By: The North Carolina Partner Praxis Group
The North Carolina partner praxis group is a fierce, loving, and caring community. We are a group of Resource Generation members who are partners of young people with wealth. We come from poor, working, and
Our first few gatherings were during chapter meetings, where we’d split up between partner and non-partner groups, and address any topics the chapter was discussing through the lens of being a partner. Eventually, our partner praxis evolved and started to shift in a more formal way when a few local partners emailed each other. Our idea was to gather in a completely separate environment than the chapter
“My partner recently commented, ‘
As partners shift and move around from state to state, we’ve been able to keep the partner praxis alive by inviting newcomers into our
Structure
After a few years of honing in on how to build an ongoing praxis group, we laid some guidelines down that gave us a stronger structure. There are two roles that are essential for our praxis meetings: host and facilitator. The host is the person who commits to organizing the date for the next
Each gathering is about 2.5 hours long. After chatting, catching up and receiving people as they arrive (ie. lots of hugs), we settle into a group and divide the remaining time by how many people are present so that everyone gets a chance to speak their mind. This individual speaking time varies anywhere between 8 – 15 minutes. One rule we really like to practice is making space for the person who volunteered to go first to speak again at the end in case they have anything else they might need to say or remembered as the group went along. Another ground rule is that everyone is allowed to determine what kind of listening they want: advice, questions, & sharing stories that are similar, and sometimes people request to only have
Retreat
This summer, we gathered for a retreat at a secluded farmhouse hosted by one of our
On the first night, we cooked dinner and shared around the table things we would normally share at a praxis. The following day we had scheduled ‘workshops’. We talked about jobs, careers, workplace dynamics, family, in-laws, hopes for how we might handle things, gave advice, and of
“At the end of a week full of senseless shootings of black men in the media, I left work with my shoulders tight, and on the verge of tears. I was looking forward to the RG partner retreat all week. We gathered outside on the porch rocking chairs and shared how we were feeling, our anger and frustration, fear and sadness and our thoughts for improving society. After an hour I was able to release the tension in my shoulders and feel a sense of community that inspired me.” – NC RG Partner
Impact
This group has been incredibly important to all of us. When we bare our messy and unscripted thoughts, it’s an amazing and rewarding experience to have space held by such loving, compassionate, and empathetic people. We share an identity that we don’t feel like we can share with just anyone, and we know how rare it is to be able to talk openly about class, race, and all the detailed intersections of life we face on a daily basis.
“I am one of the only people of
“I started out with frustration and pre-conceived notions of wealthy people. I could only come to truly respect wealthy people because of this partner group. Learning and processing with each other as we encounter decisions and crossroads in our lives when it comes to acquiring wealth and class privilege has helped my relationship to stay strong and my love for humanity to grow.“ – NC RG Partner
We sigh a breath of relief to be in company with other folks who get it. Who get being in a cross-class relationship. We value this space, and each other like we do our own family, which we hold with great reverence. Whether we leave the
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Resource Generation (RG) is the only organization in the U.S. organizing young people with access to wealth toward the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power.
As a result of becoming a member of Resource Generation, our members end up giving away 16-times more money to economic and racial justice organizations than they did before. Learn more and support our work by becoming a member here. If you need help figuring out your class background, check out our definition of wealth and/or fill out this intake form to have one our national organizers get in touch with you.