Hello fellow HUMANs!

We're so pleased to be holding exciting mutual aid gatherings in a variety of places, and we hope we can reach you wherever you are, to help make your mutual aid-supported dreams come true. 

Three things for you today: 1. follow-up from our Solidarity Summit, including notes and recordings, and making plans for your own clusterflocks. 2. Support and/or participate in our upcoming Solidarity Sprint through Europe and the UK! 3. Join the HUMANs, already :) or post and reply to offers and wants if you're already there.

1. Here are notes and recordings from our recent Solidarity Summit! 

And here is how we follow up: Want to cluster your flocks? Let's schedule a session for your own flock. Communities of Place or Communities of Practice - we can spend an hour or so with your current or hopeful partners and do some collective vision-to-action work, all supported via cooperative mutual aid.

2. We're going on a Europe and UK Solidarity Sprint (it started as a stroll, then a shuffle, now it's so packed with cool stuff that it's officially a sprint!)  Leaders and partners of the HUMANs will meet up in Slovenia to work on our open source tech ecosystem and do some strategic dreaming, then some of us will do a learning and partnership journey in other parts of Europe and the UK to be determined. For the last week we'll wind up in Hull UK, home of our wonderful sister site, where we'll do a shared learning summit. We'll make lots of video and written documentation as we go. We're honored to report that MONNETA is sponsoring the trip, and we'll co-publish some writing and video. And we have some money yet to raise in order to cover all our costs and be able to travel to all the places we'd like to. Please feel free to give a donation here.   But not at the expense of contributing to or joining the HUMANs overall, which we prefer if you need to choose one or the other ---

3. Please join! The HUMANs global network is ready to rock n roll, and the way we get going is for you to be part of it. Join, enter your offers and wants in the marketplace, reply to the ones already there, and start coming to our online learning sessions if you haven't already. Or in person if you're in the right place at the right time! :)

We had a fun and fruitful time at our summit last weekend. Thanks to those who joined! Special thanks to timebanks.org for co-hosting and for sharing follow-up conversation at their Chat on the Bench later that day.

Solidarity Summit Sept. 16-17, 1-3pm CDT

Here are notes and recordings of our September 2023 Solidarity Summit: Clusterflocks!

These are the slides, and they include links to other sites and notes.

The recordings are here: Part 1: Getting to Know You. Part 2: Clustering our Flocks.

September 16 and 17, 1-3pm CDT each day, on zoom and anywhere any local group wants to gather (we were at the Social Justice Center in Madison WI during the Willy St. Fair). Theme was Clusterflocks. Goal is clustering our flocks in ways that can build the potential of each of us, and our networks.

Saturday September 16, 1-3pm CDT For newcomers, and people who want easy open conversation, this is a Getting to Know You session. We'll give overviews of the HUMANs and the summit, and hear from each of you, and chat more about whatever topics are compelling to you.

Sunday September 17, 1-3pm CDT This second session of the summit will focus in on Communities of Place and Communities of Practice. We'll have 2 facilitated breakout sessions where people can dive into how to realize more dreams through connecting various cooperators  - one session organized by geography, the other by interest area (justice, food, travel, housing). We'll regroup to process what we've learned and how we can operationalize it.

We've very pleased to share that TimeBanks.org is a partner in the Sunday session, and one of the breakout rooms will focus on how we can connect more meaningfully via and with timebanking.

Later that day people will follow up on this conversation with TimeBanks.org's monthly Chat on the Bench, 3-4 CDT on this Zoom link. Why is it called "Chat on the Bench?" Whether you're waiting for the bus or need sit and rest, sitting on the bench is the perfect place. Sitting on the bench may offer an opportunity to meet a stranger who becomes your friend, or it's a place to receive comfort. Every time we take time to sit on our bench, we learn something new and feel supported! All the stories shared are TimeBank-related. 

Solidarity Summit Sept. 16-17, 1-3pm CDT

We hope you can make it to our next Solidarity Summit! September 16 and 17, 1-3pm CDT each day, on zoom and anywhere any local group wants to gather (we'll be at the Social Justice Center in Madison WI). Theme is Clusterflocks. Goal is clustering our flocks in ways that can build the potential of each of us, and our networks.

