Reweaving Our Community

by Alison Killeen

This past Tuesday was my son’s first day of Kindergarten. 

Our little family has been anticipating this milestone for a long time. My partner Brian and I have been talking about it with Haneul all summer long, trying to prepare him for a new rhythm of life. 

We didn’t know how it would go - but we did know that Haneul would have buddies. Four classmates from his preschool down the road would be attending the same elementary school. 

As we gathered nervously in front of the school doors, we heard a familiar little voice: “Haneul!” A boy with bright pink glasses, a mop of curly hair and an irresistible grin bounded toward us and gave Haneul a big hug. Soon, two more familiar faces were alongside them, and it was time to say goodbye. 

Haneul turned toward us and his face began to crumple. He buried his face in Brian’s neck and told us that he didn’t want to go. But then, we heard that familiar little voice again:

“Haneul! You’ve got this, buddy! I know you can do it, Haneul! Here - take my hand. We can walk in together!” As Haneul turned, his bespectacled friend took his hand, then held out his hand to another child.

Before we knew it, four brand new Kindergarteners stood holding hands, looking at one another in wonder as they faced down their new school doors.

Haneul turned to look at me, and I smiled, nodded, and waved. Then he looked back to his friends, and somehow, slowly, together, they took their first steps through those big new doors. 

Doing the Hard Things, Together

From the mouths of babes, right? I’ve been telling this story to everyone who will listen. Was there ever a better reminder that when we’re scared, uncertain, or facing huge challenges, that it is easier to face them in community? 

What are the Big New Doors you're facing? Is it a chronic illness that is taking a turn for the worse? Perhaps it’s the lingering grief from losing a loved one - or a broken relationship that just can’t seem to find repair?

“You’ve got this, buddy! I know you can do it!”

What about the Big New Doors we’re facing together? Is it the climate crisis that’s taken a turn for the worse? Perhaps it’s the lingering grief and rage from the impacts of racism we see in our city - or broken systems that just can’t seem to find repair?

"Here - take my hand. We can walk in together!”
 

Reweaving Our Community

The true miracle of Leaven Community, to me, is that we know that our commitment to relationship and love are the building blocks to making positive, beautiful and concrete change in the world. 

When we accompany one another through each others’ griefs, we are weaving the fabric of a community that is interdependent and strong. And when we share and listen to our stories of rage and fear, the warp and the weft of our weave become ever more resilient, ever more connected, and ever more whole. 

This Fall, we are Reweaving Our Community at Leaven: 

• We are leaning into the rhythms of daily life together with Wednesday Community Meals

• We are continuing our sacred rest practices in the midst of a chaotic election, even as we mobilize for voter turnout in areas where the vote is suppressed

• We are skilling up on community organizing and launching our Community Resilience Hub Core Organizing Team

And there is so much more that is happening in the building and in the life of the wider community!

So the next time you’re feeling alone, uncertain, and facing some Big New Doors of your own? Come on down to Leaven Community.

“Here - take my hand. We can walk in together!”

Wrap Up: Leaven Climate Justice Camp!

by Jane Keating

What a wonderful Camp week we had at the 2024 Leaven Climate Justice Camp! 20 amazing youth aged 6-13 participated in Leaven’s third climate justice summer program, and our first weeklong camp! There was an abundance of inspiration, joy, and goodhearted play! 

OUR BELOVED NEIGHBORHOOD

Our 2024 theme was "Our Beloved Neighborhood; Resilient and Thriving". We began with our connection with one another and with our Earth. We put attention on our interconnected diversity, both above and below ground!

On our walking field trips we found connective creativity and love in action surrounding us. Our camp met with Leaven Common House Partners Portland Fruit Tree Project, Cascadia Wild and The Collab to engage with them and their work. We visited more neighborhood leaders with the Mutual Aid Mini Mart, PDX Storybook Garden, Sabin Community Orchard and PPR Summer Free for All. Below ground, we learned about the networks of tiny wildlife needed for carbon storing healthy soil with Forest Aged and soil educator Cheryl Lohrmann.

The Leaven Climate Justice Camp brought young people together to recognize their agency and collective power to affect change through climate education and community building.

A LEAVEN ORGANIZING STORY

Part of Leaven’s strategic plan for 2024-2025 is our exploration of becoming a Community Resilience Hub through Leaven’s practice of relational organizing. A climate justice lens guides our connection with neighbors and organizations practicing community resilience in the neighborhood and beyond.

At our Spring Leaven Quarterly Gathering, there emerged a strong member interest in making a climate justice program for elementary aged youth happen this summer. The camp was created by community from the grass roots. 

Foundational to the camp is fun cooperative experiences and youth leadership. We continued our collaborative process with a Camp Planning Night dinner with families. While having vegan+ tacos we shared our thinking about Climate and Justice. With group input, the themes that emerged from campers: Food Making and Eating; Water Play; Games Together; and Creativity and Art.

We gathered all of these threads to weave together our week. This looked like learning about the work of Youth and Indigenous Climate Activists; Getting our hands in the group through composting and planting; Music; Art and Mural Design; Book and Mutual Aid Drives; Meditation with the Land and Rest under the trees; Cooking Together; Free Play; and a highly anticipated epic Water Fight as part of our Friday Celebration!

WHAT CAMPERS SAID

Before wrapping up our camp, campers met in small groups to reflect on our week. Here are some excerpts that stood out in our evaluations:

Our Highlights & Most Fun: “Fun with our friends” -William; “Making Friends” -Quinn; “Mini Mart” -Alex; Living microbes under the microscope were, “Extremely interesting” -Evan; “Pancakes” -Zoey & Ray, Tovik; “Planting seeds”-Alana.

