Thank you Maia & John!

We’re finally sharing an update on some of the many things we’ve been able to do in the past year, thanks to your generous support!

Here are some of the new actions and initiatives we launched in 2020-21:

• Reparations Initiatives: Both individually and through Cultural Catalyst Network, we have cultivated relationships with teams of BIPOC activists, making regular financial reparations to both BIPOC individuals and communities, as well as supporting the 2020 Reparations Procession.

• Financial Support for BIPOC Projects: In 2020-21, we made $100,000 in no interest loans to support the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust – an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people – and Canticle Farm – an urban garden, educational center and community of intention, experimenting at the intersections of faith-based, social-justice-based, and Earth-based nonviolent activism.

• Catalyst Lab: In 2021 we launched Catalyst Lab through the Cultural Catalyst Network. Picking up from where the Transformational Leadership Path left off in 2020, Catalyst Lab trained and empowered over 70 nonviolent community activists and conflict facilitators from over 18 countries in Asia, Europe, South America, and North America.

• Consulting for International Grassroots Nonprofits: Throughout 2020-21, we have offered pro-bono consulting to a few grassroots nonprofit organizations doing wonderful nonviolence work worldwide, including Resuena – working to support nation-wide healing in Colombia, nonviolent democracy efforts in Hong Kong, and the Peace and Permaculture Dojo in Chiba, Japan.

• Anti-Racism Study and Action: In 2020, we launched an ongoing Anti-Racism Study and Action group, as an initiative of the Cultural Catalyst Network, exploring practices drawn from the books Me and White Supremacy, by Layla Saad, and My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, by Resmaa Menakem.

We also have continued our involvement with many of the projects we were already involved with:

Cultural Catalyst Network: The Cultural Catalyst Network has really matured in the past year, clarifying its purpose and core projects, including an active global network of ongoing “pods” practicing inner and outer transformation work, a regular rhythm of in-person gatherings and trainings in Europe and North America, and on-line trainings like the Catalyst Lab (mentioned above). Below is a photo of a CCN Europe gathering in Berlin in October 2021. We will have CCN gatherings on the East and West Coast of North America in December 2021.

• Yet-To-Be Named Network: We continue to be active in the Yet-To-Be-Named network –– a national network dedicated to nonviolent direct action at the intersection of climate justice and racial equity –– with Aimee participating in a network team in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Karl co-facilitating trainings and supporting the core “DNA” team for the network.

• Internal Family Systems Therapy: We continue to be really inspired by our work with Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and how it is being applied to social and ecological healing. We both completed our Level 1 IFS training, and Karl continued to complete Levels 2 and 3 as well, now serving as training staff for the IFS Institute.

We could never have done it without you!

With much love and thanks, Aimee and Karl