's panel and learn about our Featured Helpers.
The Black Liberation Therapy Fund
The Black Liberation Therapy Fund was created in 2020 to provide financial assistance to Black women of trans and cis experience, femmes, and/or non-binary people to increase access to mental health and wellness support. The Fund is designed to provide financial support in recognition of the fact that we are often shut out of or hesitant to access care due to financial barriers.
Safety Net(work) Mutual Aid Pool
Our on-going mutual aid fund supports community members in their time of need by providing emergency support (bills, groceries, shelter, supplies, resources, etc.) to prevent them from falling through the cracks. Being short a few hours on one's paycheck can mean the difference in being able to afford rent or food for the month, leading to the inability to catch-up on rent and be faced with eviction. When folx live paycheck-to-paycheck, the ability to meet basic needs become an ongoing struggle for mere survival and we all deserve more.
Visit our fiscal sponsor page on Open Collective. Scroll down to ‘Contributions’. Click on ’Business/Nonprofit Annual Sponsorship’
Black women and femmes deserve a Safety Net!Black women and femmes deserve support!
