2022 CEIO Community Report

WELCOME FROM NIYONU

Greetings ~ I count it a blessing to share this report describing the movement and flow of CEIO in 2022 As I read the words and images gathered by our amazing Maza Rey, I feel joy and I feel tears. A wide grin forms as I am reminded of the many beautiful connections, reinforced through laughter and shared learning The tears come as I wonder just how we made it through the fears and losses of 2021 and 2022 Many came in our personal circles while others emerged in society, as the guardians of the status quo stepped up efforts to bolster systems of oppression!

Within CEIO, 2022 brought a great deal of transition We’ve held appreciation gatherings, right into 2023, for members of the CEIO team who moved on to new endeavors. I am facing the same transition myself.

As I plan to step down from leading CEIO at the close of 2023, I hope to gently let go while fiercely supporting those who will be taking the reins. Join us in welcoming and supporting our new Rising Leadership Team as they prepare to take the reins I truly could not be more pleased!!

Thirteen years ago, I began a simple conversation with Bill Graustein We opened up to each other, sharing our wonderings, our dreams and our concerns for our communities. A new partnership took center stage in our lives CEIO was born

I hope that you enjoy seeing how the work has been unfolding ~ ever widening and growing deeper!

~Niyonu D. Spann

Principal & Co-Founder Niyonu Spann with Deeper Change Forum Presenter Winona LaDuke

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW

In this year of widening circles CEIO saw many changes, exciting new beginnings and some thoughtful endings. Here is some of what we’ve been up to in 2022:

We selected our Rising Leadership Team in November 2022 which consists of Core Team members: Deloris Vaughn, Elizabeth Nearing, and Eric Rey (pg 11)

We hosted three Deeper Change Forums "Masculiminality: A Workshop for Imagining Accountable Masculinities" with Nalo A K Zidan, "Honoring the Sacred, Recovering the Seed" with Winona LaDuke, and "Healing the Wounds of Racial Trauma" (second edition) with Dr Jamila Lyiscott These were hosted in person and online with a total of ~500 attendees! (pg 3)

We embraced transitions in Core Team roles as Angela Clinton pivoted from Vision & Program Alignment to continuing a Capacity Building Training Partner (CBTP) role, Becca Bartholomew transitioned out of her CBTP role, and Caprice Taylor Mendez joined the Universal Healthcare Foundation of Connecticut as President/CEO (2023).

We welcomed new Capacity Building Training Partner Zachary Dutton!

We completed our K.A.L.E. Partnership (Keeping Accountable to Liberation and Equity) with Southern Connecticut State University

We started a CEIO YouTube channel which includes videos from CEIO's beginnings in 2011 to our present offerings including the 2022 Deeper Change Forums

The 2022 CEIO Core Team [pictured left to right] Deloris Vaughn, Maza Rey, Elizabeth Nearing, Becca Bartholomew, Fahd Vahidy, Bill Graustein, David Carter, Eric Rey, Angela Clinton, Leyanne Oliveira, Farron Harvey, Niyonu Spann, Caprice Taylor Mendez, Paul Bryant Hudson, & Slate Ballard [not pictured Jill Powers]

DEEPER CHANGE FORUMS

Deeper Change Forums create spaces that invite fundamental transformation. A change that is so deep that a return to the previous conditions is utterly inconceivable Courageous conversations - grounded in peace, justice, and love

Our Deeper Change events hosts speakers, artists and workshops to address and move us toward systemic change throughout our society, with an emphasis on New Haven Events allow community members to hear from and learn with each other and with featured presenters who are working at root levels of for change Topics have ranged from environmental justice to wellbeing, organizing to art as disrupting injustice

THANKS FOR JOINING US IN 2022!

Masculiminality: A Workshop for Imagining Accountable Masculiminality: A Workshop for Imagining Accountable Masculiminality: A Workshop Imagining Accountable Masculinities with with Masculinities with Nalo A.K. Zidan Nalo A.K. Zidan Nalo A.K. Zidan

“Nalo’s clarity, energy, willingness and preparedness to address all of us with compassion, boundaries, and tough love was amazing ” –R G

“This was a deeply transformative experience, a spiritual experience. Zidan left everything on the field for this one, and I was right there with them ” –J E

Healing the Wounds of Racial Trauma with Dr. Jamila Lyiscott Healing the Wounds of Racial Trauma with Dr. Jamila Lyiscott

Healing the Wounds of Racial Trauma with Dr. Jamila Lyiscott

“Dr J offered help with congruence and identifying a racial trauma pattern in a very specific way that I plan to use in the affinity groups I lead ” – New Haven LCSW

“This workshop made me think more about prioritizing places of refuge for students of color outside of traditional school environments, alongside efforts to make those school environments safer and more affirming for students of color ” - a New Haven school integration organizer

RecoveringtheSacred,HonoringtheSeed RecoveringtheSacred,HonoringtheSeed RecoveringtheSacred,HonoringtheSeed withWinonaLaDuke withWinonaLaDuke withWinonaLaDuke

“Winona's deep, searching, joyful, inviting, challenging message had such depth and simplicity and the expectation that everyone is welcome” – M S

“She has a matter-of-fact, yet powerful style and her reminder that 'If it’s not working, stop doing it and do something else.' I’m holding onto her words and call-to-action.” – J.G.

