Liz Hammond (Cohort 8)
“...the facilitator said: ‘the work is not the workshop.’ I want to scream that from the mountaintops; what we need is to do right now.”
Caminante no hay camino, by Antonio Machado
"Traveler, there is no path. You make the path as you walk..." [English translation]
For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet, by Joy Harjo
"When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed..."
Janet Stolfi Alfano, MSW, Executive Director (Cohort 16)
"...great because finally folks are paying attention to this. The terrible part is that it took this pandemic for many people to pay attention..."
Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu Through Storytelling, by Denise Keyes Page (facilitator, Cohorts 2&3)
"...given the sudden contrast and very rude awakening in my teenage world, it’s no accident that many decades later, I would be working to specifically build Ubuntu...”
Kia Levey-Burden (Cohort 8)
“We use ‘leadership’ or ‘leader’ as one word, when it is full of so much meaning. How do we make space for the deeper complexities of leadership?”
Changing My Focus with Love, Gratitude & Sisterhood, by Carmen Nieves (Cohort 17)
“We can say ‘I love you.’ But I realized it’s the way I show you I love you that makes all the difference. Some things don’t need words to be understood.”
What to Keep, What to Let Go, by Merrie Harrison (Cohort 13)
"I want to tie things up with a bow as pretty as the tiny one on the photo album in the dollhouse. Everything glued down in perfect order. But that’s not real life..."
“The Hill We Climb,” by Amanda Gorman, inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate
"We've braved the belly of the beast, We've learned that quiet isn't always peace..."
Reclaiming My Culture Through Kwanzaa, by Jolyn Washington-Walker (Cohort 9)
"I am a descendant of enslaved people whose culture has been ripped from us. We have to wade through half-truths and untruths. Grabbing on to Kwanzaa has been a mind- and life-saver for me."