Actualizing the Community
Actualizing Community is anchored in AFIRE’s Organizing Program and reflects leadership development. An actualized community is a community that thrives.
The intention behind this year’s organizing cohort, Actualizing Community, was to create a space for the already-existing leaders in our community to further grow their skills and confidence in dismantling oppressive thinking so that we may collectively forge a world in which all our needs are met and in which we are all free. The name and principles behind the cohort are inspired by the beliefs and practices of the Siksika peoples of the Blackfoot Nation – namely how everyone is born self-actualized and how their way of life resulted in a community that left no one behind – which informed the appropriated, individualistic, Western framework that is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
This cohort has had the special opportunity to dive into foundational aspects of organizing – such as building the base, analyzing relations of power, and developing a campaign – and into conversations that reflect the present-day experiences of movement-building within the Filipinxao diaspora. Through a peer-to-peer cohort model, we have been able to develop a foundational organizing curriculum that is reflective of our organizational values and the wisdom and experiences of all the cohort leaders. I am deeply grateful for everyone's commitment to this cohort over the past 6 months. I hold an open heart for how future cohort leaders will continue to shape this curriculum and, in turn, the greater movement for justice and liberation.
- K. Rial, Organizing Director
“[Actualizing Community Cohort was] a good experience. It was nice to be in a space with other Filipinos to talk about things we care about and the desire to be active and organize in some way together. It was helpful for me as someone trying to understand the consciousness of Filipinos.”
“[Actualizing Community Cohort] was a good introduction to…systems of oppression and identifying tools to tackle and dismantle those systems. Thorough approach to what we can be doing as Filipinos in community with one another. We got to expand our knowledge base quite…our vision for what the Chicago and the Filipino community could look like.”
“I had some hesitation, not sure what I could bring to the table because I don’t consider myself an organizer. I wanted to be involved in something a little more sustained (beyond volunteering for a Citizenship Workshop or a member meeting).”
“The commitment to liberation feels like a firm stance and core belief that we’re not just deserving of liberation, but also, it lies in everyone being free, not just a select few.”
