Create Forward LLC

On August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. It continues to be the most effective piece of Civil Rights legislation ever passed. According to the National Archives and Records Administration, "The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most significant statutory change in the relationship between the federal and state governments in the area of voting since the Reconstruction period and following the Civil War." The VRA dramatically increased the number of Black people registered to vote and the number of Black people elected on a state and national level. It also made it possible to pass legislation that improved the quality of life in communities across the U.S. as more elected leaders who represented and were accountable to the interests of their communities took office. The success of the VRA has made it a target amongst conservatives over the last decade. Since 2013 the Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder the VRA has been systemically made unenforceable. In that time we've seen a surge of voter suppression efforts in states across the country. Voting has once again become an endurance sport for many. In November when we step out to vote many people will be faced with voter intimidation and disinformation in an attempt to keep them from exercising their right to decide the next President. Once we elect Kamala Harris, she must prioritize passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to eliminate threats to the right to vote. #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #KamalaHarris #JohnLewis #CivilRights

Over the last year, We've partnered with the Redlich Horwitz Foundation to develop narrative strategies to transform how communities and the public understand family policing systems. This past weekend, Piper facilitated training on advocacy storytelling with lived experience experts from across New York State working to build a movement to end family criminalization and separation led by parents, guardians, and foster care alumni. These lived-experienced experts are challenging popular narratives about the child welfare systems and families who are targeted by family policing authorities, like the fact that the majority of children are removed from their homes because of conditions that stem from poverty NOT abuse. More than half of Black children will have to endure the trauma of an investigation by a child welfare agency during their childhood. Even Pres. Biden in 2021 acknowledged that too often children are removed from loving, supportive homes because "poverty is too often conflated with neglect." That is why we need more determined, passionate advocates who know firsthand the damaging impact of family policing. We've facilitated our "Advocacy Storytelling" training with advocates, non-profit communications teams, community organizers, social service agencies, school administrators, and a national coalition fighting for affordable childcare. Contact us to bring our training to your organization or network. #storytelling #advocacy #socialchange #narrativechange #childwelfare #familypolicing #familyjustice #CreateForward

Today we celebrate #Juneteenth. On June 19th, 1865, more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas were informed, finally, that they were free by decree of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed more than two years before that fateful day, freed enslaved people in confederate states. It would take another six months before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified making slavery illegal, except as punishment for a crime (the fine print) and freeing the remaining 100,000 enslaved people in states that never seceded from the union during the Civil War. The story of Juneteenth is a story of justice delayed. A story that Black people in this country know all too well. On this day, we remember those who continue to fight to make the full rights of citizenship a reality of all people. Juneteenth is a day to remember, grieve, reflect, and tell the truth of this country’s history and its legacy of enslavement. It’s a day to celebrate freedom and to acknowledge its unfulfilled promises. The work of repair is still very much in progress but Juneteenth reminds us of how far we’ve come.

As a Black queer-led company every month is #Pride. But June is a month to come together and remember that Pride is protest. Pride is resistance. Pride is love. Pride is honoring our queer ancestors who fought so that we might breathe a little easier and stand a little taller in our queerness.

On June 6, 2024, the Rikers Public Memory Project, Texas After Violence Project, and the Visiting Room Project will host a Translocal Oral History Dialogue, Narrative Threads: Navigating Stories of Pain & Power. This gathering will provide an opportunity to bring formerly incarcerated women and gender-expansive people from each project to discuss their experiences sharing their stories – and everything that happens afterwards. From feelings of relief and healing to dealing with challenges and concerns, narrators’ experiences will be given time, space, care, and attention. This event will be an extension of all three community archives’ core aim to center the experiences of those directly impacted. The Rikers Public Memory, Texas After Violence, and the Visiting Room Projects each take seriously our task as community archives to curate ethically engaged communities and worlds. Each narrators’ story provides counternarratives to combat tropes that construct system-impacted people as criminal & thus unworthy of their humanity. Community archives are called to document and preserve traces of communal memory in the form of interviews, artwork, poetry, photographs, and oral histories. These institutional testaments to lived experience gives us the opportunity to effect narrative change within society. Furthermore, the occasion for community archives – especially those that work alongside system-impacted peoples– to come together and discuss and share strategies and lessons learned, grants us the ability to better serve our narrators and the communities we work within. As our supporters, we invite you to join us for this first translocal oral history dialogue to better understand the value of this collective and the continued support of such initiatives made by community archives. The panel Narrative Threads: Navigating Stories of Pain & Power will be open to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST at the People’s Forum. Register Today! This event will also be livestreamed and recorded for public viewing, as well. https://lnkd.in/eNDrWegu #narrativechange #narrativestrategy #storytelling #communityengagement #incarceration #oralhistory   

