Apply today!
Deadline for Applications – September 5, 2021
The Zoomy North America Leadership Jam brings together 30 changemakers from across North America (Canada, Mexico, the US, and the Caribbean) for a seven-day deep dive, exploring the connections between self-awareness, group evolution, and systemic change. We gather to grow internally, to build community, and to discover collective ways to move towards transformative change. We also gather to have a ton of fun, to make art, to reconnect with nature and our spirits. It’s a unique blend of personal recharge and deep exploration into how we can reshape the world.
We had planned to hold the 2021 Jam in person and with the news of Covid realities in California and beyond, we are shifting to a virtual Jam.
On Monday, September 13th, we will have two sessions that day (10 am-12 pm PST (1-3 pm EST) and 2-4 pm PST (5-7 pm EST), and continue with a session a day (10-12 pm PST / 1-3 pm EST) on Tuesday, September 14th, Wednesday, September 15th, Friday, September 17th, and Saturday, September 18th. Thursday, September 16th will be reserved for rest, integration, for those participants celebrating Yom Kippur, and for participant-led sessions, which will also be happening throughout the week.
We see the Jam as truly spanning the whole week, and this week as a time to celebrate, to grieve, to explore the past 18 months, and to look forward to what we can create in this very changed world. There is so much to reflect on, accept, release and take forward from 2020/21. The Jam will be a place to slow down and make meanings from the vast range of experiences in this time. At the systemic level we’ve swung from elections to covid to climate change, from injustice revealed and polarization, to people coming together in mutual aid and the largest international and US national mobilization in history for racial justice. Interpersonally, people are transitioning from the conflicts and joys of bubbles to the strangeness of being in a room with people maskless for the first time in a year, back to putting on masks and keeping distance again. For others, work never stopped, isolation was simply not an option. Others had major shifts due to job losses or exploring new ways of livelihood they never thought possible before. And personally – fears about sickness, isolation, economic hardship lived alongside a year where some people could invest time in themselves and found new strength. Not to mention getting out of pajamas and back into social life where we can actually see each other smile. It’s been quite a year and half.
The Jam is an opportunity to explore this light and this darkness in an environment of healing, connection, and (re)humanization. It is a reminder that our interdependence is an essential part of our nature. It’s a chance for us to come together, learn, draw from our commonalities and heal across our divides to be able to bring all of who we are to the table to create a vision of the world in which we want to live.
Why? Because we are at a Tipping Point. Because the time for holding back is gone. Because in order to rise to the challenges we’re facing, it’s going to take all of us.
WHO COMES TO A JAM?
For the past 31 years, YES! has organized 175+ weeklong camps and Jams, in person and online, with people from 85 countries, and continues to curate spaces where inspiring young and intergenerational change-makers can build community, forge alliances, and become equipped with tools for personal, interpersonal and systemic transformation. Changing the world means many things – from parenting conscious and empowered kids to front line activism to spiritual practice to leading organizations. All of these are needed to create the world we know is possible. The time to meet and co-create with different kinds of change makers is one part of the magic of the Jam. If you are willing to ask big questions and hold paradox with an open, loving heart, you are invited to apply. Accessibility is a key value of the Jam and partial scholarships are available.
Are you:
- Hungry to build bridges across divides within yourself and across relationships and communities?
- Committed to using your resources and leveraging your privileges in alignment with your values?
- Overwhelmed with options and not sure how to create the change you want to see in the world effectively?
- Wondering how to deepen your understanding of what positive impact even is?
- Interested in shedding guilt and paralysis and ready to rethink what power means for you?
- Seeking a healthy relationship to your gifts, skills and resources?
Then, the North America Leadership Jam is for you.
Deadline for applications: September 5, 2021
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “JAM”?
A Jam is not a conference, it is not a training, and it is not a typical gathering. Through 31 years of YES gatherings, diverse groups from all over the world have co-created amazing methods for community building and stretching our understanding of the world. Those are a foundation of the Jam, but we will not have a rigid agenda. Instead, we will draw from all of your applications to find the themes, questions, and wisdom that everyone at your jam will bring. We put them all in a big pot, stir them around and see what comes out! From there, we make an initial flow of facilitated activities, but that always changes depending on what is alive in the present moment.
