Are you feeling called to your Good Work but feeling depleted, disconnected, and scattered? Are you longing for a chance to recharge and renew your commitments in solidarity with others? Join GWI for a meaningful, joyful one-day retreat to find a rooted sense of belonging and to resource the important work ahead.

We have all been feeling the impacts of the accelerated pace of change and uncertainty brought about by the phalanx of challenges we face. A very incomplete list includes: federal governmental chaos, climate change, rising wealth disparities, extreme levels of inequity, all causing increasingly untenable pressure on people and ecosystems. GWI’s focus on Just Transition has positioned us to accept what is happening, understand it from a systems perspective, and focus on the solutions that will turn the system towards regenerative and just economies. At the same time, we know we are all in this together and it is a long game. It is essential that we support each other to stay focused on the Good Work, needed now more than ever, by acknowledging and tending to the potential for exhaustion and burn-out.

This one-day retreat is a chance to take intentional time away from day-to-day challenges to be in community with others who are working towards just futures and regenerative practices. We have three goals: to build relationships that bolster our access to mutual support, to refresh practices that help move us collectively towards durable and positive change, and to renew our energies in an environment crafted to open our hearts and light up our vitality.

What will we do?

GWI facilitators will offer a nourishing set of collaborative sessions, designed to balance energizing full group experiences and time to talk in smaller groups. We will invite participants in spaces that will allow everyone to share, learn and listen; we will provide time for renewing our energies; and we will offer space to practice the skills required for joyful, effective, cooperative action. 

We will be drawing from practices that include: setting working agreements; non-violent communication and empathy share; clarity on the vision that animates us; and tools for how to hold space and use equitable meeting practices in your organizing efforts or workplaces. We will end the day sharing dinner together at a local restaurant.

Who is this for?

There are many ways to work towards a just and regenerative future. Whether you are coming with decades of solidarity economy expertise or just starting the journey towards moving into social change work, we invite you to join us! If you are aligned with Just Transition and have been called to work towards positive, collective change, and want to spend time in reflection and discussion with allies, this retreat might be for you. We are open to all, and are particularly drawn to gathering people who are open to the concept that we are stronger together, who want to join a network of mutual support, and who are eager to connect and learn across arenas of experience. 

Join us in a conversation with Samia Khan-Bambrah as we explore how compliance impacts our lives, the stories we tell, and our larger communities.

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As we approach the mid-term elections, voter suppression vies with voter registration for our attention. Our special guest this month, Barbara Graves-Poller, will talk about coalition-building in an age of algorithm-driven fragmentation.

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We believe that practicing the art of facilitation creates equitable, productive, joyful, and connecting spaces, so that people can fully participate, contribute, and collaborate. 

If “facilitation” is, at its root, the invisible process of making things easier, how can we equip ourselves as facilitators to create ease and openness? How can we practice a form of facilitation that is in alignment with our values and in service to creating a more democratic and just world?

In this workshop, GWI workers will share their go-to facilitation practices, including how to prepare a facilitation plan, how to hold space during a gathering, and how to guide and organize a group towards a shared goal over time. We will go over tools and concepts that have been helpful to us in our work, whether as workshop leaders, cohort facilitators, or community builders. Our goal is to provide clarity and grounding for those stepping into the ongoing practice of being a participatory facilitator. We come to this work with curiosity and humility, and as co-learners on this journey with you!

This workshop is for seasoned facilitators and beginners alike. 

We invite you to join us if any of the following apply:

• You yearn for more productive, collaborative meetings
• You hold the responsibility in leading or co-leading a class, working group, or team
• You sense there might be better ways for you all to collaborate in meetings but are not sure how to shift things
• You seek a more democratic process when making group decisions or gathering people’s input
• You are hesitant to call yourself a “facilitator” but find yourself in that role a lot, and you’d like support!

We know that collaboration is not an automatic result of a desire to work together well, but flows from intentional, ongoing practices that develop the awareness and capacities of the members of the working group over time. Enter the facilitator.

For more on our approach to facilitation and some of the resources that inspire us, you can explore our Good Work in Groups collection. In particular, check out the post: How to be a Participatory Facilitator. 

The workshop will include formal instruction and will conclude with an informal Happy Hour for participants to further connect and share their experiences.

In this workshop series, we get into the nuts and bolts of tools, policies and practices that support democratic decision making, and discuss the kinds of relational shifts that facilitate a culture of shared leadership.

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Let’s come together to align understanding and action in support of effective, collective responses to the moment we are living in.

Soaring prices for living expenses make it increasingly difficult to secure our basic needs. Natural disasters are on the rise. Our entrenched political divides are laced with conflict and create a sense of insecurity. How do we make sense of these realities? Where can we glimpse the kind of possibility worth coming together to work for? This workshop provides an opportunity to connect, explore a shared vision of Just Transition, and consider the question: What will it take to build systems centered on care for each other and our shared home? What would it mean for many of us in the Mahicantuck (Hudson) Valley to be focused on social and ecological well-being? Join us, in community, to deepen your understanding of the Just Transition framework, principles and practices. Through video, reflection, story sharing, and small group discussion, you will:

• See people from across the country describing aspects of Just Transition
• Hear how other participants respond to the framework
• Connect your own experience to extractive and regenerative economic paradigms
• Gain a sense of the framework, principles and practices, and where they come from
• Discuss ways you are drawn toward weaving one or more Just Transition principles and practices into your Good Work

** This workshop will be held in-person at The GWI Greenhouse

**This workshop is full. We have added another date in September to meet the growing demand for this offering. If you are interested, please register for our September 26th workshop.

We believe that practicing the art of facilitation creates equitable, productive, joyful, and connecting spaces, so that people can fully participate, contribute, and collaborate. 

If “facilitation” is, at its root, the invisible process of making things easier, how can we equip ourselves as facilitators to create ease and openness? How can we practice a form of facilitation that is in alignment with our values and in service to creating a more democratic and just world?

In this workshop, GWI workers will share their go-to facilitation practices, including how to prepare a facilitation plan, how to hold space during a gathering, and how to guide and organize a group towards a shared goal over time. We will go over tools and concepts that have been helpful to us in our work, whether as workshop leaders, cohort facilitators, or community builders. Our goal is to provide clarity and grounding for those stepping into the ongoing practice of being a participatory facilitator. We come to this work with curiosity and humility, and as co-learners on this journey with you!

This workshop is for seasoned facilitators and beginners alike. 

We invite you to join us if any of the following apply:

• You yearn for more productive, collaborative meetings
• You hold the responsibility in leading or co-leading a class, working group, or team
• You sense there might be better ways for you all to collaborate in meetings but are not sure how to shift things
• You seek a more democratic process when making group decisions or gathering people’s input
• You are hesitant to call yourself a “facilitator” but find yourself in that role a lot, and you’d like support!

We know that collaboration is not an automatic result of a desire to work together well, but flows from intentional, ongoing practices that develop the awareness and capacities of the members of the working group over time. Enter the facilitator.

For more on our approach to facilitation and some of the resources that inspire us, you can explore our Good Work in Groups collection. In particular, check out the post: How to be a Participatory Facilitator. 

The workshop will include formal instruction and will conclude with an informal Happy Hour for participants to further connect and share their experiences.