Imagine a Colorado where everyone is able to live a long and prosperous life—not just survive, but thrive.
6
PROGRAM YEARS
1000
ORGANIZERS TRAINED
279
ORGANIZATIONS
34
STATES ACROSS 3 COUNTRIES
schedule
application
the moment we are in
For over 50 years
social justice work has sought to galvanize peoples primarily through identifying self-interest. The integration of somatics into a social justice framework gives us new tools to look deeper & understand more holistically how & why individuals & collectives are primed to take some actions & unlikely to take others. By broadening our understanding & analysis of our communities with a somatics lens, we become more capable of moving our communities from a collective center rather than a time-limited self-interest basis. On a myopic level, somatics allow us to see our patterns on a deeper level that can directly inform our organizational & movement strategies. On a broad level, somatics beckons us to put forth humanity and the development of our collective humanity at the forefront of social justice work.
developed by an organizer & master trainer
UP’s principal, Rusia Mohiuddin
pioneered the integration of somatics into an organizing framework. With 8+ years of frontline organizing, 4 years of leading grassroots organizations, & 15+ years of training beginner to experienced organizers, Rusia has taken her vast community organizing & leadership development mastery to develop a new holistic model of organizing for the 21st century called Embodied Organizing.
learn more about rusiaPAST COHORTS
the colorado trust
April & June 2020, 100 participants
the colorado trust
The Colorado Trust is a foundation committed to advancing the health and well-being of all Coloradans.
Youth Organizing & Culture Change Fund
Fall 2023, 8 participants
Youth Organizing & Culture Change Fund
Youth leaders and community partners who understand how powerful community organizing and arts and culture are together in imagining new possibilities and futures, but are in need of facilitation, support, and resources to work together more efficiently and effectively.
There is greater demand for ways to use their collective power to improve the state of our communities and country – and also a greater resistance to it. These young people are prepared to dismantle white supremacy, reverse the detrimental impacts of colonialism, and uplift the positive aspects of youth culture, particularly in communities of color.
LEO 11 week intensive
Oct 2019 thru Jan 2020, 6 Organizations across 2 countries
11-week intensive
this cohort engaged 6 organizations across 2 countries:
FIERCE!, Mothers on the Move, CT Students For A Dream, Newburgh LGBTQ Center, Cypress Hill Development Corp., & Otvorena Hra (budapest, hungary).
united we dream: summer of dream youth
July 2018, 25 youth participants
united we dream
United We Dream and our local branches are fully committed to create the next generation of leaders. Over the summer we are launching a unique initiative that will commemorate those who came and fought for social change and justice before us. These summer programs will serve as a tool to expose youth to the different ways of community organizing, activism, to own power, and bring positive and systemic change to their community.
california latinas for reproductive justice
July 2018, 5 organizations
california latinas for reproductive justice
a statewide organization committed to honoring the experiences of Latinas/xs to uphold our dignity, our bodies, sexuality, and families. We build Latinas’/xs’ power and cultivate leadership through community education, policy advocacy, and community-informed research to achieve reproductive justice.
make the road new york
winter 2017, 11 participants
make the road new york
Our model integrates four core strategies for concrete change that millions of families feel every day:
Legal and Survival Services, Transformative Education, Community Organizing, and Policy Innovation.
united we dream
Fall 2016, 21 participants
united we dream
United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led community in the country. We create welcoming spaces for young people – regardless of immigration status – to support, engage, and empower them to make their voice heard and win!
make the road new york
Summer 2015, 22 participants
make the road new york
Our model integrates four core strategies for concrete change that millions of families feel every day:
Legal and Survival Services, Transformative Education, Community Organizing, and Policy Innovation.
NWBCCC, MOM, & Bronx Orgs
Winter 2022, 60 participants
Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition & Mothers On the Move
This was a Bronx-wide cohort that included staff & organizers across 16 organizations working to expand & increase organizing efforts across the Bronx, NY. (All Our Kin, Banana Kelly, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative, Concrete Friends, Food Justice Ministry at Church of the Mediator, Bronx Housing Board, Laal, Mekong, MOM, NWBCCC, Nos Quedamos/We Stay, South Bronx Rising Together, The Point, WHEDCO, & Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice).
New York Foundation Grantees
Spring 2023, 81 participants
New York Foundation Grantees
NYF partnered with universal partnership to bring the LEO series to all it’s grantees. 81 folks participated across 18 organizations (Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, A Little Piece of Light, South Queens Women’s March, CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, The Manitou School, Red de Pueblos Transnacionales, Parent Voices Oakland, GOLES, Transnationale Villages Network, Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, Rise, The National LGBTQ Taskforce, Kelly Street Block Association, El Centro del Immigrante, Families For Freedom, AFJ-NY, NYC Worker Coop, Nos Quedamos/We Stay).
ETHOS
Embodied
Organizing
Embodied Organizing (EO) is a comprehensive model for community organizers, designed for both new and experienced organizers, that seeks to develop skills, with somatic and embodied leadership lenses, to develop effective organizers while uniquely cultivating leadership that creates necessary balance and self-care so organizers feel and are able to do movement work for the long haul.
