Now & Center: Entrepreneurial Voices from the Margin

Belonging, Mutual Support, and Trust with Teju Ravilochan, Founder of GatherFor

June 28, 2022 Karen Bartlett Episode 10
Now & Center: Entrepreneurial Voices from the Margin
Belonging, Mutual Support, and Trust with Teju Ravilochan, Founder of GatherFor
Show Notes Transcript

Episode Description:  

Karen hears from Teju Ravilochan, Founder of GatherFor, on how those closest to a problem are the ones with their own solutions.  He shares several lessons he’s learned through GatherFor, including the relationship between poverty and exclusion, the power of mutual support, and how to heal the wounds that tell us that we can’t trust those around us.

Links:

Schedule an Exploratory Call with Karen: https://calendly.com/karenbartlett/30min

Learn more about Kite + Dart Group:  www.kiteanddartgroup.com

Register for an upcoming event:  https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-kite-dart-group-16435043586

Learn more about GatherFor:  http://gatherfor.org/

Connect with Carin Huebner at Public Good Media:  publicgood.media

Original music credit goes to DJ Ishe:  https://soundcloud.com/ishe

00:00.00

kitedart

Hello everybody welcome welcome welcome Karen Bartlett from the kite and dart group here at now and center and today I'm so excited for the conversation that I get to have with taju ravi Lochen. He is the founder of an organization called gather for so teju welcome. Thank you so much for being here.


00:20.70

Teju

Thank you so much for having me Karen.


00:25.51

kitedart

Yeah I would love to um first just you know share how I got introduced to you and then I'll let you dive in and tell us more about your organization. But I had the distinct pleasure of being introduced introduced to you from a um. An event that you did with a client and um collaborator of mine ree and she um I guess I should call her Dr. G right? She's the founder of Dr G's lab. So I'm so used to calling her brie but she is such a fabulous human and. I came to that event and I just felt like the mission that you were on is so visionary and it's very innovative and um, kind of innovative. But also I guess there's some roots right in in like historical roots I guess to what you're kind of going for. But. I was so impressed with the work that you're doing the commitment that you have to um, impacting people in their lives and I just felt like it would be a great story to get out to the world. So. Thank you so much for being here. Um, would you just share with us a little bit about gather for. Ah, what you do the mission you're on and really anything you'd like to share about the organization.


01:46.49

Teju

Um, sure, um, so gather for his organizing neighbors who are facing food job and housing insecurity into teams to support each other like family and. Work is really inspired by the fact that here in the United States we have this american dream narrative we have this story that says if you work hard you can create the life that you want for yourself here but also part of that story is this idea of pull yourself up by your bootstraps and your your well-being is really in your hands my well-being is in my hands and so be what are the consequences of that story and who's benefiting from that story and who actually has written that story and why is it so sown into our collective ethos and I think that. But we're seeing the United States now is a country where even before the pandemic 4 in 10 people couldn't afford a $400 emergency according to the federal reserve where 40000000 people are living in extreme poverty and the United States is considered one of the most unequal developed countries in the world. Have point nine percent of the richest americans owning as much wealth as the bottom 90% of americans and so in this narrative that we have we have created a society that actually allows us to let other people. Suffer and not have their basic needs met and that stands in Stark contrast to a lot of other cultures around the world right now and also throughout history and many indigenous cultures. For example, had very different ways of seeing one another. In the book decolonizing wealth by Edgarville and Nueva the Navajo woman Dana Arviso who runs the potlatch fund went to the Cheyenne River territories and interviewed native tribes about poverty and poverty reduction and she found difficulty in communicating with them. Because they don't have a word for poverty in their language. The closest phrase that could get to is people without family meaning the only way that someone would be without a blanket without food without housing was if they did not have any family. Because should they have family their family would never allow them to go through those kinds of things and so that way of being that has been very deep and a lot of indigenous cultures and a lot of other cultures around the world is not the kind of culture that we have in the United States


04:25.12

Teju

So our work at gather 4 is to shift that narrative and to attempt to examine if we can return to this ancient culture an ancient way of being here in the United States by bringing people together who currently are experiencing poverty and going through struggles and and supporting them. And creating a neighborhood safety net that holds neighbors like family. That's the work that we're doing.


