Our Framework

Our program partner Justin Laing brings his expertise in designing anti-racist and anti-oppression programs coupled with his deep knowledge of adaptive leadership and multiple frameworks, including Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” which became the foundational framework used for Elevating Equity.

In collaboration with a team of anti-racist experts, facilitators and documenters (see their names below), Justin and our Gathering Ground team engaged our diverse Elevating Equity community in a journey that resulted in:

• A dialogical approach that examines personal stories of oppression;
• The teaching of an anti-oppressive framework that can be replicated and scaled, and one that strengthens our muscle to be able to name the oppressors (our social sector is good at naming the oppressed but loathe to specifically name those who are carrying out the oppressive acts – meaning, ourselves);
• The coalescing of a community of people dedicated to taking action that disrupts oppression in their organizations, communities, or in the social sector at-large;
• A cohort-wide commitment to staying mutually accountable to each other.

Over time, the above offers a transformative experience beginning with learning and moving towards anti-racist and anti-oppression actions and outcomes.

Let us know how you are gathering ground with creating a more just and fair social sector!