Growing a Better Community
by Justine Johnson
We know…
Healing yourself and healing the world
go hand in hand,
The sense of place and space
is integral in the work we do,
We expand, cultivate, grow,
sustain, build, and educate
better when we are together,
...Nature can show us the way.
The eco-justice hub has met four times in the last two months, and just like the season of Spring, it’s taken its time to come into being. The eco-justice hub was formed in response to the RCC Fall 2020 survey where the vast majority of survey participants indicated both ecology and sustainability as important aspects of their centers.
We weren’t exactly sure what that meant. Did that mean actively stewarding the land, developing eco-friendly hospitality guidelines, or participating in global movements to respond to climate chaos? Turns out it was all of it. Each participant has come with different experiences, wants, desires, and needs—and the hub was called to respond to each voice and to the collective body.
We’ve stood witness to people’s experiences, questions, and concerns. We’ve shared resources that will benefit each others’ retreat centers, and we have learned together. A large takeaway from this hub has been about the hub itself. How do we each hold the space knowing we enter the conversation with different touch points on the topic? What we know now is we are here to ensure voices are heard, experiences validated, and to recognize that we are all moving forward, even if it is at different speeds.
It was a reminder of what we so often see in nature. A field that is diverse, full of different forms of life, helps grow a better ecosystem. That was the same for holding this eco-justice hub; we were growing a better community. The space was really for us to nurture each other into our own unique experiences.
We have a long way to go to understand what collaboration looks like in and across retreat centers, and the eco-justice hub was just one iteration of us working together. As we wind down, we’ll take with us what was shared, and hopefully plant those seeds in the fertile soil of our own retreat centers.
For me, I’m most excited to see what blossoms in future RCC Collaboration Hubs where we can cultivate, explore, and expand together.