04:56.85

kitedart

It's amazing. Absolutely Amazing. Um I Really I remember you sharing that before about how they found that that all these cultures didn't have a word for poverty and and the closest they could come was to be without a family and I think that's really incredible. Ah. To think about and I just I Love I Love the mission of what you're doing so much I think it's really incredible. This is kind of a random question but I'm just curious. Are you a 5 a 1 C 3 or are you I Assume you're not okay I figured you were so um.


05:22.81

Teju

Yes.


05:29.86

kitedart

Got it and are you already when did you when did you start and and are you already? Do you already have your five o one c three


05:34.65

Teju

Yes, we started about April Twenty Twenty and we do already have our five o one C three


05:41.85

kitedart

Okay, got it. That's awesome. It's a long road. It's a lot of work to get there so congratulations. That's great. Um, cool. Well thank you so much for that I'd love to hear, especially so you started gather for. After covered already you know everything got shut down I'd be really curious to know you know what have been some of the biggest challenges that you've had in getting gather for off the ground.


06:09.68

Teju

Sure. So first I mean a little bit about the model. So as as I mentioned we organize teams of neighbors and so what we do is first we find folks who are experiencing food job and housing insecurity.


06:15.67

kitedart

Um, yeah.


06:24.86

Teju

Um, and there are unfortunately plenty of them as a result of the pandemic and second we organize them into teams of 5 to 8 people. Um and and they're they're people. There are people in their same neighborhoods basically and going through some of the same kinds of challenges. And then these teams meet every week currently on Zoom because of the pandemic to share stories to understand where each of them are physically materially intellectually emotionally spiritually and where they want to be in those areas and then as a group they. Develop community agreements and ways of working together to support one another in moving from where they are to where they want to be and and so the the idea is that as a community they actually have what they need. They have the wisdom they have the knowledge they have plenty available to them that if we. If we create the space for them to share with 1 another. They can actually help each other navigate this together. Um, and so each of our teams of 5 to 8 people meet meet regularly and then we bring all the teams tailor once a month in a sort of community town hall to share learnings share different strategies and approaches. Um, and and deepen the community's wisdom about how to deal with things like food insecurity. How to change housing policy where to find work and jobs. You know those kinds of things and then we also organize workshops and trainings based on what our neighbors that's our participants. The word we call use for our participants. Organized workshops and trainings we provide direct cash assistance to them. Um, and we connect them to partners like financial planners or immigration lawyers who can provide deep and important services pro bono to them as well. Um, so all of this is is sort of creating ah a neighborhood safety net model. So the first challenge that we encountered is number one really developing a model that's actually relevant for the population that we're trying to serve so when we started I was inspired by a model in Baltimore that wraps teams of volunteers around. At-risk youth to help them outside of the classroom with homework with transportation holistically with whatever they need and that model has been really really effective and so we took that model and tried it in Brownsville Brooklyn where we're piloting and we did it with 3 people to start for a couple of months and it was fine and it was powerful and we had these teams of predominantly whites and privileged volunteers working with predominantly black low income queer folks as neighbors and um and there was a ceiling to how much support the neighbors were willing to receive.


09:06.13

Teju

And as we dug into that we realized there's shame in our culture around not being able to meet your basic needs and so when you have a group of people who are only helping you and that's going undirectionally it can amplify that sense of Saint shame it can remind you that you're not able to take care of yourself and when we discover that we.


09:07.41

kitedart

Are.