Saturday September 16, 1-3pm CDTFor newcomers, and people who want easy open conversation, this is a Getting to Know You session. We'll give overviews of the HUMANs and the summit, and hear from each of you, and chat more about whatever topics are compelling to you.

Sunday September 17, 1-3pm CDT This second session of the summit will focus in on Communities of Place and Communities of Practice. We'll have 2 facilitated breakout sessions where people can dive into how to realize more dreams through connecting various cooperators  - one session organized by geography, the other by interest area (justice, food, travel, housing). We'll regroup to process what we've learned and how we can operationalize it.

We've very pleased to share that TimeBanks.org is a partner in the Sunday session, and one of the breakout rooms will focus on how we can connect more meaningfully via and with timebanking.

Later that day people will follow up on this conversation with TimeBanks.org's monthly Chat on the Bench, 3-4 CDT on this Zoom link. (NOTE this is a different zoom link than our other sessions) Why is it called "Chat on the Bench?" Whether you're waiting for the bus or need sit and rest, sitting on the bench is the perfect place. Sitting on the bench may offer an opportunity to meet a stranger who becomes your friend, or it's a place to receive comfort. Every time we take time to sit on our bench, we learn something new and feel supported! All the stories shared are TimeBank-related. 

We hope you can make it to our next Solidarity Summit! September 16 and 17, 1-3pm CDT each day, on zoom* and anywhere any local group wants to gather (we'll be at the Social Justice Center in Madison WI). Theme is Clusterflocks. Goal is clustering our flocks in ways that can build the potential of each of us, and our networks.

*unless we manage to find a good and more values-aligned web meeting tool that can handle more than a handful of people, we'll use zoom. If you have a good solution instead, let us know! and check our website for details closer to the event...

Saturday September 16, 1-3pm CDT For newcomers, and people who want easy open conversation, this is a Getting to Know You session. We'll give overviews of the HUMANs and the summit, and hear from each of you, and chat more about whatever topics are compelling to you.

Sunday September 17, 1-3pm CDT This second session of the summit will focus in on Communities of Place and Communities of Practice. We'll have 2 facilitated breakout sessions where people can dive into how to realize more dreams through connecting various cooperators  - one session organized by geography, the other by interest area (justice, food, travel, housing). We'll regroup to process what we've learned and how we can operationalize it.

Be there or be square :)

Happy Solstice!

Here’s the recording from our June 25, 2023 Solidarity Summit zoom session. 

Here are the slides we used, containing links.

We were very happy to have people join from the US, Slovenia, Nigeria, Mexico, and the UK. Lots of possibilities….

Other sessions were in person in Madison and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

It was a weekend for fun, learning, and dream-realizing. We’re also kicking off some exciting new stuff including Dreamer-level memberships.

Go ahead and join the HUMANs now  If you’ve joined but haven’t yet set yourself up at our marketplace or added your offers and wants, go ahead and do that now.

and this was the schedule for the weekend:

Saturday 3-5pm CDT online karaoke with host Marilyn Lamer.

Sunday, 6/25, 12-2CDT we hosted both on zoom and at the Social Justice Center (Madison WI), a showcase of mutual aid and how it’s working in different places, then how it can apply for you and your community. Meet people from all over the world and see the cool stuff they’re doing, and how they can help you do it too!

This was a very fun and fruitful summit!

June 24-25 Solidarity Summit: Spreading Like Wildflowers II

Hosted by Humans United in Mutual Aid Networks

Check your local network for local events, or host your own event and get assistance from us HUMANs if you want help. Email to let us know what you have in mind.

Saturday 3-5pm CDT join online karaoke with host Marilyn Lamer, on zoom here.

Sunday, 6/25, 12-2CDT we’ll host both on zoom and at the Social Justice Center (Madison WI), a showcase of mutual aid and how it’s working in different places, then how it can apply for you and your community.

Hope to see you there!
 

Mark your calendars for our next Solidarity Summit! Where we come together in our locations if we can, and join each other via zoom to share learning, tools, and camaraderie.

We're starting early by making a little kit to help you host your own local gathering if you like. Let us know if you want to join in!

Also let us know if you want to offer or request a session. 

