Dear friends, I hope this post brings you bursts of hope and nourishment. I’m sharing a collection of recent writings and videos in a slideshow called Patches of Aliveness. It’s like a quilt I’ve stitched together for the beautiful humans who are organizing more just, equitable, and caring communities. Each slide is a patch that, on its own, can perhaps bring you warmth or even inspiration when you need it. As a collection, I hope the patches can start to form a picture of a more nurturing world to heal the wounds inflicted by our legal and economic systems.

In 2023, Sustainable Economies Law Center will run low on funding. I sought wisdom about what to do in this situation and learned that one answer is already inside of me, literally. 

Gifts that flow like oxygen

Inside us, healthy cells release a signaling protein when they are low on oxygen. Blood vessels respond by growing in the direction of that cell to deliver oxygen. What an amazing system! I imagine the cell feels no shame in communicating its need, and the vessel feels no sense of sacrifice or charity in delivering the oxygen. Each simply fulfills its purpose as part of a larger living system.

“We are in this together, learning from each other.
We are the midwives, the seeds, and the sprouts of what the world can be and where the world will turn to when they understand that the current systems are pushing us off a cliff.
For me, that is why we come together. To remember this in our bodies.

In this report, Project Equity, the California Center for Cooperative Development, and Sustainable Economies Law Center provide an in-depth look at the cooperative landscape in California, focusing on three types of cooperatives that are particularly well situated to help address the biggest crises facing our communities: jobs, housing, and childcare.

The prospect of unlimited paid time off (PTO) is one of the most prized benefits a worker could dream of.  It’s a way for an organization to signal to prospective employees that it values their work-life balance, their ability to manage their own workload, and that perhaps the success of its workers is measured by more than output and productivity. 

Since 2010, the Law Center’s own free time off policy has stated that we seek,

…to balance the individual needs of each staff member with the needs of the organization as a whole by providing a mechanism for self-regulation, group feedback, and transparent accounting. 

By Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle

One of the many ways we work towards a more just and resilient economy is by providing educational opportunities and resources to those doing similar work. That might make us seem like experts in the information we’re providing, but the opposite is true: we’re in a constant state of learning and practice. 

How can we ever begin to describe what we just experienced? For a year and a half, Sustainable Economies Law Center worked with POOR Magazine to get final approval for unhoused people to move into four homes built as part of a larger project they call Homefulness. Jaw-dropping, surreal, infuriating, devastating – no adjective could possibly describe the experience, and the story is far too long and detailed to tell. Yet, we feel a responsibility to share what’s been revealed.

By Niloufar Khonsari, Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine

Also we don't have an ED anymore either!

Excerpt: "We researched other democratically governed nonprofits and political organizations. Although we didn’t find any that had no executive director, we learned about various ways that organizations distributed authority. Our key role models were AORTA, Sustainable Economies Law Center, and Fortify Community Health. Our work was also informed by Frederic Laloux’s book, Reinventing Organizations, which deconstructs the myth that collectively managed organizations have no structure, organization, or leadership."

The Law Center team recently had four unplugged days together at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center after two and a half years apart. Our retreat priorities were to (re)connect and listen to one another, to listen to the lush beautiful land at OAEC, and to better understand each other's values and shared organizational values.

To kick us off, one of the co-organizers and facilitators of our retreat, Chris Tittle, shared some invigorating group games that he learned from YES! Jam  facilitation experiences. With all the listening, sharing, journaling, introspection and group work we did throughout the retreat, none was more transformative than a game Chris shared that we played throughout the retreat called Secret Sweeties.  

The Law Center team recently had four unplugged days together at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center after two and a half years apart.  We played together like a flock of starlings. We sat still to notice the importance of both light and shadow. Time slowed down and flowed like a lazy river. What a time it was! 

Read Part 1, "Telling Other Priviledged People What I Learned".

During last months discussion “From Mutual Aid to Mutuality: Surviving Capitalism with Radical Care,” panelist Jebena Kilgore summed up how the simple act of sharing your needs with those close to you can bring people together to build relationships and practices of mutuality:

The more people you meet and are excited about what you’re doing, the bigger your community. It doesn’t have to be an organization either. It can just be when you have extra food or you baked too many cookies. Take some to your neighbor. Go say hi. Or see if anyone in the neighborhood wants to get together and have a block party. It doesn’t have to be through entities. It can just be people to people. Human to human. Through that trust and connection, you can find out what other people are struggling with. Maybe they’re struggling with the same thing and that’s where you can begin to organize. - Jebena Kilgore, Agroecology Commons

We chose the sunflower and the bee to represent Mutuality Month to demonstrate how our needs bind us, and how that connection can create a life sustaining ecosystem. Without the flower, the bee would have no way to collect nectar and pollen, a food source for the insect that includes vital proteins and nutrients. Without the bee, the flower would be without a means to reproduce, since bees spread flower pollen.

Our needs bind us together. Remembering together what we collectively need helps to reinforce relationships. The connections that we share with each other won't just keep themselves going. Mutuality Month taught us we must prioritize connection, finding new ways to come together and ritualize habits as a way to stay connected. 

We're grateful to the over 200 community members who attended our panel discussion, in-person happy hour, and trainings throughout Mutuality Month! Below we share reflections that we hope will inspire others to strive towards a mutuality mindset. 

I’m writing this blog post in response to a request I received as a student in Poor Magazine’s People Skool: Tell other privileged people what you learned. So while I welcome all readers, this post is directed at you if you benefit from race, class, or educational privilege. Added urgency if you’re a white, cis-male, financially cushioned, educated lawyer like me. I’ve attended school and worked with so many of you, and I know you’re out there! I’m sending love to you and to all of my fellow privileged folks, and inviting you to join me on a journey of healing. And please check out the footnotes too, despite any unpleasant memories of professors berating you to do so. I promise you they're different. They give proper credit to and lift up the work of Tiny Gray-Garcia and other members of the Poor Magazine Family, who created key concepts and terms that underlie this post and to whom I owe deep gratitude.