As has happened many times now, I read the news this weekend of the latest mass shootings. It’s of course not how anyone should be starting their days, nor ending their days. I feel moved to share some reflections as a white, working class, queer femme who grew up in close proximity to the ways…
It’s a time of transition here at Resource Generation. Sarah Abbott, Director of Resource Mobilization, is leaving after eight years on staff. Sarah leaves a powerful legacy at RG having been the first for so much of our work — our first full-time chapter organizer, first staff support person for college organizing, first Chapter Organizing…
Resource Generation stands in solidarity with the ongoing active resistance movements at the border, in Puerto Rico, and Hawai’i’s Mauna Kea. These struggles are power struggles that are inextricable from systemic wealth inequality, white supremacy, and colonization. In each of these resistances, people with wealth and power are trying to impose their agendas through force…
Moving at the ‘speed of trust’ across class differences.
At Resource Generation, we are saddened and enraged at the escalating attacks on reproductive rights and the policing of our bodies that the most recent wave of anti-abortion bans represents. We know that pre-Roe v. Wade people with wealth who needed a safe abortion were often able to pay top dollar to receive services here…
What’s the role of wealthy-ish and affluent folks in climate justice and the environmental movement?
While we’re at it, let’s have a 100% estate tax and abolish inheritance.
Hey, class-privileged folks, I hope these expand your analysis, piss you off, and spur you to take action.
Spoiler alert: all of it.
We recently celebrated the 20th Anniversary of our Making Money Make Change conference! Making Money Make Change has been a signature part of Resource Generation’s work since our founding back in 1998. The original conference was a joint vision and collaboration between wealthy young people who wanted to get involved in social justice organizing and…
We hold the liberation of Black and Indigenous people as central to the liberation of all people. We know that attempted genocide and chattel slavery created the initial foundation for massive wealth disparity in the U.S. and that the continued exploitation and criminalization of those communities upholds the racial wealth divide. We believe that well-resourced Black and Native Left organizing is a critical part of how we all get more free.
We believe social justice movements need to be led by communities most directly impacted by injustice. As young people with access to wealth, we choose to undermine the pattern of funders dictating the work and instead choose to follow the leadership of transformative social justice movements and communities, led by people who are: poor, working-class, Black, Indigenous, of color, women, disabled, queer and trans.
We work towards eradicating classism and towards wholeness. We believe that all classes and communities are interconnected and interdependent and that classism has been used to wedge and divide us. We know that much is lost communally in the name of wealth accumulation and that people with wealth have a lot to gain from returning wealth to the collective and transforming our economy. We know that the current economic system is untenable, and we work to build a solidarity economy.
We believe that people ages 18–35, with wealth and class privilege, are at a pivotal stage in life to make a lifelong commitment to social movements. Youth movements and organizing are, and have been bold and visionary. We are building on the legacy of those who came before us, and we are working for a better world for those who will come after. Young people with access to wealth and class privilege need to be organized as protagonists—actively engaging in and seeking out ways that leverage and redistribute our access to power and resources within our control, and redirect resources and power within the networks and institutions we are connected to. We are committed to resisting ageist norms of people acquiring power and holding on to it and constantly doing leadership development to bring about new leadership.
We believe personal and structural change are deeply connected, and every person has the ability to heal and grow. We are committed to working towards transforming ourselves, our organizations, our communities, and society as a whole through our work. We bring our full selves, our experiences, our stake, and our strategic thinking to build cross-class relationships in working for a just and livable world.
We believe in collective and individual growth, groundedness and interdependence. We know that tensions will arise, and we will approach these with curiosity on behalf of our personal and collective wants. We will work to see tensions as generative rather than destructive and finite. We welcome principled disagreement and will strive to keep conflict generative in service of our broader goals and mission.
We believe in the power of collaboration across class, race, and movements. We know that our vision depends on our relationships with communities, organizations and people across our movement ecosystem, with whom we share similarities and differences. Through our organizing work we also seek ways to invite our families, communities, and other people with access to wealth to this work.
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