Each Jam is a unique group of people. We put the wisdom of the group at the center of the Jam, not the agenda, and we are lead by the evolving energy of the group day to day. That is why we call it a Jam. Whatever happens, we always mix in plenty of down time, dance time, hike time, silence time, food time, and rest time.
We will not have typical facilitators, as the facilitation team will also be participating in full – as “facilitants” (facilitator-participants). None of us come with all of the answers. Instead, we will co-create the space together — using circles, conversations, spiritual practice, artistic expression, silence, and play — to explore our questions, bring more of our whole selves, and live into our answers, and new questions (!), using the depth and power of the experiences and knowledge in the room. The role of the facilitants is to nurture the space, to set the tone by how we participate, and to support every participant.
METHOD & VALUES OF YES! JAMS
“Hurt people hurt people, and create systems that hurt people.
Healing people heal people, and create systems that heal people.”
We recognize the inextricable linkages between the way we care for ourselves, the way we care for each other, and the systems we create as changemakers. To that end, YES! Jams focus on the relationships between three interdependent levels of awareness:
PERSONAL
The Jam is a place to share and reflect on your life journey and your work in the world. It is also an opportunity to grow in self-knowledge. Personal health, living creatively, and slowing down are the roots of building a thriving world. So, the Jam has a lot of time dedicated to renewing and recharging. We live in the Redwood forest, eat amazing food, and have time to rest.
INTERPERSONAL
We come together to deepen our understanding of each other and of ourselves in the intention of building trust and friendship in a meaningful way. We feel that the more authentic our relationships are, the stronger the foundations on which new collaborations and synergies within our movements and communities are built. Cultivating a deeper understanding of our many-layered identities is a key part of how we can build a more resilient, interconnected web of transformation. Authentic connection with a diverse group of people is both one of the hardest and easiest things to do – we focus on ways to build honest, real, and caring community as the foundation for movements that have resilience and dynamism.
SYSTEMIC
The Jam gives us time to become clearer about our vision and our work in the world; we get a chance to link issues that aren’t commonly linked, to notice crucial intersection points in a manner that will aid us in reimagining what we believe to be possible and in reengineering how we intend to get there. We hope it will enable each participant to deepen their capacity to affect change and carry their dreams forward.
WHY IS IT CALLED A JAM?
YES! Jams bring together people’s creativity, co-learning, and collaboration to Jam for social change. When musicians get together to jam, they share their unique music, which has been shaped by their life experiences, musical lineages, and the hours they’ve spent refining their own skills and knowledge. They jam to learn from each other, to have fun, to stretch their skills, or to create something new and unique to that moment. Musical themes from spontaneous jams may evolve into something more structured — like songs — that the musicians carry out of the jam into the world. Or, the jam’s music may remain something that lives just in that moment as the magic of improvised artistic expression.
Musicians are able to have fun, build community, and offer their individual talent, inspiration, skills, and perspectives to create something far greater than the sum of its parts. When musicians improvise, they create music that has never been heard before.
Regardless of the outcome, jamming begins with deep listening. Deep listening allows us to hear and experience each others’ voices and lineages in a way that allows us to expand our own musical horizons. YES! Jams do the same. Diverse people bring their questions and challenges, feelings and ideas, joys and pains. We get together and Jam with them through deep listening. We flow between the personal, interpersonal and systemic. Deep listening allows everyone to hear and experience everyone’s unique voices, skills and experiences. When diverse groups are open, real with each other, and really willing to listen to each other, it expands their human horizons to create new experiences of deep connection. Those are the roots of truly changing the world. Some of the experiences at the Jam create ideas that become new skills, new projects, and new communities. Other experiences only live in the Jam, through the magic of spontaneous connection. So many Jam alumni say those spontaneous connections live inside them as inspiration they draw from to nourish their lives and work for years.
