Author's Note:

I was inspired to write this book on visionary organizing for so many reasons. First being the incredible people I met in Detroit, learning about visionary organizing, and James and Grace Lee Boggs. James and Grace were such amazing activists and their philosophy has really inspired me. Seeing their ideas on community building and visionary organizing play out in real life by visiting the places we visit in this book, Freedom Dreams, Freedom Freedom Growers, Birwood House, and The Boggs School, I have created a whole new set of values for my own family about what is important and what truly matters. Jimmy and Grace shared a collective focus on growing our souls and our communities, placing much value on building connection with ourselves, each other and the earth. This was all meant to steer us away from the capitalistic society we live in and to grow ourselves and our communities at a smaller scale, focusing on more worthwhile things than material goods. Balancing their ideas with the capitalist driven society that we live in has been one of the most challenging shifts in mindset I have ever had to make. This leads me into my next inspiration for creating this book. I have two sons, a two year old named Ellis and almost one year old named Jonah. I have been wrapping my brain around the idea of explaining visionary organizing to them for the last semester of learning in Detroit I want my boys to grow up learning the value of people, connections, being kind, sharing resources, and all around creating change in the world. I want them to captivate their creativity and to do better than myself in terms of being selfish and valuing material goods over innate human connection. I want them to thrive, but I also want them to care, and the concept of visionary organizing does just that. It shows people all of the good in the world, and it teaches us that our relationship with ourselves and our community is necessary to truly thrive, and in practice it is the most beautiful way of life that I have personally seen and had the privilege to experience thus far. With all of that said, how am I supposed to engrain this in two young children consistently and reliably, when I am someone who has not perfected or even figured out fully how to start becoming a visionary organizer myself? This is where writing this book has come into play! Throughout the writing process, I read this to my two year old I asked him questions, watched to make sure he stayed engaged- I wanted to make sure this would be absorbable and that it would stick for him

-Samantha Toia