Who We Are

“Without community, there is no liberation.” -Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde recognized the vitality of "community" in liberation. Unless we work together to uplift and adore our neighbors, we will push against liberation.
We are members of Collective Community Care, who center Black Feminism in our lives and analyze our positionalities in abolishing white supremacy to achieve and maintain collective liberation. We are individuals that both work together as a collective and/or in collaboration, which is not always simultaneous, as we strive to unlearn, create, and present resources digitally through a Black Feminist lens for our communities in solidarity with freedom for Black queer, trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive individuals. Our personal positionalities inform our understanding of Black Feminism. We consider this when diving into each resource, especially those centering Black Queer, non-binary, trans individuals. We hope that this collective provides you with the space to heal, grow, reflect, learn, unlearn, and investigate your own positionality and work.  
++ a reminder that the Black Feminist lens does not exist without also including black transfeminine, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming  lives and the lives who have been lost.
We are grateful to those who have come before us and acknowledge their time, labor, and love.
As part of our Statement of Purpose, we have identified important words that are apart of our grounding language:
Black Feminism, Collaboration,
Community Care, Liberation,
​Horizontal Leadership, White Supremacy

What We Believe

“Community care is where radical joy begins.” - Dr. Shamell Bell
Dr. Shamell Bell is a mother, community organizer, dancer/choreographer, and documentary filmmaker who received her PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA's World Arts and Cultures/Dance department. Dr. Bell is currently a visiting faculty at Dartmouth teaching in the department of Theater and the African and African American Studies program.
This info was found in her full bio at this link:
...
We believe that Collective Community Care is a form of social solidarity in the fight for collective liberation.

We are identifying that collective community care embodies many things:
Solidarity, Accountability, Healing, Resilience, Listening, Protection,
Public Health including mental health, Compensation, Support, Empowering, Continuing Education, Love,
Community, Accessibility, Reimagining, Intergenerational Recognition.

...
We are individuals working collaboratively to unlearn, create, and present resources digitally coming from a foundation of our own personal positionalities in abolishing white supremacy and achieving sustainable, collective liberation. This collective work is done through a Black Feminist lens for our communities in solidarity with freedom for Black queer, trans, non-binary and gender expansive individuals. We believe it is necessary for us to continue to hold space for acknowledging, reflecting, learning, and combating what we have been shaped by (i.e. societal factors) and continuing to hold ourselves and communities accountable. Black feminism/feminist values guide our own daily practice/praxis and how we present information digitally.

...
We create an intentional space where we expand and reflect on our awareness within each of our communities by having conversations about praxis as individuals in our own communities and our experiences. We convene weekly to support and sustain our vision of collective care.

Collective community care can look like:
Mutual aid funds, Restorative justice practices,
Community fridges, Redistribution justice,
Self healing resources, Calls to action etc.

Resources we have engaged in: 
Disclosure ~ Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives ~ The Combahee River Collective Statement ~ Phenomenal Woman ~ Are Prisons Obsolete?: Chapter 5 ~ Feminism Without Borders: Introduction ~ The Apocalypse We Need: #metoo and Transformative Justice Part 1 ~ The Master's Tools Will Not Dismantle The Master's House
​

