The Community Rooms of GR are the playground and practice field of healing, learning, growing, creating, and building transformative community. 12 humans at a time, we listen, share, validate, uplift, teach, and build interdependence.
In·ter·de·pen·dence, noun, the intentional mutual investment of two or more people in the maintenance of specific or overall well-being.
–The New Black American Refugee Dictionary of Terms
What is a GR Room?
A GR room is a radical space where community members can come together to practice building a new kind of interdependence. Using the community acknowledgements & agreements, as well as The Choreography of Conflict transformation model and toolboxes, members and keepers practice holding and sharing space (therapeutic listening rooms (TLRs)), sharing resources (mutual aid rooms) teaching & learning (skills rooms), art-making (creativity rooms), and more! Rooms may have different themes, and members may belong to more than one room, though all members need to belong to a TLR room, as this is the heart of community practice. [You can think of a TLR room a bit like an AA room, without the substance abuse or religion.] Healing our wounds around community is slow, joyful, and painstaking work; work that can only be done in community with others. Join us as we reimagine what it means to been fully seen and to fully belong.
Why 12 People?
We believe that the work of vulnerability, self-discovery, & healing is best done in small groups. Grassroots community is the heart of revolution, & as we work to revolutionize what it means to belong, we aim to follow the wisdom of those who came before us.
What’s a Keeper?
A keeper is a community member who leads meetings & helps support the navigation of conflict. The role of keeper rotates within rooms, & keepers participate in workshops & peer supervision in order to support their important work. Each room has 2 keepers at any given time.
How do I join?
Because the work of unlearning, healing, and building anew is slow work, GR rooms are being formed slowly. See announcements below for room openings, join our email list & follow us on social media to stay up to date!
The first room!
We are currently building the first of Giovanni’s Rooms! If you are a Black woman, AFAB, or transfemme, and you are interested in being a part of a therapeutic listening room (TLR), please contact us at giovannisroomGCC@gmail.com, and put “The First Room” in the subject line. The cost of attending a TLR meeting is $5. (This helps us cover the cost of our Zoom account, web hosting and maintenance, and file storage for our library.)