Mantra strategy group

12/22/2025

"We must speak as if we mean it... 'Meaningful' is a synonym for insisting on making the world more beautiful."

Watch moving reflection on the power of words, and the impact language can have when it’s used to make the world a better place.

11/23/2025

"The true measure of strength isn't how hard you can hit, it's how deeply you can heal."

Watch Dr. 's Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award speech on how racism is embedded in medicine, yet too often presented as objective truth.

11/21/2025

"Transition is many things, among them, it's a grief ritual, one in which we mourn who the world wanted us to be, and become and welcome who we were meant to be."

Watch this powerful speech by poet on the grief shared by cis and trans people, and the hope that grief may transform into love.

"Because we have changed, so too, can the world."

11/12/2025

"Every empire knows that before you build law, you build myth."

In this seminal paper, the BLIS Collective (Black Liberation–Indigenous Sovereignty) argues that real social transformation requires both narrative infrastructure—systems that allow for new ways of seeing and knowing—and solidarity infrastructure—the trust and collaboration needed to unite movements.

Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/easKTfaH

10/22/2025

“It’s not that we’ve forgotten how to belong—it’s that the systems we’ve built have made belonging impossible.”

A powerful article by writer Anna Branten who critiques how modern society has separated us from our natural, communal ways of being. She argues that to heal (personally and collectively), we must reimagine ourselves as part of living ecosystems rather than isolated individuals or “cogs” in a machine.

Read here: http://bit.ly/473Z5r7

What if the story of the independent self was never true? On how we lost the flock, why difference is vital for survival, and what it would mean to build groups as living ecosystems. Part 2/3.

09/23/2025

"...what’s now derided as “wokeness” is simply the awakening of our moral conscience to injustice."

In this article, psychology professor Peter T. Coleman writes of how being "woke," in the sense of pursuing justice, has historically reshaped power structures. The pattern remains the same: victims of power speak out, resist, and demand change, while those in power respond by clinging to harmful narratives and gaslighting the victim.

Read the full story here:
https://pc84.medium.com/in-defense-of-woke-why-awakening-to-injustice-is-a-sacred-american-tradition-4a5e52a7e6aa

Peter T. Coleman

09/20/2025

Billionaires fuel climate chaos, attack our healthcare, displace migrants, and undermine democracy. We won’t sit back -- it’s time to make them pay.

On Sept 20, as world leaders gather in NYC, we are rising up for people and planet.

Join People's Action, 350.org, Women's March, and other organizations in the fight against billionaires.

👉 Learn more & sign up: makebillionairespay.us

350.org is turning the page on the fossil fuel industry and building a clean, just future by connecting powerful grassroots climate movements around the world.

07/22/2025

“This political climate requires us to break out of our issue silos and find ways to work and be together to fight for liberation.” — Dom Kelly, New Disabled South

In this article, Terrance Pitts (Proteus Fund) and Rachele Tardi Forgacs (RWJFoundation) explore how transformative solidarity means building deep, long-term relationships across movements, rather than just reacting in moments of crisis.

Read more about how the Solidarity Collaborative is creating a new model for justice-driven coalition-building:
http://bit.ly/3TT62nC

Funders can strengthen movements and create lasting change by facilitating relationships and building trust among social justice advocates.

07/18/2025

“Medicaid is one of the most powerful tools for breaking down access barriers.”

Yet, youth across the U.S. are being left behind.

Weeks after slashing $1 billion in school mental health grants, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” makes tax cuts permanent, while cutting Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA support. As writer Megan Kerns on The Nonprofit Quarterly reports, these cuts threaten the very systems young people rely on for mental health care, especially in high-need schools and under-resourced communities.

Read here:
http://bit.ly/3GSX0nu

Trump’s spending and tax legislation will hurt youth mental health. A new report shows how young people desperately need services.

07/17/2025

"'Take Good Care' speaks to our best selves… rooted in interdependence, abundance, mutual recognition, and belonging."

Movements like the Civil Rights struggle, mutual aid during COVID-19, and environmental justice have shown the power of narrative and collective action to enact social change. In this article, Narrative Initiative challenges dominant narratives of rugged individualism by advocating for a new framework rooted in collective care.

Read here:
http://bit.ly/4lAWDNN

Every effective movement has invited people to imagine a bigger “we” beyond their personal interests. Today, we are faced with a challenge…

07/14/2025

“The existence of homelessness in a society is not some intractable, unsolvable problem. It is simply a reflection of what the values of that society are.”

In Current Affairs, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson argues that argues that homelessness in the U.S. is an entirely solvable problem and that failure to act often reflects a collective belief that some lives are unworthy of care.

Read here: http://bit.ly/4kAQhMQ

Whether we let people have houses is a choice we make. But those who refuse to support guaranteed housing can’t complain when people end up living on the streets.

07/11/2025

"Social change happens when many people and groups play different roles, aligning with shared values, strategic goals, and deep solidarity."

An essential read by writer and advocate Deepa Iyer, who highlights that social change requires an intersection of gifts, skills, and roles--from storytellers, to weavers, disruptors, and healers--all interwoven in movements for justice.

Read here: https://deepaiyer.substack.com/p/all-of-us