Experiential
with the theoretical
The LEO Intensive, following in the tradition established by its creator, Rusia Mohiuddin, takes on a two-pronged approach in developing skilled organizers:
- Theoretical learning of a broad set of organizing skills and healing, embodied leadership, and self-care methodologies; and
- Deepening theoretical learning through application and practice to add a critical layer of experiential learning to deepen and enhance overall organizing knowledge.
Centering
Embodied Leadership
At universal partnership, we believe in espousing in character, action, & relationships, the values & principles at the core of our being. Embodied Leadership is the deep commitment to continuously cultivate leadership qualities acutely aligned with your values and principles towards developing and sustaining authentic relationships. We do this so we are acutely aligned with the core values that allow us to be who and how we want to be in the world.
OUTCOMES|GOALS
skills + healing + self-care + mindfulness = balanced organizers
An overarching goal for the program includes the integration of practical skills that support organizers to create more balance and self-care into their work to ensure individuals are capable of doing social justice work for the long haul. Broadly, the integration of somatics into the framework of organizing will address this need as well as including contemplative learning and practices in each session of the intensive. The design and development of the program is geared to take the rich lessons from community organizing over the last 50 years and reimagine a program that deeply integrates somatics and contemplative practices into every facet of organizing work.
While the needs of each organization is different & UP shapes the work to meet these needs, there is often a common grounding all our work builds on.
For the LEO Intensive, the following goals are the grounding upon which all subsequent customized work is developed from:
- New to seasoned organizers develop key skills necessary to perform grounded, balanced organizing work with greater efficiency & impact;
- Organizers simultaneously learn contemplative skills & develop practices that support & guide their work towards balance & mature leadership; and
- In combining theory with practice coupled with greater impact through self-care & balance, organizers develop healthy practices that allow for effective work over the long haul.
LEO Intensive: Structure
While the structure & the flow of the intensive can be adjusted to fit the needs of any organization, the following is the standard & ideal structure for a LEO Intensive cohort:
- minimum 2 months of planning & prep with leads at the organization
- launch intensive with a 3-day overnight retreat
- weekly daylong LEO trainings for 8 consecutive weeks
- graduation & celebrations
This will be the structure for the Spring 2019 LEO launch.
Some of the principles that guide the work of UP and what we will achieve through the LEO intensive includes Rusia’s Embodied Leadership methodology which asserts:
- Internal development only for the sole purpose of external impact does not lead to long-term change;
- Focusing on changing you is what allows any of us to authentically change the world; and,
- Authentic, long-term change cannot be birthed from old patterns that are shaped by the very systems we seek to change.
The LEO Intensive is, in short, impactfully intense
The LEO Intensive will develop the skills of organizers that are required to shape individuals to be the absolute best version of themselves they can be personally and as organizers. The following is a list of skills organizers will develop over the course of the intensive:
- History of community organizing + other social change methodologies
- Roles + responsibilities of an organizer
- Understanding power dynamics
- Effective base building + outreach
- Effective 1:1 Meetings
- Somatic leadership development
- Effective meeting facilitation
- Time management
- Develop goal-oriented work plans
- Somatic campaign develop
- Developing campaign plans
- Somatic development of media + messaging
- Direct action + events
- Arts in organizing + puppet making
- Public speaking
- Grassroots fundraising
- Coalition + movement building
self-awareness & deep focus for the win
The integration of somatics, embodied leadership, and contemplative practices into a community organizing framework, all interwoven into skills development, offers the critical components required to cultivate the kind of leaders that are skilled and grounded to catalyze real change in local communities without compromise or sacrifice.
The LEO intensive has created pathways for organizers to gain proven effective community organizing skills sets that center their humanity, while not losing focus on effectiveness, impact, and efficiency of the work that serves the most disenfranchised communities.
Geared for social change agents, the mind your gap video is a step-by-step how-to on meditation tool for developing leadership superpowers. This methodology was developed by Rusia Mohiuddin, specifically with organizers in mind.
Play Video
watch mind the gap
healing requires alignment + balance
Practicing & cultivating alignment of our core values with our thoughts & actions, along with real, generative balance, allows us to be in a constant state of healing. This critical for organizers, as more and more of us live the very issues we organizer around.
Rusia has innovated a methodology for embodied leadership that invites us to explore what values & principles are in their individual, organizational & community’s “core”. This understanding can lead the way to cultivating the kind of leadership necessary for their social change work to succeed while ensuring that those doing the work are living aligned and balanced lives in the field & at home.
Like meditation, this “core” work is at the center of embodied leadership & therefore at the center of developing effective organizers. We use this work to ensure LEO organizers are living & creating pathways to be who and how they want to be in the world.
Play Video
building the core
we need one another. we need all of us
Organizing & movement work can oddly be very isolating. The LEO Intensive creates a community of organizers, who develop & grow together, resulting in lifelong friendships & support systems.
Evidence shows that as social justice leaders sacrifice physical & emotional health to serve vulnerable communities, they find themselves unhappy & dissatisfied with the conditions in which they work, their work process & the results & impact of their work.
The LEO community is designed to build safety nets of support for each organizer so folks dont have to create or seek out support in the midst of crises, it’s already built in & available.
LEO organizers will also have a community of coaches, trained in Embodied Coaching, to support them in their development & change process.
