Movements for justice are expanding and shifting around us. We must take care of each other and ourselves in these times of resistance and backlash. In recent conversations mapping movement moments and how faith communities can be of use, organizer Elandria Williams used the language of political and spiritual ‘fortification’ as a key need of justice seekers, activists, and spiritually-rooted organizers.

Caitlin Breedlove, Auburn’s vice president of movement leadership and former Campaign Director of Side with Love, uses this frame as she interviews organizers and activists talking about the role of faith in their own lives, reflections and lessons from movement, the current political moment and how faith communities can resource, support and engage with today's leading movements.

Season two of Fortifcation: Spiritual Sustenance for Movement Leadership, in partnership with Auburn Seminary launched in October 2017. Fortification can now be found on iTunes, GooglePlay and SoundCloud and Stitcher.

SUBSCRIBE TO FORTIFICATION HERE

Season 2 Episode List:

  • Teaser: Background with host Caitlin Breedlove
  • Ep. 1: Rodney McKenzie, Director of Partnerships at DEMOS, and check out the transcript of the conversation on Auburn's VOICES here.
  • Ep. 2: Brian McLaren, author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. Read more about Brian's work here.
  • Ep. 3: Isa Noyola, is a translatina activist, a national leader in LGBT immigrant rights movement, and the Deputy Director at Transgender Law Center. Read more about Isa's work here.
  • Ep. 4: Melvin Bray, is an Emmy® award-winning storyteller, social entrepreneur, and author who lives with his wife, three kids and two dogs in southwest Atlanta, GA. Read more about Melvin's work here.
  • Ep. 5: Francisca Porchas is the previous organizing director of Puente Human Rights Movement and a leading voice in efforts to end mandatory immigrant detention and address the trauma experienced by frontline communities currently facing criminalization and deportation. Read more about Francisca's work here.
  • Ep. 6: adrienne maree brown is a writer, social justice facilitator, pleasure activist, healer and doula living in Detroit. Her book, emergent strategy, has been an extraordinary text and resource supporting folks doing justice work that we highly recommend. Read more about adrienne's work here.
  • Ep. 7: Pancho Argüelles, organizer, popular educator and current Executive Director of Living Hope Wheelchair Association.
  • Ep. 8: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, an original pioneer of transgender activism and a champion for Transgender Women of Color who leads the cause for transgender rights in the prison industrial complex. She took part in the Stonewall riots. Miss Major is also the Executive Director Emeritus for the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project (TGI Justice Project) and founder of the Haus of GiGi. Read more about and support her work here
  • Ep. 9: Rev. Allyn Maxfield Steele, current co-director of the Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. Allyn was raised in Texas, Germany and North Carolina and is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who has served congregations in Juneau, Alaska, Nashville, and Springfield, TN. Allyn’s focus and interests lie at the intersection of radical pastoral care, institutional transformation, dismantling toxic white masculinities, and liberation-driven ministry and movement building, especially in rural and small town communities. Read more about Highlander here.
  • Ep. 10: Paulina Helm-Hernández is a queer femme cha-cha girl, artist, trainer, political organizer, strategist; troublemaker-at-large from Veracrúz, Mexico. She grew up in rural North Carolina, and is currently growing roots in Atlanta, GA. She is recent past Co-Director of Southerners on New Ground (SONG). Paulina has a background in farm worker and immigrant/refugee rights organizing, cultural work, youth organizing, anti-violence work, and liberation work that centers people most affected by violence, poverty, war and racism. Read more about her work here.