I’m very interested in what it means for us to cultivate together a community that allows for risk, the risk of knowing someone outside of your own boundaries, the risk that is love. There is no love that does not involve risk.—bell hooks
Since 2023, 180 passionate and engaged people from the nonprofit, government, and philanthropic sectors have participated in Seed’s Targeted Universalism Communities of Practice (TU COP), developed in partnership with the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. From big cities and small towns across the country, participants have represented about 25 states, with a few devoted Canadians. The practice has also extended to TU incubators for coalition, nonprofit, and foundation teams around healthcare, early childhood, and education.
Sharing wisdom, curiosity, and commitment, the TU COP participants have represented a breadth of areas of engagement, including public health, early childhood, environmental justice, farming, housing, food security, youth development, mental health, community banking, DEI, restorative justice, judiciary, college enrollment, and higher education—all interested in cultural, structural, and systemic transformation and belonging without othering.
“This experience will impact your work in unforeseen ways, by providing support, by creating space for dialogue, by bringing together folks who may never have been in the same space talking about these same topics before or after this COP experience.”—Yalda Shahram, UCSF Medical Center
What is a Community of Practice?
A COP is exactly what it sounds like: a group of people who share a common concern or interest, coming together to learn and practice, problem solve, engaging in deep inquiry, and push their thinking further. Research on COPs consistently finds that they accelerate learning in ways that training alone simple can’t, because knowledge lies in the relationships, not just the curriculum. And it’s true: the TU COP’s sharing of wisdom, case studies, group work and exercises, and engaging group dialogue, create new knowledge evolving and deepening the practice of TU.
Seed’s TU COP has had three years of peak moments, “mic drop” moments, problem solving, live, real-time case studies, and breakdowns and breakthroughs. From making meaning of data and co-creation to universal goals and targeted strategies—it’s the circle of community coming together virtually, bringing expertise and their whole selves, for seven months that makes the magic.
The Seed team is honored to facilitate and hold the container. The TU COP involves a process of continuous learning, with each class contributing to the co-creation and co-design of the learning experience.
What are the TU COP design principles?
Co-Creation. Real belonging isn’t designed for people—only with them–through sharing power, leadership, building consensus, bridging, and agency. The facilitators guide the group through the curriculum in an interactive way and with the group’s participation. Together we grapple with and share questions and answers, we value diverse work and lived experiences, and collaborate to address the challenges and application opportunities of TU.
Building Relationships. Throughout our time together, we build connections, trust and shared context, thus paving the way for a fertile learning and problem-solving environment.
Cross-Pollinating and Bridging. Because some of the most meaningful insights (and design solutions) happen when a housing advocate and a restorative justice practitioner discover they’ve been solving the same problem from different sides.
Sharing Resources. Tools and practices should be shared. We curate resources, optional homework, and shared group work. COP members will be surveyed on their hopes/aspirations and have access to tools, techniques, approaches, resources, and best and next practices.
Building a sense of Belonging. Through co-creation, collective emergency, and bridging, we can create a space where everyone belongs, participates, and is cared for, valued and heard. We engage in healthy dialogue and explore disagreement. As we like to say: conflict is just two ideas sharing the same space, not two people with oppositional existences.
For more information, feel free to check out our Programs page or email us directly on our Contact Us page. We love questions, and we love talking about justice, belonging, and care.
This experience will impact your work in unforeseen ways, by providing support, by creating space for dialogue, by bringing together folks who may never have been in the same space talking about these same topics before or after this COP experience.
Yalda Shahram, UCSF Medical Center
