Young Workers Workshop: This Moment in Time
DATE: Monday November 15, 2021
TIME: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
LOCATION: Virtual via WebEx
HSA is pleased to offer this one-day virtual workshop specifically designed for HSA Young Workers (HSA members 35 and under). In this workshop facilitated by PYROS (The Prairie Youth Radical Organizing School), young workers will experiment with the principles and elements of Emergent Strategy, a framework named and developed by Adrienne Maree brown of ESII (The Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute). Emergent Strategy is about how we intentionally adapt to practice the liberated worlds we wish to build. As young workers, the future is ours to shape. Let’s embody solidarity - one practice at a time.
Workshop Description:
As caring professionals, young workers at HSABC are on the frontlines of change. In communities across the province, young workers see first-hand how systems of oppression, inequality, and climate change disproportionately impact the most vulnerable among us. The scale of the collective problems you’re up against is overwhelming. But know this - our practices of care are scaling up to shape a future that has never existed before, a future not only for us, but for future generations. Just like an underground network of mycelium, a school of fish evading predation together, or a massive field of stubbornly resilient dandelions - our union is made up of complex systems, and our lives are frontlines for transformation.
Workshop Goals:
➢ To develop a basic understanding of Emergent Strategy and its origins
➢ To articulate shared definitions of economics, governance, and bioregionalism
➢ To build group resilience through critical connections over critical mass (1-1s)
➢ To share generative personal and collective somatic practices to use in our work for change
➢ To provide space for individual reflection, contemplation, sharing and synthesis
➢ To apply skills learned in this workshop within your workplace and the union.
This workshop will be led by two young workers and organizers who founded PYROS, an emerging worker-owned cooperative that supports young organizers on the prairies as they work to build a new bioregional solidarity economy, based on principles of decolonization, anti-oppression and social justice.
Rye (she/they) is a young worker from Treaty 6 territory. As an experienced youth organizer with a passion for social justice, Rye co-founded PYROS three years ago, and was a key leader in its flagship program Queer Scouts. As a relative of the late Guyanese historian and political activist Walter Rodney, Rye is part of a long family lineage of Black Revolutionary Thought. A student of the universe, Rye is currently studying Sociology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Alberta.
Avery (they/them) is a white settler and gender freedom fighter living on the northern shores of the sacred lake Wakamne, also known as Lac Ste Anne, Treaty 6 territory. Avery’s experience in youth organizing social justice facilitation goes back to their early teen years. They co-founded PYROS in 2018 as part of a group of young queer and trans workers and has co-facilitated many workshops and programs since. Avery earned their Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Alberta and their certificate in Labour Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY).
Space is limited.
Members who are interested in this workshop are asked to complete a registration application by logging into My Events Registration using the prompts provided. Workshops are listed under Other events. Please call the HSA office at 604.517.0994 or 1.800.663.6119 if you do not know your HSA member ID number.