From the heart, Ben Scott-Brandt reflects on his time as program director of the Retreat Center Collaboration.

Holding a mix of regret and gratitude, the members of the RCC stewardship circle are writing to share that our Program Director Ben Scott-Brandt will leave his position on March 1, 2024.

On this call led by Brenda Salgado, program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, community members gathered to explore money stories. Opening up our money stories is a way to observe and transform our relationship to the flow of abundance.

On this Community Call, participants gathered to discuss staffing at retreat centers.

While gathering for the final Community Call of 2023, RCC community members reflected on the year and our shared story as a community.

Retreat centers in all geographical regions are facing an increasing number of severe weather events per year, and each event carries the potential for major impacts. By creating business continuity plans and emergency plans, retreat centers are prioritizing disaster preparedness and resilience.

At the Retreat Center Collaboration, we’re celebrating an abundant year of change, growth, and impact. Thank you for being a part of this journey!

On this Community Call, participants shared poems and stories that have given them strength and inspired them in the important work of retreat centers.

We’re pleased to welcome a new cohort of members to the RCC Listening Circle. This advisory group will be gathering quarterly throughout 2024 to help inform the future of RCC.

On this community call, participants dove into a peer-support discussion about the latest trends in retreat programming.

On this recent call, community members Cathy Stackpole and Mohan Aguirre co-facilitated a conversation about RCC’s recent Sustainability Study.

On this community call, RCC Program Director Ben Scott-Brandt presented data from the 2023 RCC Community Survey and facilitated a discussion on how centers plan to utilize the information in their unique contexts.

During a Racial Healing Workshop in September, participants had the opportunity to explore their own internalized patterns of suppression, release, and transformation—and how those patterns affect the work of decentering whiteness at retreat centers.

Our annual retreat last week at Five Oaks Centre in Ontario was a four-day celebration of the RCC community. We discussed resilience, racial healing, land stewardship, learning through gaming and play, operations and programming, bringing core values to life, and more. Such a joy to be together!

We are delighted to begin connecting retreat centers and allied organizations across the RCC network with Bonner programs, students and alumni around the United States who are passionate about community building, diversity, social justice, spiritual exploration, and wellness.

On this Community Call, a panel of speakers shared from their experiences on the difficulties of living where you work, establishing personal space, and what they’re learning along the way.

You may have seen the news in recent weeks that the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland is going through a major transition, and that Santa Sabina Center in northern California is closing and placing their property on the market. Here at RCC, we grieve to see the loss of these peers.

RCC and Peace Through Action USA invite retreat centers to apply to be prospective AmeriCorps member service sites in Peace Through Action’s upcoming application for AmeriCorps funding.

On this Community Call in early August, the RCC community gathered to swap recommendations for tools that make retreat center operations more efficient and effective.

The Midwest Centers Affinity Group serves as a big-hearted pick-me-up for folks who often feel isolated in their work, and an invitation to celebrate being surrounded by people who understand and share a similar vision and set of challenges.