Hive Mind: Community of Praxis
Who is this for?
For AT alumni who want to be in a short-term dedicated community to advance a project focused on changing a narrative in their community.
What is it?
The Hive Mind Circle is a community of practice for change leaders wielding Story-based Strategy who are passionate about shifting narratives to transform the communities they serve. This peer lead group will intentionally uplift and form a collective consciousness around the projects and social justice initiatives we are currently working on. The group members will present their work and support each other through problem solving and advice from each other. The space will also provide opportunities for people to collaborate and offer each other resources as everyone implements CSS tools (and other organizing and narrative tools) in their work.
We will take deep dives into Cornerstones to pick our goals wisely, ground our stories and strategies in the realities of power, use the Battle of the Story and Points of Intervention to decide where to intervene and take action to build narrative power. Along the way, we will learn about each other’s work and build our intersectional analysis as we each support organizing in our individual contexts.
When is it?
The group will decide how many weeks to meet and when. We aim to begin in mid-August. We imagine the group will meet for about as many weeks as there are participants in addition to one opening week and one closing week.
4 participants = 6 weeks, 10 participants = 12 weeks, etc.
Where?
Meetings will be hosted online and the group is open to any AT alum anywhere. If there are enough people in a single location, a place-based group may want to intentionally form.
Why?
We believe that SBS is more of a practice than an expertise and that it is most effective when done in an intersectional, participatory way.
How?
One person will be in the hot seat (queen bee comb?) each week. They will share their project with the group and ask for feedback, ideas, and support. Also, each week all participants will share brief status updates about their projects. The call will have rotating facilitation by group members and have the CSS Network Manager available (but not on the calls) as support. Between calls, participants will decide if/how to communicate with each other individually, in affinity groups, or as a collective. Week 1 will include personal introductions and project overviews. The final week will include an evaluation of the community of practice and an opening to continue this or other formations.