The application deadline for our School of Embodied Leadership (SOEL) is coming up on April 29th. Check it out! Also, read below about what we've been up to since January.
Dear generative somatics (gs) community,

At the end of last year we shared that we're spending 2019 building gs for the long haul. We are dedicating time to strengthening our organization, learning from the past ten years, and deepening our politics and culture as we prepare for the next ten years ahead of us.

Since January, we've launched that work. Click here to read more about what we've been up to! 
  • Leadership: We're making strides in our intention to bring in new leadership on staff, and developing our Strategy Body, Board of Directors, Transformative Resourcing team, gs practitioners, and gs teachers. 
  • Learning & Listening: We've started to assess the impact of our programming in the last decade, and to unearth best practices so we can offer the most powerful and relevant programming moving forward. 
  • Culture & Politics: We've been digging in on deep learning and practice, with the goal of deepening gs's embodiment of our organizational values and politics.
Thanks for all the ways you're a part of gs!

- Chris Lymbertos on behalf of the gs leadership team

PS. Coming up-- Check out and pass on information about School for Embodied Leadership (SOEL)! Deadline to apply to SOEL is April 29th!  
 
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We're excited to welcome Chanda Jones and Aja Wade to the gs staff team!

As our Finance Manager, Chanda Jones brings 12+ years of   management experience and heads 
our Finance/HR/Operations  department. Most recently, Chanda comes to gs from the National Domestic Workers Alliance where she played an integral role in scaling the financial operations. She's excited to bring her expertise to the gs team.  
 
Aja Wade is the gs Finance Associate. Aja is joining the gs team as a remote staff out of Fort Worth Texas. Her previous role was a Program Assistant working for International Foster Care, caring for unaccompanied refugee minors & undocumented children arriving in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area. Aja is a big foodie, she can be found trying out new restaurants or shopping at farmers' markets for ingredients to new recipes in her free time.

We've also been growing the gs Strategy Body!  

On January 22nd, the new iteration of the gs Strategy Body had its first meeting. This body will help gs understand the ever-changing movement landscape, assess strategy and direction, nourish what's working well, and help to shift what isn't. They will ensure that gs remains accountable to its mission and Strategic Priorities, in effective and relevant ways. The gs Strategy Body is made up of gs staff, teachers, practitioners, gs Movement Partners, and other leaders who work in our Strategic Priority areas.

The 2019 gs Strategy Body includes Alta Starr, Chris Lymbertos, Jaron Browne, Nathaniel Shara, Prentis Hemphill, Spenta Kandawalla, Staci K. Haines, Sumitra Rajkumar, Tina Bartolome, and Xochitl Bervera.
Learning & Listening listening

We launched our Magnifying Movement Partnerships project! 

This project aims to evaluate our Movement Partnerships over the past 7+ years, the impact we've had, and the places we have been less effective. We will learn the best of our work to take forward, and the gaps we need to fill.
 
On February 13th, gs Lead Teachers gathered for a half-day conversation on these topics!  Xochitl Bervera , gs teacher and Director of the Racial Justice Action Center, a longtime gs Movement Partner, participated in the conversation and reflected --  

"The session was amazing because it was intentional time and space to gather with the people who've been engaged in these experiments and projects over the last years to unpack the incredible lessons learned and discoveries made. To me these partnerships are the cutting edge of how somatics can be integrated in a powerful way into our organizations, formations, and our movement. It is so important to not just conduct the experiment but to take the time to analyze the outcomes - to share the experiences, talk about what worked and didn't work, and make proposals and suggestions for going forward. There has been so much we've learned at the Racial Justice Action Center (RJAC) and it was awesome to be in a space with other projects, hearing where the parallels and differences are and finding some common analysis."  

Next we will interview key leadership at Movement Partners to learn more, as we shape and develop our programmatic work for 2020 and beyond! 

Photo: Instagram post by Mei-ying Williams, gs teacher and Operations Director at Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), a longtime gs Movement Partner. 
Culture & Politicsculture 

Since January, the gs staff has met one day per month with Rachel Herzing from the Center for Political Education. Together, we're looking at what organization  we need to be to have the impact we want to have in alignment with our Strategic Priorities. We are focusing on the topics of sustainability, pace, growth, and dismantling white supremacy. 

We started with sustainability, pace, and growth -- what do these words mean to us, how do we want to relate to them, what are our commitments in this area, what's getting in our way, and what do we need to be practicing in order to make necessary changes? This work will support gs to  be a part of social and environmental justice movements for many years to come, making the most powerful impact we can. 

Yashna Padamsee , gs Program Manager, shared--  "We've collectively declared a new commitment to sustainability and we're trying on new practices toward it. We're grateful to Rachel for keeping us grounded in a relevant political context and a racial justice lens. I feel hopeful that this work will make us even more powerful in supporting each organizer, movement builder, and politicized healer who comes through a gs program." 
COMING UP
Are you interested in embodied leadership for movement-building, organizing, and action? Do you work in gs Strategic Priority areas (freedom from political repression & state violence and climate & environmental justice)? Do you know people who could benefit from a gs training? 

Check out and pass on information about School for Embodied Leadership (SOEL).
 The application deadline is April 29th!
A square with a gold border with a photo inside - covered with a transparent light blue. The photo shows a group of people facing forward with their right legs lifted and knees bent. The graphic text reads Apply to SOEL 2019 with the deadline April 29.
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