09:26.70

Teju

1 of our mentors put it really beautifully Sonia Possi who's the founder of free from she said reciprocity is an antidote to shame so we realized we had to bake reciprocity into our model and so we then shifted to organizing teams of neighbors going through similar struggles rather than having volunteers and neighbors. Um. Yeah, now have teams of all neighbors of people going through the same kinds of things where we're able to give and receive support from one another and so it was powerful to be able to prototype and design this along with the community that we're working with and initially have something that was somewhat helpful but not quite culturally relevant and then. And then find something that seems to be working better now we're working with 43 people and they are mostly black, mostly women. Um, mostly food job housing insecure their um. Undocumented in some cases there survivors of domestic violence or single parents. Um, and so a couple of the challenges that we've faced are um, everyone's carrying trauma with them because of some of the experiences that they've had and so. How we make our work trauma informed. How do we make it something that is able to heal some of the traumas that everyone is carrying from going through these kinds of challenges the second challenge that we have faced is in earning trust and building trust from the very beginning. But ah, the the first blush some of the neighbors who learned about our work wondered is this a scam they're giving us money you know does is this actually something real and we fortunately had local partners who were really able to help advocate for our work and but um, that was another challenge that we faced. And then I think a third challenge is really that we have all internalized cultural narratives like the american dream like we should stand on our own and so liberating ourselves from that whoever we are is a great challenge and learning to let other people in and be vulnerable receive support from them. Offer support is an ongoing process for us. So I think I think we have been that's been another challenge that we've been learning through.


11:47.30

kitedart

I love it. Wow! That's really amazing. Um, gosh I want I'd love to pull out a few different things that you brought up there I think these are some great points like 1 is I love um, first of all I love how you like dove in and you started with something you tried it and you were like. Quickly learning like you know, kind of failing forward so to speak of like this doesn't work. This is why this doesn't work. What do we need to try next because I think that so often when. People are starting organizations right? Either they're trying to get it perfect the first time and that can really hold us back from starting getting going. You know, really getting it off the ground and then once we do start sometimes we hang on very tightly to things that might not be working and so I hear part of. Part of that story right? really is just around that um, taking action and learning from the mistakes that you've made and I also really appreciate that in that learning you know I do think that that I'm sure you you have seen this and and saw this in this case of the. The whole idea of um, you know, white saviorism and nonprofits um not only nonprofits but you know to some extent nonprofits like working to have a positive impact but um, imposing their way of fixing the problem so to speak on people. Without really including the people who they're serving in the solution. So it sounds like you had a really quick adjustment for how to um, bring in that empowerment for people.


13:33.47

Teju

Um, but yeah I think that's that's right I mean I think we we've been trying to really start with the belief that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution and also with the belief that communities have what they need to ensure the well-being of the people within them and so you know. That is not something that we actually believe to be true most of the time about low income black and brown communities. We tend to believe that those communities are needing government intervention or the intervention of nonprofit organizations externally to bring in resources and I think. As we dive deeper and deeper into this work I'm seeing more and more opportunities to um to draw and to to take advantage of the incredible wisdom resourceful in the street smarts and and knowing of the community that we're working with they have really shaped this work and and and and they've. You know all the strategic decisions that we've considered as an organization are questions that we have discussed with them and decided together with them how we want to move forward all the way to the structure of how we do our conversations. You know it's neighbors who lead the team meetings and who. Bring discussion, topics and questions and icebreakers and games and and who are really providing the bulk of connections to resources to other people in the community. So. It's um I think that I'm actually learning a great deal about the the remarkable depth that. Communities possess to actually address their own needs I certainly underestimated that and I think culturally most of us do across the United States


