How have our ancestors survived innumerable apocalypses of settler-colonial violence, slavery, and attempted genocide? What tools and strategies did they use to make a way out of no way? What hidden blueprints to Freedom did they leave us to navigate our own seemingly impossible circumstances? How can we call upon these sacred technologies to birth Liberatory worlds amidst all that is dying?
F R E E D O M L A N D offers a biennial cohort that stewards QTGNC2-S+ BIPOC changemakers through a two-year rites-of-passage to become the Liberatory worldbuilders we urgently need in these tumultuous times of transformation to bring our collective Freedom dreams to Life. This cohort is a re-membering, an (un)learning, a re-turn towards the sacred embodied Liberatory futures our ancestors have been calling forth since time immemorial.
Our collective practice will respond to the following Liberatory questions:
How do we decolonize the way we work, live, and create worlds beyond the oppressive patterning we've always known? How do we dream and organize beyond outgrown unsustainable paradigms?
How can we show up for the sacred work of healing from the innumerable traumas we face while living and working in systems steeped in oppression?
How can we cultivate capacity for grief to be our teacher and constant companion in these times of collective reckoning, loss, and transformation? What does it look like to treat each other with more grace, radical care, and humanity while facing violent regimes that treat us with inhumanity?
What would it feel like to engage The Land as our ancestral guide, relative, and collaborator in cultivating worlds rooted in abundance and creativity? What does The Land have to teach us about shared power and leadership grown from interdependence?
Through monthly virtual praxis circles, 1:1 coaching, and assigned Freedom werq— participants will immerse in the transdisciplinary, Intersectional Justice framework—Afro-Indigenous Liberatory Praxis, exploring how to integrate decolonial frameworks, trauma-informed strategies, Healing Justice, contemplative and culturally-responsive liberatory praxis into the culture and infrastructure of their world-building organization.
The Cohort curriculum is designed as a Freedom ritual— a Liberatory rites-of-passage that spirals through four core areas with tailored guiding practices and coaching support unfolding over two years. Like all Living things—these four core areas interrelate, overlap, and iteratively engage one another. They are our guiding constellations we return to again and again as we find our way to FREEDOM LAND.
The four core areas of this Living Curriculum are:
HEALING JUSTICE
We cannot get Free if we are not willing to heal. This area of the curriculum stewards participants through culturally-grounded frameworks for healing individual and collective trauma, transmuting internalized oppression by engaging somatic, contemplative, and creative practices. Together we learn to cultivate thriving werq cultures that challenge ableist, capitalist burnout.
DECOLONIAL FRAMEWORKS
One of the guiding intentions of FREEDOM LAND is to bring the scared back into the way we work, knowing that re-rooting in our Afro-Indigenous spiritual and healing methodologies is essential decolonial work. With a particular emphasis in Gulf South diasporic folqways, we bring the sustainable movement strategies, sacred cosmologies, and radical imagination of Queer/ Trans/ Gender-Nonconforming+ communities-of-color to the Center of our Freedom werq.
LIBERATORY LEADERSHIP
In this core area of the curriculum we will learn about our Power and how to engage it responsibly, knowing that there is enough room for all in the circle when we are rooted in the integrity of what we Love. Through Afro-Indigenous cultural/ spiritual technologies we will clarify Purpose, practice leading from Center, and get clear on what is for us, and what is not. We will learn from elevated ancestor, Audre Lorde, about designing Liberatory Roles rooted in Desire, immersing in a sacred process known as Liberatory Role Mapping.
CIRCLES OF INTERDEPENDENCE
In this portion of the curriculum we learn sacred Liberatory design from Afro+Indigenous circle-keeping and council-building models, engaging tools and frameworks to cultivate workspaces rooted in generosity, shared power, value-based decision-making, and accountability.
We will practice moving beyond binary thinking to hold complexity, embody solidarity amidst disagreement, and engage in generative conflict transformation. Together we will learn to create cultures of self-responsibility within interdependent ecosystems, learning to work through triggers and tend our nervous systems so we can show up for the care and thriving of our collective body.
Participants in The Cohort will participate in:
+ Monthly 1:1 Coaching (1-2 hour sessions)
This is an opportunity to receive tailored one-to-one support on your Liberatory journey. Coaching sessions offer a confidential space to heal ancestral trauma, untangle the lies of internalized oppression, align our movement values with practice, clarifying Purpose and designing Liberatory Roles rooted in Desire.
+ Monthly Praxis Circles (2-3 hour sessions)
This is a space to offer safe harbor in the refuge of community practice. In previous iterations of The Cohort, participants have described these virtual circles as feeling like church, sangha, a Freedom School, a healing portal, a support group, and my favorite— a hush harbor. These monthly virtual circles last about 2-3 hours (with breaks) and are an opportunity to engage lessons in the guiding framework, Afro-Indigenous Liberatory Praxis, participate in collective coaching, ritual, community building, embodied practice, and always, Freedom singing to fortify us for the next month of applied Liberatory praxis.
*Lagniappe: Opportunities for in-person retreats focused on land-based decolonial cultural organizing and ongoing collective Liberatory ritual
Important dates:
Schedule a 40 minute virtual tea/ meet & greet with ChE by February 16th
Applications accepted through Friday, February 23rd
Invitation to enroll in The Cohort sent no later than March 11th
Tuition deposits due March 25th
First Collective Coaching Praxis Circle (via Zoom) in April (exact date TBD)
*PLEASE NOTE: The Cohort can accommodate up to 5 organizations (up to 15 people total)
ANNUAL TUITION
FREEDOM LAND offers a sliding scale tuition taking into account the budget of your organization, the cost to run The Cohort, and to be able to provide partial to full scholarship for at least one participating organization. The Cohort sliding scale also makes it financially possible for FREEDOM LAND to provide a range of free and pay-what-you-can offerings to QTGNC2-S+ BIPOC (especially to our Queer & Trans+ Black+Indigenous communities located in the Gulf South), so please keep this in mind and consider paying the full amount if your organization is able.
Annual Tuition Sliding Scale totals $25,000-$35,000 per year (roughly $2100-$3000 per month) for 2-3 representatives from your organization to participate in The Cohort and receive monthly tailored coaching and consulting support
$10,000 deposit due by March 25th, 2024 to secure your spot
Payment plans available
All annual tuition must be paid in full by November 1st of each year
HOW TO APPLY
Application Process:
If you are interested in representing your organization, and are ready to immerse in this two-year rites-of-passage with like-hearted praxis community to become a Liberatory worldbuilder, please send an email to ChE at wefreedomland@gmail.com or schedule through their calendar link here
After connecting with ChE, you will receive a link to an application and a password protected link offering more detailed information about The Cohort. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until FEBRUARY 23rd.
Check your email for a notification of acceptance into The Cohort which will be emailed to invited participants by March 11th.
Contracts will be drafted between FREEDOM LAND LLC and represented organizations. Tuition deposits are due by March 25th to confirm your enrollment.