LOGISTICS AND COSTS OF ATTENDING
We will have six collective sessions online and a wide variety of additional optional offerings as participant-led sessions. On Monday, September 13th, we will have two sessions that day (10 am-12 pm PST (1-3 pm EST) and 2-4 pm PST (5-7 pm EST), and continue with a session a day (10-12 pm PST / 1-3 pm EST) on Tuesday, September 14th, Wednesday, September 15th, Friday, September 17th, and Saturday, September 18th. Thursday, September 16th will be reserved for rest, integration, for those participants celebrating Yom Kippur, and for participant-led sessions, which will also be happening throughout the week.
As we have transitioned this year’s program to online, we are now requesting a tuition for the program on a sliding scale of $100-$400, to support the diverse economic realities of our participants and to provide our facilitation and organizing team with a generous honorarium. Please give what you can to support your participation, and no one is turned away for lack of funds. If you have more resources, additional donations above the event price help us provide scholarships to support the broad spectrum of participation. It is the diversity of the Jams that make them thrive. Donations above the tuition are also tax-deductible.
WHO IS PUTTING THE NORTH AMERICA JAM TOGETHER?
Lillian Hanan Al-Bilali has been inspired to deepen her understanding of how diverse communities can become more interconnected and, particularly, how shared experiences create space for dialogue — ever since she participated in the 2010 Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jam. Since her college years, one of her most consistent passions has been issues of youth empowerment. Her student activism at Hampton University focused on societal inequalities especially in regards to substandard education and high incarceration rates for youth of color. Following graduation, Hanan became an administrator at Children’s Arts and Science Workshops (CASW), a non-profit agency in New York City. Here, she mentored young people from the Washington Heights and Harlem communities by preparing them for college and for the work force. Currently living in New York City, Hanan received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Her concentration in Social Policy and Evaluations allowed her to focus on strengthening services offered through the non-profit sector at the state and local levels. She continues to make people her priority as a committed collaborator with organizations and initiatives that support underrepresented communities.
Mónica Carreño Villegas is passionate about learning, inner growth and to assist others to unveil their true essence. Monica’s heart belongs to facilitation and her gift is to connect. She has organized TEDx events and has facilitated for storytelling, teambuilding, and personal development processes for companies, schools and organizations; from Santander Bank to NGOs like Kellog Foundation, to high schools and universities like Universidad Panamericana in Mexico. She had the opportunity to live in Chicago, Australia and Nigeria and today she is part of collective movements like the Art of hosting. Now a day she is working in her life Project DREAM: a self-discovery journey to live a more joyfull and fulfilling life, she is focusing on Youth and purpose driven organizations.She is currently immersing on Narrative Practices, a respectful approach to counseling and community work that holds the story as the basic unit of experience.
Austin Willacy is a veteran member of The House Jacks, an a cappella group with whom he has produced 10 full-length albums and completed multiple world tours. For the past 23 years, Austin has directed ‘Til Dawn, Youth in Arts’ teen a cappella group that empowers youth to find their voices in many ways. Austin is also an award-winning singer/songwriter with 4 CD’s and 2 EP’s to his name. His music has been featured on NBC’s “The Sing-Off”, and three feature film soundtracks, including Thrive, a documentary with over 100 million views. He’s appeared in Rolling Stone and has performed with icons such as Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles as well as newer artists like Rachael Yamagata and Amos Lee. As an organizer and facilitant for YES!, Austin is a part of the North America Jam, the Arts for Social Change Jam, the Anadolu Sanat Jam, the India Arts for Social Change Jam, the Black Disapora Jam, and the nascent Men’s Jam.