15:17.72

kitedart

Yeah, yeah, that's that's really beautiful I Love that and I just love that as a model for just for anybody who is whether it's for Profit Nonprofit. What have you? but just for anybody who is um. Working with the population to solve a problem so to speak or meet a challenge um to really bring those who are closest to the problem into the solution I think that's that's brilliant and needs to needs to be the way. It's done a whole lot more than it is so. Thank you for that I Really appreciate that. Um I Also let's see here. Gosh There was so much rich stuff in there. Um I think another piece that really struck when you were sharing was that idea of the internalized narratives and I think that. That's a really,. That's a really big One. It's something that I deal with in the work that I do with people. Um, you know I work with people who have been marginalized or oftentimes seen as other or just you know. Aren't willing to or just kind of be who are resistant I Guess you could say to um to a lot of those internalized narratives right? that that we have and particularly I work with people right in business but that you Know. We've been conditioned and taught all of these different things around business and there ends up being so much tension between what people value What they're committed to what they're dedicated to and then what they've been taught and that it's like this constant struggle of um. Doing things the way we've been taught or the way we've been told they're supposed to be done and then what feels good. Um, and you brought in the the idea of the shame right around in the reciprocity in terms of um. You know, asking for help and that that it can be really hard to ask for help and I think that that's true in the entrepreneurial community as well. Um, it, You know we've been taught. Yeah, we have to you have to do it. Do it yourself. Go it alone work. Harder. Do all the things and that you can't ask for help and and if you do have to ask for help then there's something wrong with you So that that was kind of a lot of the different pieces that you brought in but I just I feel like all of that rings So true and I've seen so much in the work.


18:01.16

kitedart

Um, in the work that I do and and that it is this. There's a lot of um, liberating ourselves from these internalized narratives even when even when things don't resonate with us. It can be hard to break away from it I think.


18:20.77

Teju

Yeah, absolutely. Um yeah I think I think it's especially hard for folks who come from historically excluded communities whether they're people of color whether they're clear whether they're undocumented. Um, you know because.


18:21.10

kitedart

Um, go ahead.


18:40.10

Teju

Think so much of us are are so many of us are carrying this wound that we don't belong that we're not enough that we're not accepted so when we are carrying that wound. How do we show up in the world. How do we operate and I think we first are very much searching for. Acceptance searching for belonging and so one thing that's I think very important to this work is that actually at the core of our model even though we're working with people who are living in poverty is not making sure those people have jobs you know that I think they want and hopefully they'll be able to have livelihoods for healthcare or any of these things but that. First they are held and accepted in belonging by their community that because what you know I think we have operated in the United States with this idea that poverty is a consequence of scarcity. We don't have enough resources and therefore some people can't meet their basic needs. But. As I read in a book. The revolution will not be funded. It seems to me poverty is more the result of exclusion of saying some people get to belong. some people are good enough some people fit the profile and and some people don't and so it is no coincidence. That many of the people who are experiencing poverty happen to be people of color happen to be women happen to be immigrants happen to be queer happen to be trans happen to you know, not be that mainstream acceptable standard and so there is. You're living your life in this way or you're being told all the time that who you are is not acceptable and not okay and so the core of gather 4 is belonging or we really want people to experience before they experience anything else is belonging and I think core to the experience of belonging is having a group. People who are willing to say to you we are here for you but we also see that you have gifts and we want your gifts because we need them so the needing of you know, most of our interventions for people in poverty. Don't say hey we need you most of our interventions tell people in poverty. You need help and we're here to help you but but actually what's much more affirming what tells people they belong is not only do we want you to thrive and be well. We also need you so that we can thrive and be well and I think that's. What we're hoping to build with gather for is that these teams are are mutually supportive that that each person needs each other person and if we're really successful with our work we can expand it beyond just the population that we're working with to include people who are more privileged and help.


21:27.93

Teju

Both groups witness that they actually need each other for their well-being.


21:32.62

kitedart

And yeah, wow, that's amazing. so so true it's I like I said I think I told you Larry I just think it's super inspiring to hear all of that and in the philosophy behind what you're doing. Um. And I I yeah I think it's such a great point right? This this idea of belonging and and that that's what's really at the heart of it. Um, the belonging the being valued and and I I absolutely couldn't agree with that anymore whatsoever I mean it's It's really incredible. Um I'm curious so previously you had said something and I just kind of wanted to bring it back up because it kind of begin gets at some of the challenges. You had said bridging the current that that one of the essential struggles for for you and for gather for has been bridging the current story of our world with the possible story of our world and I'd love to just have you if you're willing share a little bit more about that idea and. Um, you know what kinds of what kinds of things are you doing to tackle that.


