In 2020, the world shifted drastically as we experienced a global pandemic that revealed and exacerbated social inequities. Legal services advocates demanded support in their work as the trauma we were exposed to overwhelmed us in unexpected ways. This highlighted and revealed numerous tensions within legal services workspaces, resulting in mass unionization of legal services organizations around the country. Organizational leaders and advocates continue to navigate the complexities of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives while clamoring for trauma-informed and racially just workspaces.
As a direct response to these tensions, the framework for Resilient Advocacy emerged - a systems theory approach to legal advocacy that is rooted in a trauma-informed, antiracist, and intersectional understanding of individuals, communities, society, and the larger systems we participate in collectively.
As a direct response to these tensions, the framework for Resilient Advocacy emerged - a systems theory approach to legal advocacy that is rooted in a trauma-informed, antiracist, and intersectional understanding of individuals, communities, society, and the larger systems we participate in collectively.
Vision
The Resilient Advocates Collective envisions a world in which legal advocates are able to engage in sustainable practices while leveraging systemic change towards just and equitable outcomes. When legal advocates are able to engage in resilient advocacy, together communities will be better able to shift legal systems of in/justice with innovative and collaborative approaches to legal advocacy.
Mission
The Resilient Advocates Collective's mission is to be a hub for legal advocates aiming to engage in Resilient Advocacy - where advocates can have additional training and workshop opportunities to support them in their advocacy, and a network of advocates who share a commitment to engaging in trauma-informed, antiracist, and intersectional legal advocacy. Legal advocates confront trauma every day as they represent individuals and communities that have suffered immense harms and injustice. Our theory of change is rooted in a fundamental understanding that to confront and overcome injustice and trauma, we need both community and strategy.
The Resilient Advocates Collective's cornerstone is our training curriculum and workshops. Our curriculum guides legal advocates through a four-part model using (1) substantive training sessions in which advocates learn both theory and concrete skills and (2) interactive workshops that provide a safe, innovative space for practicing and exploring the material further. Using tools and frameworks from legal practice, psychology, communications, and management science, advocates learn:
The Resilient Advocates Collective also furthers its mission by practicing the frameworks and strategies we teach through our Resilience-in-Action Project (RAP). With funding directed by community-based organizations, RAP aims to address systemic barriers faced by marginalized migrants in the U.S. through innovative collaboration, community engagement, and direct legal support, with a focus on the priorities identified by the communities we work with.
The Resilient Advocates Collective's cornerstone is our training curriculum and workshops. Our curriculum guides legal advocates through a four-part model using (1) substantive training sessions in which advocates learn both theory and concrete skills and (2) interactive workshops that provide a safe, innovative space for practicing and exploring the material further. Using tools and frameworks from legal practice, psychology, communications, and management science, advocates learn:
- How to apply systems theory strategies to organizational leadership;
- How to improve interpersonal communication through tension and conflict across differences and through trauma exposure;
- How to lead and supervise others to engage in resilient advocacy; and,
- How to engage in deep, personal excavation to find our own balance and sustainability.
The Resilient Advocates Collective also furthers its mission by practicing the frameworks and strategies we teach through our Resilience-in-Action Project (RAP). With funding directed by community-based organizations, RAP aims to address systemic barriers faced by marginalized migrants in the U.S. through innovative collaboration, community engagement, and direct legal support, with a focus on the priorities identified by the communities we work with.
Values
The Resilient Advocates Collective understands the importance of values. Our values are a reflection of the Resilient Advocacy framework and our commitment to sustainable systems transformation achieved in community. Thus, we developed the Resilient Advocates Oath. Resilient advocates are committed to:
- Transformation that is multidisciplinary, global, and interconnected.
- Collaboratively shifting power from the margins to a more inclusive whole.
- Examining individual, collective, and systemic biases with empathy and humility.
- Investing in intergenerational community and systems transformation.
- Engaging in deep personal excavation and growth through discomfort.
- Practicing collective accountability and radical transparency.
land acknowledgment
The Resilient Advocates Collective supports indigenous rights to self-determination and self-preservation everywhere. Many of us are personally connected to genocide - ethnic groups on all continents have long faced threats of ethnic cleansing, including the genocide of indigenous people on Turtle Island here in the United States. Our in-person work occurs largely in Houston, Texas, on lands originally tended by a number of Indigenous nations, including the Karankawa, Coahuiltecan, Atakapa-Ishak, and the Sana. In honor of these legacies, the Resilient Advocates Collective strives to learn from and uplift Indigenous communities in our work, such as by considering the Seventh Generation Principle (an ancient Haudenosaunee philosphy that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations in the future). We are also committed to offering our services to Indigenous advocates at a reduced cost, or for free when our budget allows.