Participants go through an 9-month dialogical, educational process grounded in community praxis to help diversely align your institution or community with the solidarity economy. What results? Previous participants have launched a new program (a cooperative daycare, say), held a study group on the solidarity economy, launched a sermon series on the topic, or worked to more concretely shift their institution in the direction of the solidarity economy.
Here’s a preview of some of the topics we’ll cover:
What’s the Problem (with our economy, with our theology)? What are our Alternatives?
What is the Solidarity and Cooperative Economy?
Site Mapping: Taking a look at your institution
Analyzing Power and Keeping Track of Privilege
Practicing Deep Listening
The content is informed by the the Churches and Cooperatives Toolkit (created in collaboration with the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development) and other materials presented in Interventions and Exchanges as well as Wendland-Cook webinars.
“I joined Solidarity Circles after being involved in the student organizing around Palestine. The experiences and lessons learned from that movement work really opened my mind to what the work of collective liberation requires. I wanted to be in community with people coming from different experiences so that I could learn more, process, and take additional time for discussion that helped me gain a better understanding of what organizing can look like from a faith-based perspective.”
—Marisa Hulstine
The program is priced at $500 per participant.
We believe in making the Solidarity Circle program accessible to all who share our vision. Need-based scholarships are available to individuals who may find it challenging to cover the full program cost. Please complete your application, and upon acceptance, you’ll have the opportunity to apply for financial aid.
August 14 at 1pm CT
The economy is not working for all those who have to work for a living. Our current economic system is based on exploitation and extraction of people and the planet. Still, there are concrete ways of building a new economy and society around the solidarity that can come from seeing God’s grace at work in mutual relationships. This work starts by building solidarity.
By joining a solidarity circle, you’ll gain access to a network of peers who are interested in building an alternative economy and committed to the work of faith in the world. Over a few months, you’ll engage in monthly virtual meetings and trainings, getting access to relationships and resources that can equip you with the skills and knowledge to become part of the ever growing solidarity economy across the country.
“Solidarity Circles offer an experience for belonging and intimacy so that new paths of exploration, curiosity, and learning are integrated in a cooperative reality.”
— Rev. Stephen Handy
Our curriculum consists of three units, each with three modules and is grounded in four competencies. Modules include a 20-minute video featuring main content, shorter “topics” videos, and reading materials. These topics are competency-based and are those we believe leaders need to create and sustain social change in their community.
Liberating Theology and Bible with Power Analyis
Value-Based Community Organizing 101
Storytelling as a framework for Social Change
Listening to the Spirit: Prophetic and Pastoral Active Listening
Participants meet monthly for 90 minutes virtually and have separate 1:1s with facilitators and their colleagues to deepen relationships and develop a deeper contextual analysis for their work. Participants are also offered a free coaching meeting with a WCP coach.
Participants receive access to a unique, private social media platform to further connect with and build with other cohort members, past and present.
Faith leaders, clergy, & organizers today feel more isolated than ever. We are over-resourced and under-connected. We need spaces and networks to organize together.
Solidarity Circles are built to meet this need. These are virtual peer-networks for faith leaders, organizers, clergy, and members of the community who realize that the solidarity economy is essential for the flourishing of life and our faith communities. Solidarity circles are one way the Wendland-Cook Program is seeking to revitalize and build the church and Christian theology in positive ways. We believe that this work is deeply connected to the mission and vocation of Christian churches. Broadly understood, the cooperative and solidarity economy are ways of addressing longstanding economic inequalities within our society, including white supremacy and gender and sex inequities.
“I joined Solidarity Circles to connect with a relational network intent on organizing theological spaces out from a charity mindset and toward a solidarity economy. This experience has been foundational in providing concrete language and praxis for ideas that have remained elusively abstract; solidarity circles puts feet on the aspirations for a world beyond the grip of neoliberalism.”
—Ralph McCoy
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