Shilpa Jain is currently rooting herself in Berkeley, CA, where she serves as the Executive Director of YES!. Prior to taking on this role, Shilpa spent two years working as the Education and Outreach Coordinator of Other Worlds and ten years as a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India. Shilpa has researched, written numerous books and articles, facilitated workshops and hosted gatherings on topics ranging from globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning and unlearning. She had been the main coordinator of the Swapathgami (Walkouts-Walkons) Network for five years. She is passionate about dance and music, organic and natural farming, upcycling and zero waste living, asking appreciative questions and being in community. All of her work seeks to uncover ways for people to free themselves from dominating, soul-crushing institutions and to live in greater alignment with their hearts and deepest values, their local communities, and with nature.
Will Grant was the co-founder and Executive Director for 10 years of BLAST, a multicultural organization that developed networks of leaders from marginalized communities to democratize education and social service systems in New Mexico. For 20 years, he has worked in LGBTQ* issues at the intersection of community, spirituality, power, and memory – including starting California’s first high school LGBTQ history class. His current mainstream job is as an organizational development strategist working with prograssive organizations and corporations on democratic decision making systems. Spirituality and connection to the Earth is the center of his life. When he’s not being such a serious activist, Will is a Radical Fairie named Rootball, a Naraya dancer, a nerd, and a hiker.
Through her work with Seeds of Peace, Sarah Brajtbord is deeply committed to working with and empowering young people to find their voice, discover their passion, and live a life of meaning. Finding conflict as an opportunity for growth and breakthrough and recognizing that community and systemic change starts with the self, Sarah strives to lead a life of curiosity, patience, honesty, and presence, finding strength in community and continuously working to deepen her knowledge and understanding of the world around her. Working with young people is a privilege and responsibility that demands accountability to one’s own process of self-reflection and growth, and Sarah is grateful for the inspiring community of Jammers who have already begun pushing her further along her path.
Ashoka Finley works on issues concerning energy, food, and sustainability community scale. He works both locally and internationally in an effort to find shared best practices. In his life and projects, he seeks to connect diverse groups of people along common lines with dialogue and inclusiveness. His dedication to the empowerment and liberation of all people makes him determined to develop greater capacity within himself to be open and caring in every endeavor in his life.
APPLY TODAY
Any questions? Write to yesnorthamericajam@gmail.com
MORE TESTIMONIALS
“What a gift, through, not just to talk about sustainability and community care but to get to live it for a week, to actually feel it in my bones and in my soul. Without that lived experience, a lot of conversations I’ve been having on the issue of helping movement builders remain healthy and joy-filled would remain in the realm of speculation. I have met people – both younger and older – where wisdom will shape both the pace and very fabric of the work I am doing. I am so grateful to have them now as a permanent part of my accountability and support network…. I am so grateful.”
– Sandhya Jha, 37, Executive Director, Oakland Peace Center, Oakland, CA
“I thought I had to be angry to do social justice work, and I did not know who I would even be without it. Now I know. I let go of so much anger, most of which was actually anger at myself. When I let go of that anger, I created space in myself to feel things I wasn’t letting myself feel: love, whole, happy, enough.”
– Greg Barker, 27, Seeds of Peace and Interfaith Works of CNY, Syracuse, NY
“I’m leaving for home full of hope, love, and healing. My time here has been transformational. I know that I’m showing up today as a better version of myself: receiving love, releasing toxins, and healing wounds. In this way, I shine brighter in the world, can share my gifts more fully, and act with compassion and love in a bigger way. I was welcomed, fully supported, held, and loved through each moment–my gratitude is deep and lasting. Connections spanning time, space, and place. Collective healing. Sharing grief. The feeling of enoughness. My self, my family, my beloveds, my work will all be touched by my experience here. Rippling, rippling, rippling.”
– Shay MacMullin, 40, Gaelic language and culture activist, Nova Scotia, Canada
“The North America Jam has been a deeply moving and transformative experience for me. The Jam provided me the space to explore my internal capacities while providing me the tools needed to expand my interpersonal capacities. This process was made possible by being held in a loving community, which empowers and has equipped me to take these skills out in the world and my work.”
– Isaac Graves, 24, International Coordinator, IDEC 2013, and President of The Patchwork School Board of Directors, Boulder, CO
“I have done activism work, and I have done beloved community. Never before have I experienced a beloved community of activists. Thank you for believing and trusting so deeply in human beings.”
