We are currently offering a more standardized package of advising and virtual (for now) meeting facilitation for organizations and mutual aid groups that are struggling to adjust to the virtual organizing format necessitated by global pandemic. This service requires a less intensive intake process than our usual “accompaniment”-style partnerships; we can begin on very short notice.
Short-Term
COVID-19 Support
COVID-19 has brought many changes to our day-to-day lives, both on personal and organizational levels. Our community organizations and movements -- and the new ones popping up -- are vital to community survival. One of the most inspiring changes we’ve seen in this pandemic has been the emergence of mutual aid groups all over the country, tirelessly organizing to get their communities what they need to survive. Yet it’s never been more difficult to do the day-to-day work of support, outreach, and meaningful engagement. As folks who are involved in various organizations and mutual aid in our own communities, we have been thinking deeply about what the people supporting those communities need to keep their work responsive and sustainable.
We at The STOKE Collective have been thinking extensively about what organizations, movements, and grassroots community groups need as most relationship-building and work moves to a digital interface. As a collective of trainers who live in eight different cities, we have long worked hard to figure out how to build authentic support structures and spaces online for ourselves. We specialize in productive, life-giving meetings -- meetings where people leave feeling more recognized, unified, and motivated than when they arrived. We want to build the capacity for your organizations to have dynamic meetings, to keep your work flowing and your people supported throughout -- and beyond -- this pandemic.
Organizations
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Meeting Facilitation: You set the objectives. We help you meet them. STOKE trainers will facilitate meetings for your organization, helping to reach the outcomes you desire in a participatory and connective way.
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Facilitation Coaching: Build on what’s working. STOKE trainers will coach and guide you on how to facilitate effective meetings online, letting you take the lead while offering our support.
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3-session Meeting Facilitation Training: Level up your facilitation. STOKE trainers will run a 3-part series on how to make your meetings more relational and participatory, with an eye towards leaving you with a “toolbox” of meeting facilitation skills and strategies to use on your own.
Mutual Aid Groups
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Leadership Coaching: If you are a leader of a mutual aid group, STOKE trainers will coach you in your work, accompanying you in the challenges of organizing during the pandemic. Trainers are adept at providing guidance on community building within a group, building up a groups’ capacity to support one another, getting a group aligned around values and vision, and more.
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Support Groups for Mutual Aid Organizers: STOKE trainers will hold space for those involved in mutual aid who are wanting to connect with others outside their group to get inspired, exchange practices, workshop challenges, and build new relationships. This will be a cohort model that meets on a regular basis and continues to work together over a period of time.
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One-on-One Training: Mutual aid has brought a lot of people together very quickly, many who do not know one another or are organizing for the first time. STOKE trainers will lead a One-on-One training to get people connected and more deeply invested in your mutual aid work.
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Any of the organizational services can be tailored to mutual aid groups as well
STOKE trainers are providing these services to mutual aid groups free of charge.