In the opening to her book “Braiding Sweetgrass”, Robin Wall Kimmerer invites us into the mythic Potawatomi story of Sky Woman. She accidentally falls from Sky World towards dark water below, animals witnessing her distress and offering help in whatever way they could. The result of her fall is the co-creation of our world; a place where the interdependence of humans, plants, and animals could flourish.

Recently, Wall Kimmerer revisited this story and offered different perspectives: 

“In one version, she was pushed. In another she was thrown—not from malice but because she was needed for the sacred task and needed ‘help’ in leaving her beloved home for the next...

What does it take to abandon what does not work and take the risks of uncertainty? We’ll need courage; we’ll need each other’s hands to hold…”

Is our society flailing in free fall or actively jumping into the unknown, agents of our own future? Whether or not Sky Woman jumped or fell, her future might have ended terribly if not for the assistance and care the animals gave her in that moment of crisis. We at the Law Center choose to imagine ourselves as courageously jumping towards a future we choose, despite the uncertainty, because we are “Living the uncertainty, together” as the poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said. Part of our intention with Interdependence Month is to bring our interdependence into wider focus so we can live into the uncertainty of the future, with the possibility of co-creating a better one.

Shelterwood has landed!

One of our clients, Shelterwood Collective, just "paid ransom" on a 900 acre forest 2 hours North of San Francisco. Check out this powerful interview where they share their perspective on being a Black, Indigenous, and Queer-led organization “simultaneously healing people and land from centuries of extractive violence.” 

We depend on sustained financial gifts

We hope during Interdependence month, you find yourself more inspired, enlivened, and connected to a sense of radical hope. If you've found community, connection, or courage through any of the work we are doing at the Law Center, please consider joining us with an ongoing gift. We interdepend on that shared abundance! If you do find yourself in a moment of hope, consider it the outcome of hard work the Law Center did to curate space, invite moving speakers, and ask challenging questions.

When we receive a donation, we take the money and turn it into infinite potential. You’re not giving us a charitable gift. We’re offering possibilities and space to explore solutions. 

Policy update: SB 1079 has been funded!

California Community Land Trust Network’s proposal for a new Foreclosure Intervention Housing Preservation Program was signed into law by Gov. Newsom last week. It establishes a new $500 Million fund for land trusts statewide to repeat what we were able to accomplish with Jocelyn Foreman's home for thousands of families across California!!! To learn how to take advantage of SB 1079, check out our toolkit here.