Disability Justice Cohort for Pittsburgh Movement Organizations

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Building off our workshop series, “Building Disability Justice Politic and Access-Centered Cultures in Movements and Organizations,” PeoplesHub initiated this pilot program to work with a cohort of twelve organizations  local to Pittsburgh, who made a year-long commitment to deepening their practice for accessibility. Participating organizations work on issues such as prison abolition, racial and economic justice, and youth leadership. As members of the cohort they participated in workshops, strategy clinics and coaching sessions to integrate strategies to counter ableism and support disabled people, build and implement a set of access-centered practices, and shift culture of access in organizing circles in their region.

PeoplesHub provided the structure and coaching  for these organizations to bring an analysis of ableism into their work, build capacity to implement frameworks for accessibility and ensure that social and racial justice campaigns in Pittsburgh can include and respond to the needs of disabled and chronically ill people who are part of those movements.

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Youth Climate Justice Fellowship

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In 2022, PeoplesHub, in partnership with La Coalición Fortaleza in Southern Oregon, offered the Climate Survival Youth Fellowship for 13 high school and college-aged students who participated in a 6-week fellowship designed to prepare young people to be the leaders their communities need as we face the realities of climate disaster. 

In this learning lab, we hosted guest speakers that included local organizers doing base-building with Latinx community members, leaders involved in creating local mutual aid networks and trainers from other movement training centers like the Highlander Center for Popular Education. In addition to conversations about climate change and emergency preparedness, these sessions included an exploration of local histories and migrations stories, the impacts of colonialism and gentrification and personal belonging within community. 

Young people received stipends, supplies and training for creating their own go-bags and evacuation plans, as well as support for how to prepare emotionally for the threats of climate change.

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Comments from youth participants: 

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• “Learning about the stress responses was very helpful because I was able to successfully identify the way that my family and I respond to stress and how to help them out during such situations.”
• “My biggest take away was that we are people, and it is our responsibility to know our story because we care about our story more than anyone. Making sure you have a connection to your roots makes you stronger with your identity and your family's identity.”
• “I took away the importance of community connections and making sure you are action driven and actually do things that help the community. No company is fighting for better wages and working conditions, it is up to us to demand these things."

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Highlander Center for Popular Education

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PeoplesHub has enjoyed a close relationship with the Highlander Center for Popular Education since our inception. Highlander Center was one of the movement homes of former PeoplesHub trainer and Executive Director, Elandria Williams, who brought their tradition of grassroots organizing and popular education into PeoplesHub’s methodology for online training. 

In recent years, we have worked closely with the Highlander Center to offer the Mapping Our Futures workshop series, focused on helping organizers imagine and build solidarity economies at the local level. We’re currently collaborating on adaptations of our Thriving Communities curriculum to ensure our training and tools reach their constituents in the Appalachian region.

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