Change Elemental

Who imagines what’s next? Elissa Sloan Perry, head of the Prefiguring Futures Lab at Change Elemental, outlines what’s needed to support imagination and to make it possible to take risk, especially for marginalized individuals: “Given our systems of oppression and othering, the very people who are most often resourced to imagine a way out of social problems such as poverty, homelessness, racism, and transphobia are often not the most affected and thus the least likely to imagine a true solution. We often get new ways for the relative few to access settler-colonialist and capitalist ‘solutions,’ instead of true liberation whereby people and the planet can exist in mutually accountable, interdependent well-being.” This essay on building social imagination is part of a larger series of articles that illuminates practices for new pathways to a better tomorrow: https://lnkd.in/gnprbwhA

??? Podcast episode alert! ??? Featured in the Leadership Learning Community magazine "HOME is Where the HEART is," Elissa Sloan Perry and Kharyshi Wiginton from the Center for Third World Organizing explore transformative conversations on the "Ubuntu: A Living Liberation Podcast." Join them as they discuss collective liberation, community power, and reimagining justice. ???? Check out the episode: https://lnkd.in/gj7WrBJD and magazine: https://lnkd.in/gWxmYKVE #LivingLiberation #UbuntuPodcast #CollectivePower #LeadershipForChange

?? Leadership is not a solo act—it's a collective weaving. At Change Elemental, we believe leadership thrives when it allows everyone to shift into their gifts, building space for both organizational elders to transform their roles and new leaders to offer their skills and perspectives. ?? Our latest blog explores what it means to coweave leadership: embracing shared power, mutual accountability, and the tensions that spark creativity. ??? Dive into how we’re (re)imagining leadership! ?? Read the full blog: https://lnkd.in/gSjhUbwW #Coweaving #TransformativeLeadership

NPQ’s premium webinar on November 14 will cover sharing power by involving more staff in budget drafting and review, creating a realistic budget development timeline and process, and much more. Panelists include Ananda Valenzuela of Change Elemental and Alicia Radford, CPA. Register today: https://bit.ly/4faLfox

?? "Leadership & Race: A Call to Each Other," a new report by our brilliant friends at Leadership Learning Community invites us to reimagine leadership rooted in equity and collective care. Download and explore what’s possible when we lead for justice, together. https://lnkd.in/g-8rnEp9

This is the last event in our series for this year... do join us for our next *Talks from the Edge of Practice* Radical Imagination: Prefiguring the World We Want with Elissa Sloan Perry (Change Elemental) and Omi Osun Joni L. Jones (Our Next Now) 26th November, 4pm - 5.30pm, UK time Tickets: https://lnkd.in/eZCu5CUh Elissa and Omi are kindred spirits, cousins by practice, worldview, and love of humanity, the more than human world & making a joyful noise. Raised in different places and formed in different forests, they speak the same language of living the world we want as much as possible in the world that we are in. Elissa through her Prefiguring Futures Labs (a project of Change Elemental) and Omi through work with her long-time partner Sharon Bridgforth in Our Next Now. In conversation with Jake Garber, they will be discussing radical imagination–as in imagination at the root and as the root This event is part of the Collective Imagination Practice Community hosted by Canopy - A Social Imagination Project and Huddlecraft and supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) .

? In “A Benediction for Black Women,” Tamitha Walker McKinnis offers both stories and a sacred space of affirmation—the kitchen, a place of comfort, magic, and ritual. Her words remind us that sharing our stories weaves us into collective strength and healing. Let this offering wash over you like a blessing. ?? Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/gm5kYpxJ

Like cicadas, our movements rise with loud, frenetic energy sparked by moments of crisis. We emerge, find our comrades, and declare our values with full force. But when the marches end, and the vision of a new future remains unrealized, these uprisings feel like cicada shells—once alive, now remnants. Both remind us of the value of the time spent underground, preparing for what’s next. Read more from Trish Adobea Tchume on the wisdom of cicadas, live on our blog now! https://lnkd.in/g9RkqBfP

This is an intriguing interpretation of one of the coolest insects and life cycles with creative metaphors! Change Elemental shares a powerful lesson in expert prose.

So many beautiful things about being a Change Elemental Governance Team member…In addition to getting to support their visionary work around building a leader-full movement ecosystem, as GT members we’re also encouraged to lean into “multiple ways of knowing” like this indigenous practice of trusting nature’s wisdom. Happy to share some reflections on what our movements could be feeding and ceding right now inspired by our recent gathering at Earthseed Land Collective and a curious conversation about this summer’s cicadas…????????????????????