What did we did well as a group?: We worked well together; planning and planting; “Proud of my group’s gardening skills”; Sabin Orchard; compost pile build; bracelet making; free choice time; giant group painting; having fun; water fight; “fields trips-we stuck together”; everyone participated and collaborated.

Better understandings and wonderings:  Learning about what microbes do, microorganisms, composting, how animal skulls are found intact, “Why we have to pay to live and animals don’t. I want to live as an animal sometimes”and “I want very much to learn more [about microbes]".

Ideas you want to do next?: Learn about plants in a field trip; work together planting & watering; “make signs and put them outside”; “recycle and reuse”; having the camp again; group “helping” activities.

MANY THANKS TO…

Thank you to Camp Volunteers (and snack providers): Cheryl, Carrie, Ty, Jenny, Micah and Barb. Much appreciated community members Deedee Hopkins at Mutual Aid Mini Market, Heather at Portland Fruit Tree Project, Teri Lysak at Cascadia Wild, Nicole Sandoval, Bree and Wendy at PDX Storybook Garden, Maria Loper at Forest Aged, Soil Educator Cheryl Lohrmann, The Collab artist Zimu Li.

Our Fantastic Counselor Team: Prior to camp, we worked in collaboration in generating the curriculum and daily camp schedule. Big Appreciations for Aubree, Milan and Mia who announced that they want to come back next year!

Many thanks to grants from East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, Regional Arts and Culture Grants and Oregon Synod ELCA to support our ability to offer an affordable summer camp option to our members and neighbors.

In our beloved neighborhood, we found ourselves a part of this thriving network of connective creativity and love in action. Thank you to all for Making Camp Happen!

Reciprocity, liberation, and broad-based community organizing!

by Jane Keating, Leaven Youth and Families Organizer

Firstly, I want to appreciate the Leaven Community - Alison Killeen, Cheryl Lohrmann and Terry Moe - for your support in my participation in the May five day Industrial Areas Foundation training , “Advanced Community Organizing Training”.

My biggest reason for going was to learn about ways to build real power to create lasting change.

Attending with Leavener Cheryl Lohrmann, a dear collaborator, made a dynamic training even better. It was extra energizing to have a buddy to discuss the training with a Leaven lens and with an eye on sharing back to Leaven. Our strategic plan goal of Community Organizing and Action and how to scale up this core value was on my mind during the training.

The training was in Tacoma. It was wonderful to be part of a group of @30 that was international, representing some of the Pacific Rim. There was a good showing of indigenous peoples and labor organizations, via Sound Alliance - a Washington coalition of member organizations.

I called for a lunch meeting with everyone at the training from Portland (MacG members). We met three times over the course of the training and later met in Portland for a reflection. Everyone there from MACG was associated with a church. There are lots of reasons for this. My wondering is: “Into the future, how does MACG continue to practice organizing in order to be diversified/broad based?”

During the training we all attended a Sound Alliance meeting. It had diverse member organizations. Having a dedicated paid organizer for alliances (SA, MACG) seemed crucial as SA was in a rebuilding phase.

How do we, as Leaven Community, with all of the external pressures, do this work in a financial system that doesn’t compensate organizers as they should and need to be? This also affects Leaven Community’s survival. Is it true that Leaven members feel they can’t put their personal power and attention together because they have too many individual pressures? How do we want to address this Collective vs. Individual paradigm?

A primary question I had going into the training was: In order to have a democratic society - how do we use broad-based organizing (BBO) to that end?

One of the pieces of the BBO training that stands out to me was the concept of taking on projects, issues, and a campaign around what is winnable and building power off of “wins”. Part of this is maintaining relationships through meaningful relational processes in order to continue through “losses”. What (small) issue has Leaven already recently “Won”? How might we build on it for the next bigger issue? I would posit that the continued existence of Leaven is a “Win” in and of itself.

What do we mean by bringing back organizing as part of our strategy? Where do we want to go with organizing in Leaven? 

Leaven has strong justice values. How can we use our broad based organizing skills to have strong organization to organization relationships? After the training, I see the possibility of Leaven creating a strategy around organizations we want to be in relationship with and a team of Leaven organizers, of varying experience, using the organizing process toward that end. As we move into our Fall organizing training, I see the crucial value in connecting with other organizations with Leaven and prioritizing our organizing culture. This seems like a great way to center Leaven’s organizing culture. No experts necessary. 

In this political moment, daylighting Broad Based Organizing can be a response to the manipulation toward polarization (driven by fear) in the US.

Jane’s Key Takeaways

• It felt really great to go as a representative of Leaven. Having the backing of the people and the history of the community behind all of us, is important. 

• At the training, it was vital being with people who were there for shared self interests. It was reassuring and invigorating at the same time. Organizations sharing their triumphs and pressures together, is a good contradiction to feelings of powerlessness and isolation.

• The depth we could go into to define and understand Broad Based Organizing was most useful. I was able to flesh out full picture that I had pieces of from the on the ground work at Leaven. Having the devoted time necessary for a full training of the very specific, IAF Organizing gave clarity. The model resonated with me in its elemental value of people power. Looking at our sources of anger and agitation is powerful. Having a process to address injustice together is key to living out Leaven values.

• How do we as Leaven Community keep our relationships and love publicly centered in community to change the harmful aspects of our current larger culture? Looking at the world as it is and moving toward the world’s potential for liberation is core for me as polarization tactics are employed as a result of oppressive systems with high stakes consequences. Recognizing our interconnectivity and having deeper reciprocal connections is spiritual. It allows for more joy, creativity, flexibility and nimble action. 

I highly recommend the training and am eager to talk to anyone that is curious it.