How We Do The Work 

Supporting The Personal Growth of the Collective and its Members:
  1. We understand the importance of collective personal growth and wellbeing. We check in with each other about the status of meetings. We also do intentional check ins at the beginning of each meeting. In addition, we communicate via text messages, voice memos, and phone calls to share with each other resources and calls to action. All of these things are done to continue to build trust and better communication among ourselves. ​
  2. Our individual capacities and responsibilities with and outside the collective help inform our collective work. In addition, we prioritize the needs of ourselves and understand when members need to take a step back to balance both this work and life outside the collective. ​
Resource Creation:
  1. In thinking about accessibility, collective members decided that a website would best encompass our resources and support the communities that we are trying to reach. This decision was made through thorough research on various website policies and looking into different social media outlets. We ultimately found that a website could support our needs the best. The website is curated with intention and care.
  2. A process that we have identified that helps in supporting members’ work and aligning with our collective goals is giving feedback. Every month before the website update, the goal is to have all collective members provide feedback to drafts submitted for the month.
Communication:
  1. To best communicate, the collective members have created a texting group chat. This function is valued as the main source for meeting agendas, sending call to actions, sharing resources from outside the collective, and checking in on each other.
  2. To best support the work of members and making sure resources are aligned with CCC’s Statement of Purpose, we engage in a feedback process that allows members to submit resources in our working Google Drive and receive written feedback in a timely manner.
  3. ​The collective is interested in engaging in practicing accountability within and outside of the collective. When conflict arises, the collective would like to partake determine if an accountability process is necessary and what it would look like. Currently the collective is in the process of drafting its accountability statement and will be updated to this Statement of Purpose no later than two months from this update.
Weekly Meetings:
  1. We prioritize meeting once a week with one another to discuss resources, collective roles, and community agreements.
  2. On a rotating basis, each collective member has the opportunity to select a resource and facilitate a discussion with other members around Black feminism, the concepts of the resource, how this connects to the work of our collective, ourselves, communities, and our purpose towards collective liberation. *A page is currently being created to invite viewers to see the collective’s discussions and reflections on resources*
  3. Meeting agendas are texted/presented to the group ahead of time to give structure and help guide the meetings. The Meeting Coordinator collaborates with collective members in drafting an agenda
Foundations:
  1. The history of Collective Community Care (CCC) started on May 30th, 2020 with a reach out to collaborate with folks. To read more about the CCC history, please read here.
  2. The collective members have expressed interest in the collective mission, with each member bringing distinct knowledge and creativity. All collective members have an understanding of their own positionality within the collective and their communities more broadly. Each member understands that the collective is not about centering themselves, but the voices and experiences of Black queer, trans, non-binary and gender expansive individuals.
  3. In order to remain a sustainable organizing collective, we follow a horizontal leadership approach and take on self-identified roles to support the collective and its members. Some examples of these roles look like Meeting Coordinator, Notetaker, Website Designer, Organizer of the Drive, Timekeeper, Funds Organizer, etc.
  4. ​The collective developed a shared language in which to use and learn from. Learn with us!: Collective Word Bank)

Where We Want To Go

The collective has mapped out our goals with the recognition that this work must be broken into time frames. There is short-term work (1 month to 3 months), long-term work (1 year to 6 months), life-long work. There are also individual goals, which each member has set for themself and as a collective we plan to revisit once a month.
Redistribution:
As a collective, setting up a system to accept and redistribute funds to individuals and organizations. Raising funds for this project.

Moving Beyond Resources:
How can resources be more of a conversation? Or event? How does it expand beyond reading a document? What is the next level?

Website Accessibility:
Including image descriptions, captions, etc. Ensuring that all are able to access the website with ease.

Timely Feedback:
Working to give feedback in the timeframe that we assign.

Revising Resources on Website:
Working to connect with the people uplifted in resources to engage them and give them a voice on the website.
Mutual Aid Project:
A CCC run project that works within communities. Putting our work into external space, moving outside of the website to actively, covid safely, go into the world and do the work pertaining to our resources and website.
Liberation (12/17):
Compiled by Basha w/ words from Jamison, Alayna, Basha, Elaine, and Laura
"Liberation is the ability to breathe. Every person lives fully in their body, heart, mind, and soul. Nina Simone says it is “no fear.” Luisah Teish says, “A world where everybody eats, where everybody has decent housing, where everybody has their basic necessities and the freedom to be who they are. The freedom to express the spirit that is inside of them.” There is mutual support and leaving no one behind. Governments and powerful people stop actively causing harm. Liberation is the goal, while abolition, solidarity, and acting as accomplices are the process of how we get free, and live a life without oppression once we get there. Every space in which people inhabit and move is one of anti-violence."

We learn from each other and: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Alisia Bierria, Luisah Teish, and Beth Richie


As you begin to engage with our work, we invite you to critique our statement below. Please feel free to leave a comment.