CORE PARTNERSHIP TEAMS

Core Partnership Teams (CPTs) are a part of our Organizational Development offering. They are made up of CEIO’s Capacity Building Training Partners (CBTPs) and stakeholders from across our partnered organization/group. Core Partnership Teams focus on building capacity for change. CEIO partners with community-serving organizations that seek to be more just, inclusive and consciously co-creative We support partners in this endeavor, therefore increasing their overall mission effectiveness

"I think of it as being a friend Like a trusted companion that travels with you on a journey Someone that holds you accountable and celebrates your wins even when they may not look like wins to you A person with a vested interest in your highest good while also holding you with unconditional acceptance as you move through a change process that changes you in ways you never anticipated "

In 2022 CEIO launched three new Core Partnership Teams with:

Advocacy Unlimited* is a peer-led nationally-recognized organization that provides education, advocacy and support through peer-led, holistic engagement

CONECT is a collective of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and civic organizations from New Haven and Fairfield Counties –representing more than 30,000 people from different races, faith backgrounds, and living in both cities and suburbs – that have joined together to take action on social and economic justice issues of common concern

Two Coyotes Founded in 2000, is a non-profit nature mentoring organization that connects people to nature, community, and self.

We continue to be in partnership with:

- CBTP Eric Rey on Core Partnership Teams

BEYOND DIVERSITY 101™

Intensive workshops that expose, stimulate and transform the dynamics of diversity at the root level.

Beyond Diversity 101™ intends healing transformation. We provide frameworks, offer practices, and hold a space for growing skills to de-structure systems of oppression and raise up liberation Participants are offered pathways to move beyond the guilt-blame cycle toward radical truth-telling, coresponsibility, and activating joy & justice!

CEIO has aligned with BD101™ as one of the core training programs for our partner organizations, organizers, youth, and beloved community. The program provides communities of practice around frameworks of deep listening, story sharing, equity practices, and somatic transmutation for a holistic transformational systems change approach

Subscribe to updates and workshop opportunities at www.bd101.org

"I am immensely grateful to you (Niyonu) and Lisa, and really every person that showed up for the liberation journey. It was truly a transformative diversity intervention. It cracks you open in the best way. For me it was like two years of therapy, a completed degree in human connection, and all the self-help and systemic diagnosis books combined in the 5-day intensive. I confronted the core belief in my unconsciousness about feeling inferior and superior in comparison to others in different ways, which was ingrained since childhood. The liberating core belief that replaced it is the knowing that I and everyone has their unique magic within..."

- Armela Waters (WeBelong)

BD101: Re-member, Resist, Renew in August 2022

SEEDING CONSCIOUS CO-CREATION

CEIO’s Seeding Conscious Co-Creation (SCC) program supports both the forming of new and the development of existing communities of practice that seek to center conscious use of power (conscious co-creation), well-being, and liberation as individuals, and within the larger community SCC's prevailing intention is to widen the awareness, practice, and use of conscious co-creation

We believe the practice of conscious cocreation is the fuel and communities of practice are the vehicle as we move towards a more equitable, just, liberated, and connected community and world. SCC supports individuals who desire to facilitate communities of practice that center conscious co-creation through radical care, capacity building, coaching and support, intentional community and amplification

If SCC was a shape, I’d say it is a spiral It is a continuous unfolding, moving inward while simultaneously moving outward. It is expanding outwards as it expands deeper inward It is continuous and a forever unfolding process of personal healing and therefore, collective

healing."

