Fifth Star Collective, PLLC

01/24/2022

2022 is off to a great start for the Fifth Star Collective team! After years of doing this work part-time alongside our full-time jobs, FSC now IS our full-time job! We are excited to be living our dream and looking forward to the partnerships and projects that this next year will bring.

Like so many people, the last two years have also been a time for us to slow down and reflect on our values as individuals and as a business partnership. For a reminder about what drives us at FSC, swipe left!

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03/06/2021

Getting ready to facilitate a strategic planning board retreat with an organizational client today! Do you think four computer screens is enough?

11/03/2020

Let's do this!
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10/19/2020

This year, more than ever, exercising your right to vote is a public health priority. The FSC team participated in the Vote Forward campaign to send letters to underrepresented voters in swing states to encourage them to vote and let their voices be heard.

This weekend we took a team field trip to turn in our ballots and get our flu shots—two opportunities to do our part in making an impact in our communities. How are you exercising your and this year?

07/22/2020

07/16/2020

It's BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month! Check out the mental health toolkit from Mental Health America. They provide lists of resources specifically for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, handouts for increasing awareness of the mental heath impact of racial trauma and racism, and much more! Repost from .

07/03/2020

Our foundational values guide us in our work, however big or small the project.

07/01/2020

This video is essential listening for folks working in , , and community-serving . Join us in learning from SWCAREs: Social Work Coalition for Anti-Racist Educators and Rachel Cargle. Link to "Social Work So White" provided below.

SWCAREs, whose mission is to dismantle white supremacy in social work education, was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Rachel Cargle in May 2020. ...

06/26/2020

Our foundational values guide us in our work, however big or small the project.

06/24/2020

Whether you have a clearly defined project you’d like FSC to assist with or you need some help thinking through potential strategies for addressing a challenge at your organization, we’re available to talk. Free consultations are 60 minutes or less, and we are able to connect with you over the phone, via video chat, or in-person.

06/23/2020

Like so many people over the last several weeks, we have been reading, watching, listening to, and reflecting on a variety of resources that have been shared so generously by others, as well as revisiting tools that have provided valuable insight and guidance for us in the past. As a business that names and as key values, we know that we have a responsibility to live up to those values in practice, especially as white folks working within the and fields. That means being thoughtful and authentic in collaborations with clients and peers, and being intentional in developing skills and leveraging tools and resources that push us to consider identity, power, and privilege in our projects.

White Supremacy Culture (https://bit.ly/2CwoMVv), a piece written years ago by Tema Okun, provides a list of some of the characteristics of white supremacy that show up in how people and institutions approach their work, and offers notes on how they might be deconstructed in individuals and organizations alike. The descriptions of and antidotes for so many of these characteristics are incredibly relevant when thinking about how we approach and activities -- Sense of Urgency, Quantity over Quality, Only One Right Way, and Objectivity especially stood out to us. Which of these characteristics feel familiar to you and are at play in your personal and/or professional life?

(A link to the zine version of this list, along with other resources, can be found here: https://bit.ly/2CrJ7uV. The image in this post is the cover page of that zine, created by Laura Donovan.)