– Laura Paskell-Brown, 35, doula, San Francisco, CA
“Something happens from the very beginning of a Jam that allows invisible barriers to melt away. Individuals who were strangers days or only hours before feel comfortable exchanging in ways that normally require years to foster. Relationships cultivated through this magic are imprinted with trust and respect and authenticity seldom found in public, professional and even social circles. YES! inspires the intellect, body and creative spirit. This is a space of refuge, rejuvenation, refinement and mobilization. I have received innumerable blessings in sharing this space with 30 members of my new Jamily. The network of people established this week and amongst all Jam alumni harbors an unparalleled potential for leveraging change in the world.”
– Seth Lennon Weiner, 23, Law and Restorative Justice student, Canyon Country, CA
“Living in such a crazy world, we all carry so much unnecessary baggage that the Jam unpacks. Healing and growing hurts but it is so necessary, and it is great to be able to go through it in such a loving community.”
– Kazu Haga, 31, Founder, Positive Peace Warrior Network, Oakland, CA
“Blessed to witness such a powerful example of people coming together and cultivation enough love to hold the hard conversations and interactions necessary for change. The Jam has given me renewed energy and a deeper sense of my own strength and vision moving forward. I have witnessed sweet expressions of love and concrete examples of the work it takes to be in community working towards justice with one another. I am so excited to carry back all the love and learning from the Jam to my loved ones, friends and family, the young people who I spend my days with and my community as a whole. I am honoured to be part of the Jamily.”
– Jessie Workman, 28, Youth Shelters, Santa Fe, NM
“Because of the different styles and diversity within the leadership team, I felt a sense of safety and trust was built in a way that allowed many different types of expressions and identity- All being welcomed…I felt affirmed and came away with a renewed sense of joy and commitment to way work and life as a cultural change maker and advocate for regenerative healing work in my community. So much love!”
– Angela Sevin, 50, Co-founder, The Green Life, Oakland, CA
“I learned about love and embodiment and healing and vulnerability. I learned about magic and redwood forest and eye contact. I have never felt so fully seen in my entire life.”
– Giselle Castaño, 28, educator/teacher, New York City, NY
“…I feel so ready to return to my ideas and projects and communities with this sense of gentleness, compassion, ferocity, connection, power, and love. My spirit is nourished, my mind is stretched, my body is renewed; you have given me tools to build houses of justice, and spirit to make them homes. You have given me bread and roses. Thank you, Jam, for everything. To the start of our friendship / kinship / comradeship!”
– Margaret Mary Downey, 29, Labor Union Organizer, Oakland, CA
“1.5 years ago, I thought I had figured out how to deeply support myself and others in this life, taking into account the systemic and cultural realities as well. What I have found in the Jam is the ability to move myself, my relationships, and my communities in the deepest and most close/vulnerable way possible; I’ve found a community that empowers and supports my work at these levels, and I’ve come away further centered by how to transform these elements within systems and our society holistically, compassionately and powerfully. You allowed me to finally integrate in the present, my own sense of self/story, my ancestors, and my future to bring to fruition what I, communities and this world is capable of.”
– Hasan Bhatti, 30, Ashoka, Washington, DC
“The fact that 30 strangers can come to love and see each other after only seven days of working and healing is an incredibly powerful idea. And what seems to make this possible is a profound trust in every human´s ability to change and capacity for compassion of self, others, and the world. Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to learn my own potential and to be inspired by people from so many different walks of life. In my heart of hearts, I knew that love can overcome the deepest of pains and sorrows, but to bear witness to the process of mending wounds, both mine and others, is like seeing nature breathe. You have empowered me with the calm and courage to carry forward the practices of this beloved community into other spaces, and no words can describe my gratitude for that offering.”
– Anuj Shah, 25, Privacy Analyst, Portland, Oregon
APPLY NOW
(partial scholarships available)
Any questions? Write to yesnorthamericajam@gmail.com