- SCC Associate Director

The 2022-2023 SCC Cohort at their first retreat

MEET THE 2022-23 COHORT

SCC Leader Sla

Ballard, SCC As Director Leyann

Oliveira and SC

Support Guides

Rey, Kristianna and Farron Har (pictured L-R)

Armela Waters

Brandon Hutchinson

Briah Luckey

Merrie Harrison

Denise Page Stephen Mikolike

JoAnne Wilcox

Loren Jefferson

Lorena Fernandez

Nadine Nelson

Nika Zarazvand & Vanesa Suarez

Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez Seyi Adeyinka

Varun Khattar Sharma

Community of Practice

Armela Waters

Armela is creating a safe, brave, and inspiring space for an authentic exchange of stories, ideas, and perspectives inviting moms and their families living in New Haven County: immigrant moms of different ethnic backgrounds, new moms moving from other states, and current and long-time residents This community of practice will center the value of our diversity, the richness of our cultures, the love for all of our kids, and the pursuit of liberation, joy, and a better life for all

Brandon Hutchinson: Sister, Let’s Let Go

Brandon is creating a community she’s currently calling Sister, Let’s Let Go “It’s a container for Black women to enter, heal through writing, resting, art making and breath, and return closer to their own true selves Sister, Let’s Let Go is for those who believe in the power of their own healing–even if they are unsure of how to get there It’s for those women who are at full-out war–or sometimes in battle intermittently–with their own selves ”

Briah Luckey: Liberation Spark Practice

Liberation Spark Practice (L S P ) is a call to white women “helping professionals” to understand and shift their relationship with white supremacy It’s an invitation to move energy and cultivate capacity through embodied practice and art making while learning from the teachings of QPOC liberation leaders The format and curriculum of this group is born from Briah’s personal journey and is her effort to take on the emotional labor of teaching white women to shift their focus inward and towards nondominant visionary voices and teachings In this community of practice participants will learn hard and growth promoting truths, process thorough visual journaling, break silence, witness and be witnessed, move, be still, and be sparked by liberatory visions of revolution

L S P is also the acronym for learning support program, which is an accurate name for this practice because if you are a white woman you may well not have learned any of this before

Denise Page and Merrie Harrison: Indaba

Denise and Merrie are moving into their second year with Indaba, a community of practice “for residents of Greater Madison; the shoreline contiguous communities and any and all who are willing to make the travel commitment ” Indaba seeks to “awaken a veracious desire in our growing collective to create meaningful social change that offers services, support and opportunities to every member of the communities where we work, live, play and pray Our Vision is a community that acknowledges white privilege, is actively engaged in dismantling racism and k t d ual access to quality of life and shared power ”

JoAnne and Stephen are forming a community of practice made up of folks who have been on an alternative path for education, and their families. “We intend to bring together people who are experiencing the complexities of raising children in New Haven in tough circumstances and providing for them an opportunity to feel welcome, listened to, while co-creating a space of healing and learning.”

Loren is building a community for BIPOC creative business owners “who are liberated, free thinking, and accountable business owners and creatives of color ” She is cultivating a space to “help heal from trauma and change relationships with finance and money ” She wants her community to know they are worthy of success and co-create the practices and tools to be successful

Kinship in Mental Health is a community of practice bringing together humans engaged in personal and professional mental health work They are exploring what it means to practice indigenous ways of being and relating to one another and how this supports mental health for ourselves and our communities They envision returning to a more natural, harmonious, and sustainable way of being human in the world as a means to promote mental health Furthermore, the topics they explore in their practice include spirituality, decolonization, the kinship/indigenous worldview, and holistic wellness

Nadine brings together “food knowledge with community organizing skills, using cuisine as a catalyst to facilitate the engagement of art to heal the mind, body and soul of New Haven residents Master Cooks Corps seeks to fill the void in food education by showcasing the assets of the community to lead the healing of itself ”

JoAnne Wilcox and Stephen Mikolike

Loren Jefferson

Lorena Fernandez

Nadine Nelson: Master Cooks Corps

Nika Zarazvand and Vanesa Suarez

Nika and Vanesa’s community of practice focuses on envisioning a world where women and children live safe and free from violence “We know it is possible to create intentional communities that center their values and urgency around upholding and preserving life We are anchored in the teachings of indigenous Zapatista women who have fought relentlessly for decades for their sovereignty and to dismantle patriarchy within themselves and throughout their community ” Together, Nika and Vanesa bring their backgrounds in textile, photography, graphic design, writing, and storytelling to create spaces through art in which we can gather and collectively envision self autonomy and freedom for women & girls recalling the traditions of women documenting their memories in embroidery, clothing, poetry, song, photos, designs and so much more

Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez: Fair-Side

Ruby is developing a community of practice for visual artists, particularly marginalized artists, of the greate area currently titled Fair-Side “Its purpose is for visual artists to gather and help maintain each other’s respective goals, receive feedba hear of possibilities in how to approach roadb respective practices, whether that be resourc learning skills from each other based on our o

Seyi Adeyinka: Nurture

Nurture is a community of practice for Black w health professionals to connect with their anc explore embodied spirituality, and be in soulfu inquiry will be centered on the question, “How space to be our authentic selves and support We will use creative exploration and embodim reflect on how we navigate oppression in the field and move toward a path of liberation no ourselves but for our clients and patients

