Although we formally sunsetted in 2018, the strength of relationships and the legacy of our demonstration projects continues to support and nurture the movement for racial equity, justice and healing today.
WOL VISION
CREATE A SENSE OF MOVEMENT. Advance a proactive and cross-sector movement that eliminates or significantly transforms race and racism in our lifetime. And, in the process (and just as important), inspires people to believe – and act on the belief – that this can be achieved.
BUILD THE FIELD. Define and support the relatively new -- and still emerging -- field of healing and personal transformation as well as continue to build the capacity of organizations focused on racial equity.
CONNECT THE DOTS. Promote and support approaches that leverage strategies for healing with efforts to transform inequitable systems and structures.
SHARE AND DEEPEN KNOWLEDGE. Serve as a hub for knowledge, resources and tools related to healing and the nexus between healing and equity.
BRING THE HEAT AND THE POWER. Through our collective infrastructure -- and an approach that blends strategies for healing and equity (possibly through Healing and Equity Action Teams) -- provide rapid response support to communities, organizations and institutions grappling with incidents of racism. And through a parallel approach that is proactive, identify and engage “acupuncture points” within inequitable systems and structures to which, if collective power was applied, can potentially bring about deep and long lasting (if not permanent) change in ways not yet experienced.
WOL VALUES
● Be Intentional and Vigorous in Ensuring Diversity: This includes racial and ethnic identities, geographic location, focus of organization’s work (i.e. racial healing, racial equity), organization sizes and types, diversity and intersectionalities of individual identities (specifically gender, sexual orientation, class), and young leaders. We will be especially vigilant in ensuring the intentional diversity of the network’s leadership. Furthermore, we believe that the formal governing structure, as ultimately defined, should be composed of a majority of people who are members of historically oppressed populations.
● Ensure Inclusive and Equitable Practices: Our goal is to develop policies and practices that reflect what we hope to create in the larger world, which may mean, at times, slowing down to share our philosophy with members, collaborators, and funders, and standing up for our values and principles rather than complying with inequitable or exclusionary practices. The Network practices and processes shall strive to be reflective of diverse cultures and ensuring dominant culture is not replicated in negative ways.
● Build Trust and Respect for our Collective work to Dismantle Structural Racism: We will work to create a common language which is reflective of the spectrum of approaches. This will assist us to lean in with curiosity to learn our philosophical and strategic differences to dismantle racism by avoiding proselytizing, holding conflict respectfully, contextualizing different points of view, and seeking alignment.
● Be Transparent and Accountable: Leadership will ensure there is transparency with our practices, and an accountability process implemented. The Leadership Team will be accountable to its members. The WOL Network will be accountable to communities of color and indigenous peoples. In addition to a value, accountability is behavioral, and the Leadership Team will develop clear and transparent mechanisms for accountability. When tension exists with our values of inclusion and action, the Leadership Team will seek to recognize our commitment to both, and will transparently deliberate how best to balance those values.
● Be Tenacious and Responsive: The Network will be aware of what is happening on the ground, to recognize mistakes, to be nimble to shift gears, and remain attentive to the intersectionality of issues and identities. We will grow the pie of resources for the Network’s members and our collective work and work tenaciously for equitable distribution of resources.
IMPLEMENTING OUR VISION AND VALUES
Our vision to dismantle racism in our lifetime will be bolstered when we innovate and experiment, work interdependently, and share a creative and tenacious message for racial healing and equity, grounded in a belief that everyone’s human rights must be recognized.
Respectful Space – The Network space we co-create will work toward:
healing from historic and/or present-day trauma of racism, xenophobia and related forms of oppression,
honoring and respecting differences in all of our individual identities and treating everyone with respect that affirms their intrinsic dignity,
respecting different analyses of racism with the common vision of dismantling its systemic roots,
being open to mutually respectful conflict and debate to deepen our analysis and understanding of each other,
infusing culture and expressions of spirit,
building trust and deepening our relationships with each other, including seeking to learn about each other’s work and the role it plays in ending racism in our lifetime.
We will together lean in with joy, with love, with our sense of humor, with our vulnerability and courage and with a belief in our collective power.
Community of Practice and Action – Development of our knowledge and skills will be integrated and sustained if we are:
sharing our work with humility and generosity,
demonstrating mutual respect through feedback and reflective engagement,
genuinely believing that our individual contributions and work are fueled by our connection to the greater network and other collaborators,
seeking to learn the impact of action campaigns with participatory multicultural evaluation methods.
Though consistent and intentional learning is core, it will only be made meaningful by the actions we take individually and collectively and by the outcomes we achieve. It will be critical for the Network to be courageous and take risks while being mindful and supportive of differential consequences of those risks.
Radical Collaboration and Alliances – Radical collaboration and alliances are a recognition of and respect for each other’s contributions and awareness of our individual and organizational roles in building a movement. We also understand the interdependence of individual, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional strategies in the context of our collective vision for sustained structural and transformational change. Our process will include:
being adaptive to political forces and resistance,
working on both/and approaches rather than either/or,
balancing autonomy and alignment of members’ work in the spirit of the network’s vision, and avoiding an expectation of needless conformity,
implementing our strategies with a power analysis, reflecting indigenous and multiracial processes and understanding of the intersections of oppression and privilege,
being thoughtful and proactive in understanding the complexity of race and ethnicity and how racism and other oppressions manifest historically and presently,
forming temporary alliances when necessary with organizations that are not network members without sacrificing our principles and values.
THE WOL TIMELINE
