Transitions: Announcing Jen’s Departure from the PSH
Peoples Solidarity Hub operates as a central hub for organizers and community members to join and build collective power in the Triangle of North Carolina.
In May Jen transitioned out of her role as PSH Director. In her departure, Jen asked to share this message with the PSH and Southern Vision Alliance community:
“The past 4 years with the People’s Solidarity Hub have been powerful & transformative. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to co-create a bustling, people-led community space. It’s been a gift to work with and learn alongside so many incredible humans – both fellow team members and the organizers and community members that have shaped PSH. The brilliant organizing strategies, political education, resistance art, open mics (and so much more) that each of you bring into PSH, breathe life into our movements and remind us of what is possible. Thank you. I will definitely miss y’all AND I look forward to connecting in new ways within the movement at large. Onward together.”
1 Jen stands in front of a stylish charcuterie board at the PSH
2 Folks gather in a circle for the first Hivemind event “Day of Tending”, co-hosted by Jen and Jae, to create space for organizers to build community and nourish their nervous systems
We are grateful for Jen’s presence and energy over the past couple of years. We wish her luck as she moves deeper into her somatic work, allowing her to find new ways to nourish the movement.
Surge: An Energized Student Movement Finds Resources and Space in the PSH
The PSH team’s work grew amidst an uptick in requests and bookings. From just the beginning of April to mid-June, the PSH team supported community organizers with two dozen Lending Library requests and over 90 bookings! This is almost a 25% increase from the same time period just last year. This energy was brought on by Free Palestine actions and mobilizations, educator and youth justice organizing, training meetings, workers rights struggles, and much more!
3 Members of the Ignite the South cohort pose for an energized selfie after their 3 day leadership development training in the hub
Students across the country organized their peers into resistance camps and groups, demanding the withdrawal of their tuition money from businesses and institutions involved in the genocide in Palestine. Organizers involved in the student movement were able to access the equipment needed for art demonstrations and press rallies, on quick turnarounds, through the Lending Library. As students faced increasing persecution from administrative officials, they were able to find a safe space to organize rapid-response actions in the PSH.
The PSH also continues its relationships with the students and facilitators of Black SEL. This time last year, the SVA campus was filled with dozens of youth who were a part of the Black SEL Freedom School. Having registered over 200 students for this year’s Freedom School, they have outgrown the PSH. But we are excited to still cross paths with the Black SEL during their monthly PSH bookings, where they meet and strategize with CASEL team, who started the Social and Emotional Learning competencies used across the nation.
Swells: Campaigns Grow and Make a Home at the PSH
In its second year, the PSH is becoming a base for several organizations to consistently meet and strategize. We continue our relationship with UE 150, who are still embroiled in their struggle to get Durham city workers the wages they deserve.
Durham For All has also continued using the PSH as a base, mobilizing their membership around the Guaranteed Income Pilot campaign this year. The campaign provides an intersectional analysis of how to lower recidivism rates, increase quality of life, and combat inequitable housing and hiring practices.
5 Durham For All members brainstorm and strategize about how to win the fight for the Guaranteed Income Pilot
Spring brought so much to the hub this year. We look forward to seeing how the energy continues into the summer and fall.
If you would like to support this work by becoming a sustainer, please click here. If you are interested in having a deeper conversation about the PSH’s funding gaps, and how you can support, please email hubs@southernvision.org.