Welcome to the new Ujima Staff WIRE! The Staff WIRE is an extension of our monthly #CO-DIRECT meeting, which happens on the first Wednesday of each month, meant to update and provide a consistent window of opportunity for Ujima members to see and participate in key activities led by staff within the Ujima Ecosystem. The Ujima Staff WIRE is a monthly publication.
STAFF WIRE
August is the Sunday of months. Given that it is Black August, a month historically significant to international struggle for Black freedom, Ujima's staff engaged in a practice of rest, revision and reflection by slowing down to prioritize internal planning, and developing/testing new processes for staff operations. For example, at our last #CO-DIRECT session, on August 5, we focused on improving communications between staff and member teams. This included a formal notes template, that staff will use to communicate directly with member teams by answering questions from member teams on their notes templates. You can find the official notes document for each member team in the linked directory.
Our understanding of rest is heavily influenced by artist Tricia Hersey and her project, the Nap Ministry, which views rest as a radical tool for community healing and as a form of resistance. As the month comes to a close, we decided to use this space to reflect on what we have been thinking about, and how we have been using our time during the month:
Nia, our Executive Director, took a vacation during the third week of August, which she used as a personal reading residency.
Cierra, our Communications Director, spent two weeks at an artist residency, where she learned to make books and art with a risograph printer; she slept in everyday.
Johnny, our Managing Director of the Ujima Fund, is thinking about the importance of factoring ourselves in the longevity and sustainability of our small business community and making space for rest as resistance.
James, our Chief of Staff, Community and Culture, has been thinking about participatory fundraising strategies, operationally positioning staff to be successful in their role and cared for as a human being as much as possible, and hopes to catch up on Canada's edition of Rupaul's Drag Race.
As Hersey reminds us in her recent interview in The Atlantic, there is no wrong way to rest or deal with our current socio-political context, "Take it easy on yourself. This is a slow deprogramming. It’s really about uplifting what is happening, removing those veils, and really sitting in the midst of right now. [...] Part of this rest resistance is also reclaiming your imagination and reclaiming hope, reclaiming your intuition of knowing what’s right and knowing there’s always time for you to reclaim your body as yours."
TONIGHT at 6PM: 'Community Engagement with Mo Manklang'
Our next Ujima Financial & Political Education Workshop is tonight, Wednesday, August 26, from 6:00pm-7:15pm.
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- 6:00-7:15PM #CoLearn: The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives will present a multi-part series on Cooperative Work. The next installment focuses on community engagement with facilitator Mo Manklang.
- 7:15-8:30PM #CoCreation: Business Support, Evaluation Member Teams
PLEASE RSVP. Thank you!
- August 26th Community Engagement with Mo Manklang
- August 26th Business Support Member Team Meeting
- August 26th Evaluation Member Team Meeting
- Join online: Register here for Ujima Meeting
Time: Wednesday, July 29th, 6PM | Location: Zoom Only
#CoLearning Recap: Cooperative Finances
Last week we were visited again by Matt Feinstein, who talked with us about finances and the Cooperative business structure. Click here to view the archived video.
Upcoming Ujima Meetings
We hold Open Meetings every Wednesday at 6pm via Zoom.
Check out our August Calendar below!
#UjimaWednesdays Meeting Agenda:
6:00-7:15 - Community Building + Financial and Political Education.
7:15-8:30 - Member Team Meetings (Based on a rotating schedule; See calendar above)
