What does it mean to get free?

Next River Freedom's Revival

A Field Guide

Freedom’s Revival: Research from the Headwaters of Liberation is an inquiry into freedom and its possibilities. It seeks to explore the freedom that is central to all our struggles for justice, equality, and our planet’s survival. It seeks to recover a freedom unlike the one that has taken root in the United States. 

What would it look like to understand our freedom as stemming from a deep connectedness with other living beings? What would be possible if we understood, believed in, and practiced this freedom?

Elements of Interconnected Freedom

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    Mutuality

    The collective cares for the collective.

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    Pragmatic Faith

    Trust that the universe is conspiring to care for us. And to be part of that universe for others.

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    Embodiment

    The body remembers the way to freedom.

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    Transformation

    Becoming the people who can build a free world.

Next River developed this field guide in collaboration with Ground Works Consulting.

Finding Home: A Freedom’s Revival Experiment

Finding Home considers capital, community, and climate to create possibilities for marginalized people to secure their futures. This work begins with a research and design phase to create a collective home ownership pilot for a group of Black women.

Home is more than a dwelling, it is family and relationship, it is safety and protection, it is a point of interconnection with neighborhood and community. In an increasingly volatile and polarized world, strengthening community bonds is one of the most important investments societies must make to ensure a flourishing future. 

  • But for Black women, stable housing in welcoming neighborhoods is difficult to secure. Additionally, homeownership, which has been a key path toward building financial security and intergenerational wealth, is increasingly out of reach for most Americans, especially Black people. Through the Finding Home project, we are envisioning and designing a collective home ownership model for Black women, emerging from their experiences, dreams, and desires. 

    The first phase of the project looks to conduct research to determine key considerations around collective ownership models and Black women’s dreams and aspirations around home and collective ownership. The aim of this work is to help support a future design phase of the work, which would look to pilot a collective home ownership project with a group of Black women.

Next River is pursuing the research phase of this project with The Maven Collaborative.