Cohort Timeline & Overview

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Targeting Northern Virginia (Warrenton), Eastern (Norfolk), Central (Henrico), Piedmont (Roanoke), and Western (Abingdon)

Space Available for 15 Rapid Responders

Let’s be honest — our communities are under pressure right now.

• Authoritarian forces are threatening the freedoms we fight for.
• The wealth gap is widening, leaving more of our neighbors behind.
• Deep, systemic harms continue to disproportionately impact Black and Brown people.

Naming these realities is crucial — but it’s only the start. Our mission is to transform crisis into possibility, to build systems of care instead of control, and to cultivate leaders rooted in healing, justice, and collective power.

Federal legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) — extending permanent tax cuts while cutting healthcare and nutrition programs — highlights how policy can increase precarity for vulnerable communities. Decisions made without community input make the need for local, organized, care-driven alternatives mandatory. 

In Virginia, these crises are real and urgent. The 2018 killing of Marcus-David Peters, a young educator in crisis, sparked community grief and revealed the limitations of policing-based responses. Black and Brown communities often face systems that retraumatize instead of protecting.

Couple that with racial disparities in incarceration, ICE enforcement, and economic policies that squeeze working families, and it’s clear: we need alternatives grounded in care, resilience, and justice.

Healing justice reimagines crisis response by centering dignity, culture, and collective care over punishment. The framework of Healing-Centered Engagement emphasizes strengths, cultural connection, and collective flourishing — guiding both our cohort and the Rapid Responders Network.

Mutual aid and community-based care have long been shields against systemic harm. The Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for Children Program fed thousands, nurtured trust, and pushed public systems to meet obligations — even under surveillance and sabotage. That legacy lives on: grassroots care can shift systems from the ground up.

Communities have always responded to systemic abandonment with resolute care. The Panthers’ breakfast programs — organized with volunteers, allied health professionals, and churches — met immediate needs while pressuring systems to change. Even under sabotage, their care persisted, inspiring lasting policy shifts. That legacy proves that collective care is a form of resistance.

The African proverb ubuntu — “I am because we are” reminds us that our survival and thriving depend on how we care for each other across difference, space, and time.

We’re inviting 15 Black and Brown leaders to join a six-month healing justice leadership cohort (Nov 2025 – Mar 2026) across Virginia’s five VDSS regions. You’ll be part of a movement to create community-based alternatives to punitive crisis systems or saviorship.

Here’s what you get:

• Monthly interactive sessions and healing circles (virtual, 12–2 PM)
• $100 personal ecology stipend to support your wellness and sustainability
• Access to a network of three expert mentors in Healing-Centered Engagement, Anti-Racist Trauma-Informed Care, and Transformative Leadership
• A direct pathway into our statewide Rapid Responders Network, creating a powerful network of local leaders
• Help shape future policy change leading into the 2027 Virginia General Assembly Session 
• Sessions led by co-facilitators who live healing justice every day

• Oct 15 – Nov 16, 2025 – Plant: Participant recruitment and community formation. 
• Nov 21, 2025 – Growth: Cultural ACES & Anti-Racist Trauma-Informed Care
• Dec 12, 2025 – Nurture: Beyond Trauma — Cultivating Healing-Centered Leadership
• Jan 9, 2026 – Nurture: We Were Made for This — Healing Justice in Crisis
• Feb 13, 2026 – Transform: Radical Imagination in Action — co-creating the Healing-Centered Rapid Responders Network
• Mar 13, 2026 – Transform: Reflection & Impact — documenting wins, lessons, help shape future policy change and next steps

Why This Work Matters

Every day, Black and Brown communities in Virginia deal with trauma from family violence, systemic racism, and economic instability. Traditional crisis systems too often do more harm than good.

This cohort builds leaders who can do things differently — who show up for neighbors, co-create solutions, and strengthen communities without relying on policing.

We’re talking about:

• Mutual aid that actually meets people where they are
• Cross-sector collaboration addressing housing, healthcare, food, and safety
• Leadership rooted in care, justice, and resilience

You’ll explore and stretch your leadership by stepping into multiple roles, often at once:

• Weavers: connecting people, ideas, and movements
• Experimenters: innovating and adapting
• Frontline Responders: organizing resources in crises
• Visionaries: imagining bold futures
• Builders: turning ideas into action
• Caregivers: nurturing community well-being
• Disruptors: challenging power and injustice
• Healers: tending to trauma and intergenerational pain
• Storytellers: shaping culture and narratives
• Guides: mentoring and sharing wisdom

• Leaders ready to respond to crises with healing-centered care
• Expanded mutual aid networks and referral pathways
• Cross-sector partnerships addressing root causes of harm
• The foundation for a thriving Rapid Responders Network grounded in collective care and justice