Congrats to our client ThriveOn Collaboration. Since 2019 we've served as lead community engagement partner for the partnership facilitating dozens of community visioning sessions. ThriveOn has never wavered in its commitment to centering community voices and needs. We're thrilled that ThriveOn is being recognized for its diligent investment in Milwaukee neighborhoods. Congrats!

Create Forward's Founder, Piper Anderson offers some core principles for how organizations can create more equitable workplaces. SSIR webinar is available for a limited time.

Differentiated solutions for Black women and other marginalized identities requires that leaders consider the relevant historical and social context. Discriminatory beliefs against Black people permeated the American labor system and laws for more than 400 years, notably through chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and unequal access to quality education and employment. Because of this historical context and because most corporate offices were primarily designed with white men in mind, there is an ever-present apprehension among Black individuals about potentially being alienated or devalued in subtle and not-so-subtle ways by non-Black employers and team members. These concerns can be validated, even on teams where leaders believe there is a great level of psychological safety and team members work together closely. #mentalhealthawareness #psychologicalsafety #Blackwomen #workplaceculture https://lnkd.in/gDHTXTFi

Every month we hear from leaders who are passionate about creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. Unfortunately, we’re in a moment of unprecedented levels of burnout in workplaces across the country. According to a 2021 survey conducted by Mind Share Partners, 84% of respondents said that their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge. 81% confirmed that are actively searching for a workplace that supports their mental health in the future. This news should motivate every organizational leader to take action. Create Forward is committed to supporting leaders in creating workplace communities where people can be well while doing good work. That’s why we created our Thrive Culture service offerings. Our Thriving Culture program provides organizations with the practices, skills, and tools to cultivate an organizational culture that centers: Psychological Safety: the ability to speak up and honestly about challenges and the support you need without fear of reprisal. Mutual Connection and Belonging: opportunities to build authentic relationships rooted in respect, care, and aligned values. Accountability Systems: transparent institutional structures that provide clear protocols for feedback, conflict mediation, and the prevention of discrimination and harm. SERVICE OFFERINGS Culture Audit The audit assesses organizational culture focused on three core areas of Thriving Culture: psychological safety, mutual connection, and accountable systems. At the completion of the audit, you will have a set of recommendations for improving organizational culture. Individual and Team Coaching Our coaching provides a supportive space to reflect on challenges, identify strategies for improving relationships, and find common alignment around shared goals and commitments. Affinity Groups and Community Care Circles These small group peer support spaces are organized around a specific set of values or shared identities where participants can build trust, strengthen relationships with colleagues, and share what they most care about while working toward a shared learning objective. Collective Visioning and Strategy Sessions We use an appreciative inquiry approach to collective visioning and strategy sessions. Utilizing storytelling we identify those inspiring moments that energize your team and use the underlying values in these moments to shape a shared vision for the future then design strategies for moving toward that future. What questions do you have about building a Thriving Culture? I want to hear from you. Comment below. #organizationalculture #healthyworkplaces #burnout #strategicplanning #communityengagement #collectivevisioning #leadershipcoaching

Over the last year we've partnered with the Redlich Horwitz Foundation to use our unique community storytelling methodology, the Story Lab to bring together communities across New York State impacted by the child welfare system. This past weekend we hosted our second Story lab in Rochester in partnership with Citizen Action on the theme "Solutions Not Punishment". Parents shared their experiences under surveillance by Child Protective Services and learned about the Family Miranda bill that would require CPS to provide written and verbal documentation explaining the rights of families when interacting with CPS. Through our story lab series, we're working to transform the narratives stigmatizing families targeted by CPS and demand more accountability for systems that criminalize and surveil Black and brown families. #narrativechange #communityengagement #communitystorytelling #childwelfare #reparativejustice