Class Action has been working since 2004 to educate and build awareness about class identity, class bias, and classism; build relationships across class; and support efforts to end classism and inequality. As we begin our 20th year of operation, Class Action’s work is needed more than ever.
Life within US capitalism, with its myths of meritocracy and strong individualist bent, has not only led to extreme wealth inequality but also stoked false divisions among us, creating stubborn barriers to change. Many people in the US believe we are a “classless” society or that “people get what they deserve,” blind to the structural inequality and racism that have defined the limits of our lives.
In addition, class is still largely absent from most activities in the growing diversity/equity/inclusion/belonging (DEIB) field. Where some discussion of or education about class is included, it is typically structural and theoretical, rarely involving exploration of the individual, organizational, and cultural levels at which class identity and class bias operate. Class Action works to bring understanding about class, class bias, and classism, and intersections between class and race in particular, into all anti-oppression work.
In the last two years, as the U.S. has experienced ongoing acts of white supremacy and the rise of white nationalism, CA has reached out to long term and new potential partners to assess the need for our work and build new initiatives to meet the current moment. As a result, we are currently focusing our programs in the following ways:
Finding new ways to educate about class and its impacts
Each of Class Action’s principal programs is the source of important learning that we seek to share via educational workshops and trainings. As mentioned below, Class Action’s First Gen Leadership Development Initiative (FGLDI) is leading our introductory workshops, “Exploring Class,” which we continue to offer to schools, colleges, philanthropic organizations, and social justice groups. Staffing the Mission (StM), which works to promote better wages and working conditions for nonprofit workers, is offering workshops for funders of and workers at nonprofits, adapting and sharing core parts of its toolkit created for community organizers. And Class Action’s Trainers’ Summit, described below, is working to distill lessons learned from its work and share with other trainers and facilitators what it takes to support work at the intersection of race and class. These educational offerings draw upon interactive, popular education based methodologies which strive to build relationship and connection among those who participate.
Creating and supporting opportunities for First Gen leadership (“First Gen” students are students who are the first in their families to attend college.)
In February of 2022, CA recruited two pilot members of a new First Gen Leadership Development Initiative (FGLDI). We have just added three new members to the team. The goal of the FGLDI is to give FG students/recent alumni the opportunity to learn how to lead Class Action workshops and the methodologies and approaches those workshops embody. Working together with First Gens, Class Action hopes to expand conversations about class and relationship building across class on college campuses. We are currently working to make FGLDI team members the “trainers’ bench” for Class Action’s introductory “Exploring Class” educational workshops.
Promoting collaboration among racial justice and anti-classism facilitators and trainers to deepen understanding about what it means to educate and practice at the intersection of race and class
Since October 2021, Class Action has been convening racial justice and anti-classist trainers and practitioners for dialogue about and experience of race/class intersections. In seven two hour plus sessions participants have worked to establish an environment of trust and safety that creates the foundation for open and honest sharing and learning on difficult topics. At this juncture, the TS group has made the decision to operate as a Community of Practice and to meet at least quarterly to share experiences, offer support to one another, and deepen our learning about race/class intersections.
Working to bring information, resources, and support to help nonprofit workers who are underpaid, overworked, and experiencing other poor working conditions about how to help build sustainable jobs in the nonprofit sector
Staffing the Mission has helped create a guide/tool kit for community organizers and has adapted its contents in ways that apply to all nonprofit workers. StM has begun offering workshops for nonprofit workers and employers based on these resources. It is also working with funders and other philanthropic partners to deepen understanding about how to commit monies in ways that make sustainable jobs possible.
Building “communities of practice” for those who want to include class and its impacts in social/economic/racial justice work and increasing the number of people who are able to educate about class
Class Action has been working with Think Again Training and Consulting (TATC) on a plan to create a regular space for those interested in or already offering trainings, consulting, or other forms of support around class. While we have not yet launched this initiative, we continue to discuss possible ways of making this support and learning space available. There are not many ways in which people can do their own work around class and learn (or continue to learn) about how to most effectively educate others about class as well. Class Action hopes to collaborate in offering this space as soon as possible and feasible.
Using the platform that almost 20 years of work has created for Class Action to promote dialogue and learning about key questions related to racial, economic, and social justice
Class Action’s history of work, the relationships it has built, and the ways in which it has contributed to educating about class and breaking down classism have created the reputation and capacity to listen for and call field level questions related to its mission. This convening role plays a critical function in pushing the work forward at a larger scale of impact. Our Trainers’ Summit is an example of what it is possible for Class Action to contribute in this capacity.
At a time when our society is challenged by:
- a fear of learning about our country’s true history of abuse of those considered “different;”
- ongoing violence against Black people and other people of color;
- a false narrative of meritocracy that makes us turn away from those who cannot survive the exploitative conditions and impacts of modern day capitalism and blame them for what they suffer;
We must challenge ourselves and others to build relationships across our differences, work to understand the root causes of the profound inequities in our world, and find the common humanity which is the key ingredient to any process of real change for the better. Class Action has the capacity to play a central and much needed role in this effort.
