Grounded in our manifesto and theory of change, we center humanity while exploring innovative approaches that stretch the collective imagination, cultivating relationships with community members, practicing solidarity across issue areas and disrupting systems and practices that perpetuate harm in our communities.
We confront dehumanizing systems of oppression by building people power, collectively developing strategy and mobilizing to push forward an alternative vision. As a community of practice, we adopt a posture of learning in our approaches—holding space for our work to be emergent and adapt as the political terrain and power structures shift.
What is a community of practice?
“A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people with a shared concern, interest or passion, who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis (E. Wenger, R. McDermott, W. Snyder, n.d.).” Interested in learning more about communities of practice? Check out this article.
The Urban Core Collective creates space for conscious relationship building and communal care with our neighbors. We collaborate on adaptive organizing strategies that mobilize our work and grounds us in the belief that liberation is possible.
We acknowledge that we are on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabe people, the People of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi. We recognize the sovereignty of Michigan’s Indigenous nations and historic communities – both those who live here now and those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands.
We conduct land acknowledgments as a reminder of the histories, teachings, traditions, and the first people who originated here and who are stewards of this land. We acknowledge the truth that for more than five hundred years, Native nations have demonstrated resilience and resistance in the efforts to separate them from their land and ways of life.
It is important for each of us to not only acknowledge, but seek to understand the history that has brought us to reside on their land and support the process of social justice and reconciliation. We have a lot more to learn and do. Thank you for sharing this place with us.
© 2023 Urban Core Collective | 413 Hall Street SE, Suite 1 Grand Rapids, MI 49507| Designed by Octavia Mingerink ~ Developed by Jessa Challa
