Click here to download the slides (PPT).

Click here for info about upcoming webinars.

Webinar Recording, February 15, 2012 is a post on Resilience Circles

Our resilience circle at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City has supported the American Dream campaign since we first learned that the RC National Network was a sponsor in August of last year. We hosted house parties that joined with roughly 22,000 other Americans to develop the priorities that eventually became the Contract for the American Dream (http://contract.rebuildthedream.com/).

When we attend local meetings of the Mid-Peninsula American Dream Council, we make it a point to call attention to the work of small group organizing. We point to the number of our resilience circle participants in attendance, and emphasize how building local relationships feeds into broader synergies. At yesterday’s showing of Inside Job in San Carlos, we provided our copy of the DVD and the projection equipment for an audience of about 60 people, many of whom had never attended a council meeting before. In our view, we are sharing our consciousness-raising work with great organizers in our community who share our values, and making friends for the broader social change movement.

A number of participants in our resilience circle have demonstrated this turnout capacity by attending council meetings and rallies in support of the Rebuild the Dream campaign:

• Thomas Atwood
• Kitty Bownass
• Steven Bradley
• Carol Cross
• Dick Edminster
• Veronica Palmer
• Jonelle Preisser
• George Sliter
• Carolyn Strange

To us, coalition building is key to our transition to a new economy. We need friends to get to the other side of transition—how many friends would you have if complete agreement on every issue were the criteria? If we want to move beyond complaining and “do something about it,” coalition building based on common ground is a great way to go. If we maintain good boundaries, we don’t have to become our partners, take direction from our partners, or allow our partners to speak for us. What we can do is create change that matters.

Small Group Organizing and Coalition Building is a post on Resilience Circles

The notes were collected, reviewed and the answers compiled (see below). As organizer Gary Horvitz says, “What was revealed was extremely valuable material. People were courageous, very open…really telling the truth. People are hurting in many different ways. Resilience Circles is an idea whose time is now.”

Contact Gray at gary@2degreeworld.com to get involved in a Circle in the SF East Bay Area.

Intro Session participant notes:

1. How are you affected by all that is going on in the world?

• Depression/anxiety
• Family lives far away because housing prices are lower
• Seeing others lose what they have/friends unemployed
• Pension insecure
• Not able to make a difference
• Thin margin of security/shrinking safety nets
• Underemployed—work is sporadic
• Turmoil in personal relationships
• Living on less
• Discouraged
• Volunteering where I used to be paid
• Having to market myself
• Use less heat in house
• Giving up eating out
• Sharing food resources with friends
• Pre-occupied with survival
• Polarization/blaming/projection
• Stuck in job—less benefits
• Fear for children’s future
• Net worth declining
• Concern re health care expenses
• Education cuts
• No faith in govt.
• Empty nest syndrome
• Finding free stuff
• Using public transportation
• Despondent
• Scared, Sad, angry
• Mistrust of government
• Disgusted—everything broken
• Closed parks
• Futility about offsetting environmental ills

What I want out of a Resilience Circle?

• Community
• Connect with people
• Structure to talk through
• Learn new skills
• Participating in projects
• Practice listening
• Gift circle
• No exchange of money
• Sense of accomplishment
• Learning to rely on others
• Making friends
• Making change
• Learning together
• Want to push people’s limits about what’s OK to share
• Increase our flexibility
• Increased personal connection
• Finding value for others
• Find alternative income streams
• Ending my enslavement
• Street party
• Finding purpose through service
• Opportunities to trade
• Help finding work
• Spend time brainstorming each person’s situation
• Cross-pollination of ideas
• Barter system
• Sense of belonging
• Greater hope
• Greater influence
• A Circle that functions well

“People Are Courageous and Want to Tell the Truth” is a post on Resilience Circles

Leaders: Joyce Andrews & Beth Heller. Contact Joyce for more info:  joylangley@comcast.net

Dates & Time: 2nd and 4th Thursdays, Feb.9-May 10, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Unitarian Church of Marlborough & Hudson (map) (website)

DescriptionThese are uncertain times. The Great Recession has reminded us of our vulnerabilities. Debt. Foreclosure. Unemployment and anxious employment. Evaporating savings. Rising costs. Job insecurity. Environmental uncertainties. Last spring, Chuck Collins of the “Common Security Club network” gave a well attended and very informative introductory workshop on Resilience Circles (also called Common Security Clubs). Now we are ready to begin!   Join us for a 7-session workshop as we come together to increase our personal security by: Courageously facing our economic and ecological challenges, learning together about root causes. Building relationships that strengthen our security and undertaking concrete steps for mutual aid and shared action. Rediscovering the abundance of what we have and recognizing the possibility of a better future. Seeing ourselves as part of a larger effort to create a fair and healthy economy that works for everyone. In this process we will get to know one another, find inspiration, have fun, and strengthen our community.

Marlborough & Hudson, MA is a post on Resilience Circles

Leaders: Joyce Andrews & Beth Heller. Contact Joyce for more info:  joylangley@comcast.net

Dates & Time: 2nd and 4th Thursdays, Feb.9-May 10, 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Unitarian Church of Marlborough & Hudson (map) (website)

February 9 – Marlborough & Hudson, MA, Session 1 is a post on Resilience Circles

~ News and Views from Albany ~

“People Are Courageous and Want to Tell the Truth” is a post on Resilience Circles

Click here for more from the Greenbelt circles.

Line Dry! Push Mow! And Be Silly While Doing It is a post on Resilience Circles

In 2011 the NAACP launched the “Financial Freedom Campaign” to help communities organize effective responses to the “Great Recession.” As part of the program, several NAACP units are piloting the Common Security Club (Resilience Circle) curriculum to learn about the economy and take concrete steps toward building a new, fair system for everyone.

Read more about our partnership with the NAACP here.

Contact us for a copy of the adapted curriculum the NAACP units are using, along with supplemental materials about the racial wealth divide.

Resilience Circles and the NAACP is a post on Resilience Circles

Creating an Economy That Works For All Through Resilience Circles

Join a small group that is starting to explore a new kind of security, baed on mutual aid and community support.

Learn what is going on in the larger economy, share personal stories, and become part of a new economy that can work for everyone while respecting the planet we live on. Connecting with others is one of the best ways to increase our personal security during these challenging times. We will:

• Courageously face our economic and ecological challenges, learning together about root causes and future possibilities.
• Build relationships and undertake concrete steps for mutual aid and shared action for a more secure future.
• Get to know our neighbors, find inspiration, and have fun!

FREE INTRODUCTORY MEETINGS

Thursday, January 26, Albany Methodist Church, 7:30 – 9:00 pm

Sunday, January 29, Albany Library Edith Stone Room, 2 – 3:30 pm

Albany Methodist Church: 980 Stannage at Marin (enter by Stannage); Library: 1247 Marin Avenue

For more details, contact TransitionAlbanyCA@gmail.com or 510-528-2261

January 26 & 29 – Resilience Circle Introductory Meetings, Albany CA is a post on Resilience Circles

We’ll talk about how to start a circle for your community, including:

- finding participants through base communities and the “linking method”
- how to share the idea of a circle with others
- some notes on the curriculum

Register for the free webinar here.

Hope to “see” you there!

February 15 – Webinar: How to Start a Resilience Circle is a post on Resilience Circles