Hearth: a liberation lab

Hearth: a liberation lab

Status: Program for cohort year 2024-25

Overview: A year-long cohort program for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community members devoted to collective liberation in the Northeast. Hearth serves as an incubator and practice space where liberatory thinking, play, experimentation, and healing somatic practice unfold in reciprocally nourishing relationships with others committed to liberation work.

Geographic Scope: Northeast United States occupied land including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont

Focus Areas:

Dismantling or transforming oppressive systems into liberatory ones (through policy, organizing, or governance)

Building liberatory structures that promote self-determination, reparations, deep democracy, and Indigenous governance

Supporting communities to heal from oppressive systems

Telling and building the story of liberation through art

Eligibility

Participant Requirements:

Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) community members

Over 18 years old holding intersecting identities marginalized by dominant culture (e.g., gender, sexuality, ability, race, class, citizenship status, housing status)

Currently living and/or working in the Northeast United States

Interested in building or deepening work in relationship with other leaders and community members

Working in one or all of the focus categories for a minimum of four years

Roles may include: healers, organizers, policy-makers, educators, culture-workers, and artists

Program Components

• Two in-person retreats
• Bi-weekly virtual workshop and practice lab sessions (2 sessions per month)
• One-on-one coaching
• Focus on embodying liberatory thinking, network weaving, and somatic practice

Support Provided

• $2,500 stipend to support participation
• Travel, accommodation, and childcare support

About One Square World

Organization: One Square World is a movement support organization operating primarily in the climate and racial justice spheres, rooted in the Northeast of Turtle Island.

Team Composition: Staff members, trusted community partners, and long-time facilitators. Team members are practitioners who integrate political and liberatory beliefs into practice. Team identifies as BIPOC, queer, trans, non-binary, disabled, and neurodivergent.

Specializations: Liberatory community education, healing work, policy design, and facilitation of power-shifting processes from institutions to communities.

Lead Designers: Juli Santoyo, Tarik Bartel, Andrea Atkinson

Program Team: Juli Santoyo, Tarik Bartel, nisha purushotham