Varun Khattar Sharma: People's Saturday School

In Which We Are Loved

In Which We Are Loved is a community of practice for sex workers across racial and class differences who are interested in co-creating a liberatory space to practice shared power, community-building, and radical listening They envision a world in which sex workers are loved, are seen as whole people, and are held in networks of care Sex workers deserve to be joyful and liberated

The 2022-2023 SCC Cohort member at their first retreat

RISING LEADERSHIP TEAM

Elizabeth spent 10 years working in the theatre before transitioning to facilitating in civic spaces, creating gatherings where as many people as possible can have a voice This has included developing and facilitating community centered processes with Civic Impact Lab, The City of New Haven, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven Elizabeth fosters a deep commitment to cultivating belonging; the idea that radical joy and imagination can help us co-create a better world for ourselves, our ancestors, and generations to come

Deloris began her professional career as a counselor working in mental health and substance abuse treatment then shifted to education and prevention It was at this point that she began designing and conducting training workshops for professionals and para professionals. She continued to facilitate many trainings with organizations, mainly capacity building workshops in evaluation and strategic planning, in the nonprofit sector She has also worked as a corporate trainer, co-facilitating diversity training for companies such as Lockheed Martin Deloris shares, “At my core, I know my purpose on this planet is to teach, coach, mentor, lead by example and I am living into my purpose.”

The Rising Leadership Team [pictured right to left] Deloris Vaughn, Eric Rey, Elizabeth Nearing and CEIO Executive Assistant & Project Manager Jill Powers

"I'm honored to shepard the next phases of CEIO alongside Deloris and Eric This work has been exquisitely foundationed by Niyonu The things I'm excited for are rooted in the very things that made me repeatedly gravitate to CEIO I'm interested in shifting ways of being within people, organizations, and citywide so that the oppressive systems in place can no longer thrive. I'm excited to live into how liberation looks in practice We can seed change alongside one another, this gorgeous core team, and the brilliant people in New Haven "

"The transition process has been one of exploration and learning Learning more about who I am in the context of leadership and how I can best serve my colleagues and the larger CEIO community "

"Being part of the evolution of the Rising Leadership Team is an extraordinary experience for me! We are blessed with the opportunity to learn with each other and about each other in a process aligned with our way of being in CEIO and privileged to be held and guided in this transition by the leader and co-founder, Niyonu Spann!"

- Elizabeth Nearing

- Eric Rey

- Deloris Vaughn

2023 DEEPER CHANGE FORUMS: WHAT IT TAKES TO STAY THE COURSE

JANUARY 19TH: DR. DARYA FUNCHES

JANUARY 19TH: DR. DARYA FUNCHES

MARCH 20TH: NALO A.K. ZIDAN, CAITLIN BREEDLOVE & RICARDO LEVINS MORALES

We brought back some of our most impactful Deeper Change Forum presenters over the last 12 years that graced our community with their wisdom including Nalo A.K. Zidan, Caitlin Breedlove, and Ricardo Levins Morales! We are again asking them to return and help consider what it takes to stay the course.

JUNE 30TH: SEEDING CONSCIOUS CO-CREATION COHORT PRESENTATION

Led by SCC Leader Slate Ballard and SCC Associate Director Leyanne Oliveira and SCC Support Guides Eric Rey, Kristianna Smith, and Farron Harvey, this forum will celebrate the practice of conscious co-creation throughout a wide range of communities & interests

Hear from liberatory visionaries as they envision futures and practice co-creating communities where women and children live safe and free from violence, immigrant moms have support structures, radical educators increase their wellbeing and autonomy, cuisine and community organizing come together, marginalized artists share skills and support one another, and many others

THANK YOU FOR BEING IN COMMUNITY WITH US

As the seeds of 2023 continue to germinate and as we build a path to stay the course together, we are grateful for you -- our growing and beloved community, our thriving organizational partnerships, and our fervent core team members -- for the heart-led commitment that we hold together in imagining a better and more liberatory world for ourselves and for the future vision holders of New Haven and the world

Exe & P

Niyonu Spann Principal & Co-Founder

Bill Graustein Co-founder

Eric Rey CBTP and Rising Leadership Team

MazaRey Communications & Community Engagement Specialist

Elizabeth Nearing CBTP and Rising Leadership Team

Slate Ballard SCC Leader & CBTP

Deloris Vaughn CBTP and Rising Leadership Team

Leyanne Oliveira SCC Associate Director

Zachary Dutton CBTP

David Carter CBTP

Angela Clinton CBTP

Paul Bryant Hudson CBTP

Farron Harvey CBTP