13th ANNUAL GROW GATHERING TO HELP BUILD “JUST” COMMUNITIES
Skills Building for Grassroots Organizing for and with Justice
This year’s 13th annual GROW (GrassRoots Organizing Workshops) weekend, a statewide gathering/training for grassroots organizers struggling to create the world they want to see, will focus this year on building “just” communities.
GROW, which is sponsored annually by Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), will take place over the weekend of September 30th to October 2nd at the Pine Tree Camp in Rome, ME, to forge space for new and experienced organizers who want to network with each other and workshop effective strategies for social change. Because of this year’s chosen theme, many of the workshops will not just focus on how to organize with justice as a goal, but how to incorporate justice into the work itself.
Cost for the three days in a beautiful, waterfront setting in Maine during fall foliage is $10-80 (based on ability to pay), including fresh, locally grown food and comfortable lodging. Childcare is also available for those who preregister at www.tinyurl.com/GROW16.
“With such a contentious election, and the continued barrage of violence and injustice pervading our daily news, the time was ripe for this particular theme,” said Sass Linneken, Program Coordinator for ROSC. “We have presidential nominees of both major parties spouting off in ways that do nothing to move us toward a more just or peaceful world, and we have third party candidates we can’t even hear from because they aren’t allowed in the debates so we can decide for ourselves. When you pair that with the steady stream of stories about police brutality, corporate violence, and unabated racism it’s become clear that creating a space for people to workshop how to build a more just world and how to model those habits in their efforts was important and ever salient in today’s volatile climate.”
The weekend is ideal for those newer to social change work but will offer plenty of learning and networking opportunities for even very experienced organizers. Workshop topics include grassroots organizing for social change, nonviolent communication, Theater of the Oppressed, using the circle process, the inner work of the organizer, unlearning gender essentialism (the myth of the binary), intergenerational organizing, and a showing of the Down to Earth Climate Justice Stories film with filmmaker, Andy Burt in attendance.
Those involved in grassroots projects and groups are invited to find out more and to come to GROW. For more information and a brochure, contact Sass Linneken at 207-607-2571 or sass.rosc@gmail.com, or Jacqui Deveneau at 207-334-2358 or jacquio50@yahoo.com or Sha'an Mouliert at 802 745-1142 or mouliert@vtlink.net.