About Us
Our Work
Leadership Rooted in Liberation
We are living through a polycrisis—a time of multiple crises causing seismic economic, political, environmental, technological, and social shifts, which are long from being settled. Black, Indigenous, people of color, and Global South communities are at the frontlines and faultlines of these changes that are reshaping the world.
In this liminal time, BIPOC leaders are being asked to simultaneously dismantle the past, survive in the present, and create an alternative future. Our leadership, needed now more than ever, is being tested like never before.
This is the call of leadership, and we’re answering.
We are tasked with fighting for short- and long-term goals at the same time. We are called on to hold space for grief, trauma, and despair while also uplifting hope, courage, and vision. We have to navigate the scarcity created by economic, racial, and gender inequality while tapping into an abundance mentality to demand what we need. We must lift up our unique histories and conditions while also stepping up our practice of transforming conflict, resisting divide-and-conquer tactics, and deepening solidarity with one another.
Our Collective Purpose
A Community for Transformative Leaders
Transformative Leadership for Change (TLC) was called into existence by women of color leaders in the progressive community organizing ecosystem in Colorado. We came together to support each other around issues of burn-out, sustainability, unaddressed trauma, conflict and competition, underfunding, and internalized/systemic oppression. Tired of leadership programs that reinforced dominant culture “hard skills” to navigate the non-profit industrial complex, we yearned for a space that centered BIPOC experiences, collective healing, transformative relationships, abundance, creativity, and proactive vision.
Our Approach
Where Leaders Thrive and Movements Grow
TLC emerged as an offering of “tender loving care” to our peers in the movement, to transform ourselves, our organizations and the larger movement ecosystem – so we can thrive in our leadership, build power for our communities and see our visions of liberation come to life.
TLC is a place-based, healing-centric, liberatory leadership organization that elevates and potentiates BIPOC movement leaders, prioritizing those leading power-building and community organizing work. TLC invests in both individual leadership journeys as well as the collective TLC Network which, in turn, advances progressive agendas at local, statewide and national levels.
Four Dimensions of Leadership Growth
TLC programming seeks to spark transformation in four dimensions:
Individual
Interpersonal
Organizational
Ecosystem
Transformation is only possible when leaders are supported as whole people, in their relationships, in the cultures of their organizations, and within the broader movement ecosystem. Working across all four levels ensures that individual healing, community care, organizational change, and ecosystem strategy reinforce each other, creating the conditions for BIPOC leaders to flourish.
1. Individual level
Fellows deepen their understanding of current and historical trauma and how this impacts their leadership; experience intergenerational healing through culturally rooted ancestral practices; experiment with self-care practices that support sustainability; challenge mindsets of scarcity, competition, and reactivity to embrace abundance, collaboration, and proactivity; and find a role in the movement that aligns with their purpose.
I am far more confident and clear about my ability to lead with love and from a deep sense of purpose. I am no longer keeping separate a connection to divine guidance and my role as a rising leader in the community I serve. I released my commitment to false urgency and show up with a focus on space and time for connecting as whole beings, not just work colleagues or our professional titles.
— TLC Cohort 3 Fellow
2. Interpersonal Level
Fellows are given tools to create spaces of community care for each other; provide peer coaching and mentorship; heal and transform conflict; build solidarity among diverse leaders of color; break down silos between issue areas, communities, and tactics; and foster new and innovative collaborations with each other.
A lot of content we covered in TLC was not happening [in my organization]. We lack the skills to hold healing space for community members. It’s important to incorporate this into organizing. We are very policy/campaign driven, but we are missing the healing element. This isn’t fluffy stuff – this is critical to support the mental health of your staff, your members – so we can stay in these hard fights. But it always falls to the side in the heat of a campaign. I am now bringing the practices I learned at TLC into our staff meetings, our organizing trainings and more.
— TLC Cohort 2 Fellow
3. Organizational Level
Fellows learn how to foster organizational cultures that support care, sustainability and accountability; transform non-profit practices to align with social justice values; receive support for different stages of leadership (including transitions); strategize on investing in staff of color at all levels to create a deep bench of movement leaders; strengthen existing coalitions and collaborative tables; and create independent BIPOC-led tables to vision, power, and strategize together.
I’m thinking more about intention-setting as a way to guide my mind and body forward; I know I have a group of people I can turn to for support; I really like the concept that trauma happens in relationship to others so healing must happen in community and I’ve already started sharing that with students and others.
— TLC Cohort 3 Fellow
4. Ecosystem Level
Fellows deepen their analysis of institutional racism and structural barriers to success to co-create collective solutions. Fellows identify shared challenges and design collective interventions. This includes organizing and transforming relationships with philanthropic allies.
It was so helpful to have funders in the room with us. It served as an introduction to funders I never knew of before. Because of the introduction through TLC, [funder] gave our organization a $30,000 grant and sponsored Latino Advocacy Day at the state capitol. This was a super essential part of the fellowship experience.
— TLC Cohort 2 Fellow