23:14.68

Teju

So sorry about that Karen I just I just got a call and and it it interrupted the headphone feed. Um, sorry so you wanted me to share more about that idea of moving from the story of our current world to the story. That's possible.


23:21.27

kitedart

Ah, no problem. Ah.


23:31.19

kitedart

Yeah I mean because I think it ties in right with this idea of all the internalized narratives. Um the trauma The trust the belonging like all of these things are um I forgot the word you said earlier but they're they're They're not necessarily easily tacked. Tackled right? that that we have to really work through them and so in that quote that you had said bridging the current story of our world with the possible story of our world. It feels very much like that's the um in the messiness right of working through all of this. Um, the internalized narratives and the trauma the trust the belonging. Um I I Just feel like that all kind of ties in together.


24:19.20

Teju

Yeah, um, and so I mean I think that the world that we live in right now and this is something that um I've learned a lot from the author Charles Eisenstein around and his beautiful books on the subject that he he describes this as living in a story of separation. But story of separation means that more for you is less for me. Um that that it's my job to take care of myself. It's your job to take care of yourself the world around me is dangerous people around me are dangerous I cannot trust them so in that story from that logic. The best thing that I can do is amass power and resources for myself and work toward controlling things to ensure my own well-being and and increasingly I convince myself that I am not connected. So. To others and so if if they aren't well I don't have to worry about that or if they wind up not meeting their needs partly because I am meeting my needs. So so effectively. Um, that's not my concern. That's the story that I think a lot of us live in and of course it's not as though. It's so simple as we only live in that story and that others and another story is not also unfolding or here at the same time but this other story is a story of integration or interbeing a reunion. It's a story in which more for you is more for me your well-being is my well-being. If you are unwell, it actually seems a threat to my own well-being and and so I work for my well-being and I also work for your well-being you work for your well-being, but you also work for my well-being and and and this is a the story that I believe is is possible in our in our world um and of course both are happening. Um, when we are born. How do we survive? we live at the charity of other beings who love us who nurture us who provide us food and shelter and keep us warm and they love us. They they. Hold us close they comfort us you know our mothers our fathers our parents um and and those parents also don't say you know my child I hope that when you grow up you have high quality affordable health care if that's my number one goal for you. You know they want that. But they want the holistic well-being of their child. They want their child to feel safe to be loved to have good friends to be free to to yes have ah in income and means to eat but to have joy in all these different ways and so so there is a care for the whole human in that world and so.


27:05.96

Teju

Bridging these two things is very hard because I think we're carrying a wound and it's a wound that says I can't trust the people around me to take care of me so I have to make other people take care of me have to fight for what's mine I have to fight for my corner of the earth. And have to make sure it's mine and it's protected and it's defended so have to go out into the world after you know what's the american dream. You know, buy a house have a job you know like buy a car have my family devote my life to my nuclear family That's that's success for most of us in our lives and. Success is not something like I want peace for my community I want everyone to flourish I mean that's not what when you ask a little child what you hope you are when you grow up, you're hoping for an answer like astronaut doctor ballerina you know you're not asking. You're not saying oh you're not hearing. I would like to be someone who serves my community to be holistically well and I would like to be part of that in some way um and so I think I think the way to bridge this world is to heal the wounds that tell us that we can't trust the people around us and that involves. Cultivating a skillfulness in loving people unconditionally non-judgmentally in in the book. The pedagogy of be oppressed Paulo Frera says that let's say you have oppressors end up be oppressed. The oppressors are creating a system of oppression. Oppress ah ah oppressed or having to live through it. The oppressed are unlikely to challenge be oppressors are unlikely to change the system because it's working for them. The oppressed are uniquely positioned to question it and to challenge it and to wonder what else is possible and so he argues. That is often incumbent upon them to say something is not working here and to work to restore their own humanity by changing the system but also to restore the humanity of the oppressor and that is a really tall order it sounds terrifying I mean it. You know that that that kind of assertion opens up critiques like what you're telling already discriminated against people that not only do they have to fight for their own liberation but they also to be kind and caring toward oppressive people who are fighting to keep them down. You know it could be infuriating to hear something like that. And I think though that as I've been trying to learn more about this healing work that we all need to do. It seems like some of the best ways forward are coming from people who have themselves had to live through oppression and live through being discriminated against because.


