"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Let Us Rise Fall Newsletter
Hello Let Us Rise Community!
I would like to thank all of you for your support, dedication, and vision for a positive future for our community. I have been working with Let Us Rise for over two years and have been transformed by my conversations with all of you. It is with great excitement and sadness that I am announcing my departure as paid staff at Let Us Rise. Recently, I accepted an opportunity to become the Director of the Racial Justice and Civil Rights Program at the Colorado Progressive Coalition. I am incredibly excited to continue doing vision and community-based work while being able to stay rooted in local community. That being said, I am sad to leave Let Us Rise as staff. Please know that I am committed to staying in the Let Us Rise community long term. I can say with utmost confidence that today, we are positioned better than ever to continue facilitating visioning work, providing social justice education and organizing for community level change. This is a credit to YOU…our Community! We would never have been able to accomplish what we have without the hard work, dedication, and shared vision from our community. While I am transitioning out of a paid staff role, I will continue my commitment as a co-leader on the new Let Us Rise leadership circle. Please read below to get more information about this approach as well as information about what we have been doing!
Thank you,
Mu Son Chi
Co-Leader of Outreach & Programs
720.570.4908
muson@letusrise.org
Summary
I. What Have We Been Up To?
II. Upcoming Events
III. Our New Leadership Structure
You an also view this newsletter online at:
http://www.letusrise.org/en/news/let-us-rise-fall-newsletter
I. What Have We Been Up To?
Let Us Rise is one of the only organizations in the country that intentionally engages people in a collective visioning process in which participants envision a broad and inspired future for their own communities. This year, we completed a synthesis and analysis of the visioning conversations we have facilitated with over 1,000 community members. Through this analysis, we see that numerous themes have emerged from our visioning conversations, including a desire for deeper community involvement, a broadly accepting and loving community, a more beautiful and cleaner environment, and much more! Please see our presentation of this analysis at:
http://prezi.com/mgvlypdjsfuw/let-us-rise-visioning-analysis/
Though our Transformative Education Program, we provide social justice education with community members so that they can acquire the tools to achieve their visions and organize for positive change. We have co-organized two week-long social justice institutes for our local and national communities. This summer, we began organizing with a group of young leaders in the Westwood area in Southwest Denver. They have facilitated conversations with their community about needs, issues and visions for the future. They have also received extensive training, which they have used to organize an immigration-based Know Your Rights project with their neighbors and families. This creative approach to Community Organizing encompasses Community Visioning and Social Justice Education and is the only local project that we know of combining Youth Organizing, Immigrant Rights, and Neighborhood Organizing.
II. Upcoming Events
We are extremely excited about our upcoming Conflict Resolution Training. October is Conflict Resolution Month! Let Us Rise is honored to host Mary Zinn for an introductory workshop to Conflict Resolution. You will learn conflict management skills and conflict strategies, how to approach conflict effectively and about productive choices during a conflict. Please RSVP with Mu Son Chi at muson@letusrise.org or 720.570.4908. For more details, please go to:
http://www.letusrise.org/en/news/conflict-resolution-101-workshop
III. Our New Leadership Structure
This fall, we are announcing a new and creative organizational approach to continuing our community and vision-based work. Let Us Rise is launching a collective leadership model that will draw upon the skills, experience, and perspective of three community leaders who have been working for community transformation for a collective thirty-plus years. All three of our co-leaders will work on organizing with our youth organizers in the Southwest Denver. Jes Ward will provide support in the areas of Community Visioning and organizational development. Mu Son Chi will be responsible for communications and programs. Dara Burwell (who is also the founder and President of Transformative Alliances LLC) will cultivate relationships with foundation funders. We are excited about this innovative approach to organizational structure, and confident that Let Us Rise will continue to be a community leader in collective visioning and building grassroots organizing capacity. We would love to speak with you about our work! In the coming weeks, keep an eye out for our Annual Newsletter with more details about our Youth Organizing Program and much more! Please contact us with any questions or input.
Thank you!
Mu Son Chi
Outreach & Programs
720.570.4908
muson@letusrise.org
Jes Ward
Community Visioning
303.591.9143
jes@letusrise.org
Dara Burwell
Foundation Development
720.251.3263
dara@transformativealliances.com