Besides our regular learning and sharing sessions, we'll also have some fun zoom karaoke, once again hosted by the wonderful Marilyn Lamer.

Email info@mutualaidnetwork.org if you want to be more involved in organizing or suggesting.

March 18-19 we hosted our quarterly Solidarity Summit where we came together across our locations and shared knowledge, inspiration, skills and more.

The theme was Deep and Wide - we enjoyed the opportunity to both expand and deepen our networks.

Saturday - focus on current partners and local work. Catch up on recent progress, update action maps, solidify networks and plans and how we can showcase everything the next day when we'll invite more of the public.

Saturday March 18, 8-10am CDT/UTC-5: Neighborocracy learning session. Recording here. Learn from Joseph Rathinam how Neighborocracy has been a tool to organize enormous numbers of neighborhoods in India to solve difficult problems and build beautiful solutions, block by block. Learn how UK partners aim to adapt it to their context, and dream about how these frameworks could support your own mutual aid work.

Saturday March 18, 10am-12 CDT/UTC-5: Solidarity Summit Action Map Part II. Recording here. Build on the Action Map we started at our previous solidarity summit, and move listings and connections into real-world exchange networks.

Local sites are encouraged to host your own get-togethers later on Saturday, and invite newcomers to the Sunday meetups. In Madison we connected an art opening with a casual party, celebrating our collaborations.

Sunday March 19 10am-12 CDT/UTC-5 Solidarity Action Map Part III - building with newcomers Recording here- we presented what's happening for newcomers to see, and invited them to add themselves into the mix at our Action Map.

Sunday March 19 12-2pm CDT/UTC-5 Solidarity Economy Principles session - This was external to the summit, a discussion by partner organizations about the Solidarity Economy Principles and how to apply them to our work.

Sunday March 19 2-4pm CDT/UTC-5 We hosted an open-space session where people were invited to go deep into specific issues, plans, or dreams.  We had a small group deep discussion here which we didn't record.

Hello friends! We're pleased to share the December 2022 Solidarity Summit Notes and Recording. Thanks to those who joined us!

Theme: The HUMAN Family

On zoom, Saturday December 17 at 2-4pmCST we hosted our quarterly Solidarity Summit and annual general member meeting. HUMANs overview and action-mapping session, and a 15-minute Board election.

The recording is here. The Action Map is here - please feel free to continue to add to it.

What's action mapping? We invited people from around the world to share their exciting mutual aid projects where we'll document them and then see how we can quickly ignite mutually beneficial lines of support for each other.

The Board election - The slate was adopted unanimously. Welcome to our awesome 2022-23 Board!

• Mid-term
  • Stephanie Rearick, Gorazd Norcic
• Up for re-election - Sybille Saint Girons (France), Tim Jones (Madison), Delonte Wilkins (DC), Kurt Roskopf (Milwaukee) , Anneleise Hall (NZ), Kate Macdonald (Hull UK), Rebecca Kemble (Madison)
• New candidates
  • Emily Gollmer (Madison WI), Krissy Gilmore (Tampa FL)

Theme: The HUMAN Family

On zoom, Saturday December 17 at 2-4pmCST Humans United in Mutual Aid Networks (HUMANs) host our quarterly Solidarity Summit and annual general member meeting. We'll have a fun overview and action-mapping session, and a 15-minute Board election. Join us! Time zone converter: https://savvytime.com/converter/cst

What's action mapping? We're inviting people from around the world to share their exciting mutual aid projects where we'll document them and then see how we can quickly ignite mutually beneficial lines of support for each other. Add yourself to the interactive map here.

Want to run for the Board? Get in touch! Email info@mutualaidnetwork.org.

From 4-5pm CST - Zoom Karaoke party! Marilyn will join us from Oahu HI to host a zoom karaoke party that will be fun for all of us. Madisonians feel free to join us at the Social Justice Center (1202 Williamson) for a hybrid live/zoom if you like.

Bonus for people in Madison Wisconsin - 5-6pm CST will be a local in-person party, just for fun. The first in our monthly fun time series :)

Once again, your zoom link.

zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7433558070?pwd=NThPTUxxaDZEU2RLZVgvU2wwU1JIUT…