29:56.00

Teju

Number 1 are imagining different possibilities and number two because of that are cultivating a large-heartedness that can hold their own suffering and also the suffering of oppressors. So what do I mean by that I mean that queer people have been rejected from their families. Told they cannot marry by our society not given legal means to have children for much of history and and then been beaten been been cursed at been spat upon been killed just for being born with the sexual orientation of their born as a consequence instead of. Falling into the definition of family that exists in our mainstream culture. They've had to create new family structures. Maybe they have 3 3 people raising 1 child together or 6 people raising 3 children in 2 households with a shared community garden they're creating different ways of doing family of doing. Roles within the families than than the traditional narrative about what family looks like so I think if we want to bridge this gap between the story of our world today and the story of what's possible. Some of it starts with listening to. And elevating the voices of those who have historically experienced marginalization just as you're trying to do Karen with this podcast and then second it is it is following those people as they work to offer belonging saying hey we're creating a new world. But even you who have historically oppressed us also belong and so this is where you see stories like Matthew Stevenson and Derek Black Derek Black is the son of the the leader of the white nationalist movement. Um and he managed a blog called stormfront. Assembling evidence and data for the supremacy of white people, iq tests and job performance. Trackiveness facial symmetry all sorts of things you know he collected this quote unquote data and used it to make this very rational case for the superiority of white people. Then when it came time for him to go to college. He went to this college called new college in Florida which is a liberal arts school to study history when he got there his fellow college mates found out that he was a white nationalist and had this blog shared it on the student forum and immediately he was quote unquote canceled. You know everyone. Excluded him everyone you know people would spit at him when they saw him flip them off across the across the street and then there was this one other student at the college Matthew Stevenson who's an orthodox jew wears a yamka hosts a Friday night shabbat dinner.


32:45.50

Teju

Said you know maybe Derek Black has never really spent time with someone who's jewish someone who's black someone who's queer and he talked it over with his community and they decided to invite Derek Black to shabbat dinner and. Derek Black bought a bottle of wine. They played board games. They didn't talk about race or or supremacy and they became friends and then later they did wind up talking about those things and after some time Derek black renounced his white nationalism and ah is now speaking actively out against racism. Um, and and and is ah is ah and and it's incredible and I think I think that's very difficult but I think that's the kind of work that we really need to do is cultivate the capacity to feel angry which is I think sacred energy. It says it says something is not working here. But but to say okay you know this person has been taught by their family to be white supremacist and they were unable to separate themselves from that because indeed Derek Black's family disowned him once he disowned white nationalism. He doesn't feel belonging with them anymore. So it wasn't until he had another source of belonging in Matthew Stevenson and the new community that he could make this leap. You know what I mean and so in order to offer people a way to bridge. Have to offer them belonging and I think in order to heal these wounds and give them the courage to let go of the discrimination that they've held in their arts for a long time and I think that is. Some of what's needed and I am still discovering it myself. But some of what's needed to bridge these two stories.


34:33.96

kitedart

And wow yeah, it's it's it's so interesting because it's like this leaning in to it right? at the it's like in order to. Build that belonging. You've got to be willing to be vulnerable and have trust and it's like it kind of goes back and forth of of I don't know maybe baby steps or whatever it is and it sounds like in that particular case right? It's even was like. Not focusing whatsoever on on the things that would have driven them apart but just focusing on the humanity right? and just being people and we can come together and play some games and you know I think a lot of people do that even through work or different things like that of just. Um, but it takes it takes time to build that and and I really do appreciate that idea that it's hard for people to let go of belonging in one space until they have belonging somewhere else. Um. And yeah I don't I don't know that I've I'd ever really thought too much about that. But um, cultivating it I'm curious when you think about um, like you had you had talked about um. Actually previously. You had shared with me right that that it's it can be really hard to change culture right to change people's hearts and minds and I think that there are probably so many people who are really hungry for what you're talking about I think everybody's hungry for belonging right um. And and at the same time. Ah there, there's these 2 different worlds right? And so I get that with gather for you're creating these? Um, these. Groups right? These sort of family groups for people to come together and have belonging and trust one another and contribute to 1 another when you look at the wider landscape or that you know larger community um in what ways, do you feel. You either are or are working to move the needle for those who maybe aren't already on board.


