Take Courage. Have Hope: Strategies for our movements & moments
Shift happens.
Curious. Creative. Values-based action to increase your impact.
Confluence supports people and organizations who want to build for change frame their first steps by sharing practical tools and innovative processes. We work with professionals who want to level up their leadership and increase their impact, often in community with other changemakers.
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October 2025
Just last Friday on a lovely connecting call with Alexis Flanagan of the Resonance Network, I named October one of the more magical times of year for me. The heat of summer is no longer with us, and we are in transition times of fall.
We welcome spooky season and Samhain/Halloween/Queer New Year. For Alaskans, it's also Alaska Federation of Natives/Native New Year.
Alexis shared that it's Hoodoo Heritage Month. There's a lot moving, seen and unseen.
Not all movement is in the "right direction." While 7 million people protested our current administration last weekend, an equal number didn't understand the purpose. We are a people, divided. Sometimes the movement we experience holds us hostage and throws us into chaos. How are your somatic systems doing?
Just a couple days ago, Tennessee government announced that SNAP beneficiaries won't receive the extra food help in November, due to the (longest) government shutdown (in history). We take care of us. How do we respond in solidarity during times of crisis? Solidarity economies are a start; check out the mutual aid asks below.
As one of my teachers has shared with me- no problems, only patterns. A systems approach requires us to seek the patterns and unlearn them as antidote to what ails us. While we may respond with anger or bitterness, can we turn toward understanding? While fear may seem the only option, what does courage look like? As we are pulling back in, what would abundance feel like in this moment?
I'm here, as a co-conspirator, and of course, if there is a way we can work together, I'm here as a co-creator.
digital collage by Jess based on the harvest from October's Grow circle
Curious about how Confluence can support you and the work you're doing? Have feedback or just want to check in?
Here's the short list of Offerings. I look forward to collaborating in shared space with you soon.
If you have someone in your world that could benefit from one or more of these spaces or activities, please share with them! All my best referrals come from the cool kids I already know.
Do you have a plan for surviving the holidays? If you're like me, tensions can run high during the holidays and disagreements can devolve into, well, less than ideal situations. Let's get ahead of the curve and prepare for challenging conversations with some solid comms strategies and regulation reminders.
We would love to work with your team on building shared meaning, reflecting on personal and organizational practices around inclusivity and equity to create solid strategies for how we're taking care of our trans and queer siblings right now. This workshop can be delivered in person (preferred) or virtually and will leave your team more aware of how to extend safety out to LGBTQ+ coworkers. This training is offered on sliding scale to increase access.
Confluence is one node is a network of movement builders, change-makers, and influential work happening across our country and world. Check out what our friends are up to.
Solvable New Works Organizational Mazes
Join the Solvable team as they feature brilliant writers and Dojo sessions, where they'll shine light into the dark corners of organizational change. This 9-session series runs October through June. Come to what you can.
The call to fund a cross-movement, multilingual infrastructure for justice is here! Join Resonance Network and Jamii Linguists as they co-create in-person governance labs and simultaneous interpreting clinic. If you are a funder or have philanthropic friends, please share to get this work from imagination to experience.
Opportunities for people to help people. Give what you can, when you can. Even sharing these opportunities in your networks can go a long way in helping folks reach their needed goals.
BIPOC and LGBTQIA Non-Profit Mutual Aid Fund - Funds will be used to stop gap the massive amount of funding lost to organizations that provide direct support to communities of color, trans and queer communities, and those that support the intersections of those identities.
Western Alaska Disaster Relief - Funds will be distributed via advisory to agencies supporting impacted families and communities.
Leonard Peltier Medical Care Fundraiser - Leonard Peltier was released earlier this year after more than 49 years behind bars. Funds will be used to support healthcare access.
These will be updated monthly. If you have a need that folks can help with virtually, email them to me (with links!) by the first Friday of each month.
The Together Project
Do you have access to funds or know of a funder that is grantmaking for truth and reconciliation and anti-racism work in rural areas in Tennessee? I'd love to leverage to my network(s) for potential sources of money to help realize a community goal of learning and healing, together.
Confluence Consulting is located in Lewisburg, Tennessee on the ancestral lands of the ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ (Tsalaguwetiyi), Chikashsha I̠yaakni’ (Chickasaw), S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), and Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee) people.
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Curious. Creative. Values-based action to increase your impact.
Confluence supports people and organizations who want to build for change frame their first steps by sharing practical tools and innovative processes. We work with professionals who want to level up their leadership and increase their impact, often in community with other changemakers.
