Knowledge is Power!

September always brings with it that back-to-school feeling – a mix of fresh starts, new routines, and a little bit of nostalgia. This year it also brings a renewed sense of urgency and echoes of last September when the looming presidential election had many of us on edge. For those of us in the nonprofit world, it’s a time to shift out of the slower pace of summer and back into action, ready to tackle the arduous and important work ahead. 

Across the country, we’re watching public programs that have provided safety nets for our most vulnerable like SNAP, Medicaid, and more come under attack. Public education is not exempt. In more and more towns and school districts, books are being pulled from shelves (even innocuous children’s books like Pinkalicious, one of my kid’s favorites among the list), lessons censored, funding threatened and cut, especially for schools that serve the communities who need the most support, further deepening the racial equity and wealth gap. 

This isn’t just a desire to change policy; it’s about suppressing truth. Truth-telling is a bedrock of equity and justice work. It demands that we uncover and confront the root causes of injustice and systemic racism, acknowledging the full complexity and unpleasantness of our nation’s history, and making space for voices that have too often been silenced and ignored. It means allocating equitable resources and funding to schools and communities that center all students – Black, Brown, immigrant, LGBTQ+, disabled – and prepare them to critically examine, question, dream boldly and remake the world around them. It also means supporting teachers with resources they need to nurture real learning. And it means ensuring families have access to safe and affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, clean water and food, and living wages so that communities and its residents can work, learn, and truly thrive.

Knowledge is Power! Being informed is one of the most powerful tools we have. In a time when there is so much noise, when misinformation and fear are so loud, choosing to keep learning, keep investigating about history, about our world, about systems, about each other is in and of itself an act of resistance and radical optimism. Knowledge grounds us. It keeps us connected to the bigger picture and our ultimate north star of liberation and justice.

That’s why I’m so excited about what’s ahead this fall at Gathering Ground. We have a number of virtual programs that we have been working on that dare us to dream big and think about what a liberated future can look like:

• Our Participatory Democracy Track kicked off with our Participatory Budgeting Briefing last week with guest speaker Nisha Thompson from Participatory Budgeting Project.
• On November 13, 2025 our Participatory Democracy Track continues as we welcome Ted Rau from Sociocracy for All to educate us on democratic decision-making using a Consent model/framework and have the opportunity to practice these skills. 
• And, last but not least, we are hosting a new workshop series, which started last week, with Dr. Tricia Rose, renowned author and professor at Brown University: The Way Out of No Way: Systemic Racism and Resilience. Together, we’ll dive into the deep roots of systemic racism and, just as importantly, the resilience that communities have always carried forward. 

It’s not just about learning, it’s about learning in community, and turning that knowledge into strength and action. Now more than ever, we must come together, listening and learning from one another, standing for truth, and fighting for a world where all people can thrive. 

Find out more about Gathering Ground’s exciting lineup and register today. Visit our website at: gatheringground.us/.

In Solidarity,