37:03.87

Teju

Yeah, it's an excellent question. So um I think that friendship is a very powerful force and I think that you know so many of our actions are really like you said about belonging about friendship. Why do we want. Cool shoes or a nice haircut or you know clothes or a good job or status or any of these things. Ultimately, it's because we want acceptance and love and belonging and so I think that what we're after with gather for is actually a model that is open to everyone and so where we're headed is. And you know we have a lot of work to figure out how to do this and if this is possible but where we are headed is in a neighborhood. You may have people who are poor. You may have people who are rich. You may have people who are black people who are white. You may have people who will belong to all kinds of different identities and categories. Um, and. And so you know we are building these neighbor teams and at first people and and we want to give people a choice about who they want to be on neighbor teams with so so a lot of the time these neighbor teams which may increasingly self-form. Um. You you know, maybe between groups of people who are very similar who see similarities so you might have neighbor teams of people who are predominantly white neighbor teams of people who are predominantly black poor rich, you know, etc. Um, but as these groups as these groups come together in 1 neighborhood. What we're wanting to do is bring them together in these town hall meetings where they can discuss issues that are of of relevance to everyone in that particular place but link them in a variety of ways in supporting one another. So for example, we are exploring how? um. In this community. You could ask everyone to make a regular monthly contribution of a certain percent of their income like 5 % of their income. So if you're a low incomee person you might be putting in fifty bucks if you're a high income person. You might be putting in a thousand bucks um and that's your way of supporting your community. And then that money is added up and evenly distributed among everyone who's part of the community. So if you're low income. You might have put in 50 but get back 500 if you're higher income. You might have put in a thousand and get back 500 and you might be down but you are starting to benefit from that because these folks who now have. More income to rent or start a business or buy food. You know, um, my our starting childcare centers. This is actually happening with many of our neighbors for example in this place and you who don't actually have a place in the neighborhood with people that you trust you know, have your values and are covid safe and all these different things.


39:33.24

kitedart

Are.


39:48.61

Teju

To to leave your kids maybe while you're at work um or something like that. You now have this place where you can take your children and and and and know that they're cared for and do it with people in your neighborhood and in your community but who might be unlike you poor and unlike you black and unlike you. Of different communities and identities and so the more we give people these experiences of needing one another and benefiting one another the more that we're starting to develop and cultivate that sense of community. Um, and and and the second the second thing is that ah you know. Over time because this is happening. You might start to see groups form that are diverse, rich and poor people in real meaningful dialogue with one another about things like okay we have child care all the stuff. But how do we raise our kids. How do we be good parents and how do we do that um in a pandemic. For example and and and being able to have that kind of open hearted dialogue with people who you actually are seeing supporting you and who are you are supporting that paves a way for belonging and so if we build this model and it works in a community or works in a few communities. Hope that it can work in many communities and be a mechanism for people who are diverse living in the same place to come together and need each other and support each other and also find joy in connecting with each other and so that's that's how we hope this unfolds. Of course we have a lot of unknowns and and. Things to work through as we as we try to get there but that's where what we're after.


41:29.21

kitedart

Awesome! That is beautiful I would love on that note to wrap it up taju because I feel like that is just a beautiful um you know vision and mission and you know picture of the future to be to be living into. So Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for sharing your story and I can't wait to see what happens for gather for as you continue to grow.


41:52.91

Teju

Thank you so much Karen really appreciated being here.


41:57.30

kitedart

Yeah, it was great having you.