Explore This Section
Build the Bench hosted our 10th Annual Retreat in February 2025 with over 30 movement leaders, guests, fellows and staff. Build the Bench was formed by and for organizations focused on communities most impacted, and has been a core program of the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) since 2015. Build the Bench is one of several programs created to support our movement networks with a focus on staff leaders who are the “internal leaders”1 of their organizations (Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Directors, or Managing or Staff Directors), as EDs build “external” partnerships, enabling teams to execute innovative strategies.
The goals of the 2025 Retreat were co-created to:
1) Support and convene movement leaders
2) Make meaning of the current moment and challenges ahead
3) Celebrate 10 Years of Build the Bench + learnings
4) Practice, share, and develop resilience tools- together
We believe the work and the RESILIENCE2 of internal leaders in social justice organizations are crucial to the sustained success of our movement and communities.
Learn more and watch our short video on the retreat here.
Special Thank You to our guests and co-facilitators:
- Aisha Satterwhite Chavers: straight line consultants, former Managing Director of Coworker.org and Build the Bench Advisory Committee member
- Amy Smoucha: Beyond Neutrality, former Managing Director of Jobs with Justice
- Chalene Jones: https://taijiwithchalene.com/
- Coqui Negrón: health educator, trainer, interpreter, and community activist.
- Felicia Griffin: Co-Executive Director, Transformative Leadership for Change and Build the Bench Advisory Committee member
- Kathleen Gaspard: Deputy Director,Institute for Policy Studies and Build the Bench Senior Fellow
- Lauren Jacobs: Executive Director of PowerSwitch Action, former National Organizing Director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
Thank you to the Build the Bench Advisory Committee, Fellows and CIWO staff for making our 10th Annual Retreat a success. Participants & advisory committee members inform emergent topics for our virtual events, starting in April for our Build the Bench Community of Practice (past and present). We also would like to remind everyone of CIWO and TLC’s virtual event on What it Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World with author Prentis Hemphill, Transformative Leadership for Change + CIWO May 9, 2025. Register online: https://bit.ly/4hv3vtW
