RSC Principles

The five principles of working in community that RSC covers in its community training workshops are:

Through these workshops RSC aims to provoke long-lasting, personal and social change, one person at a time.

Shared Power

Power is shared among all (willing) members of a group


Resources for Social Change (RSC) strives to be anti-oppressive and anti-racist. We focus our awareness on how power is recognized, structured and shared in a community. We work for equity in all relationships. We model anti-hierarchical relationships in the sense of wielding power over others. We strive to build personal power, a sense of self, and the ability to speak against injustice and act for good in the world.


Partnership

True partnership must be equitable; Equitable partnership can exist when all entities involved treat each other as peers/equals


Our work is based on equal partnership - among ourselves, with our partners in and outside of Alternate ROOTS, and with people and organizations in communities. We seek to design and facilitate learning exchanges. We share our expertise and invite others to share theirs; everyone creates and learns together on the issue at hand.


Open Dialogue

Open dialogue is essential; Active listening and honest response is imperative for open dialogue.


We base our work in exchanges in which experience, questions, dialogue, and reflection, rather than lectures or a top-down approach, are used for sharing and giving information. We are guided by Paolo Friere's Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the concept of the democratic classroom. We teach by asking questions.


Individual and Community Transformation

Individual/personal transformation can lead to community transformation and social change.


We aim to provoke long-lasting, personal and social change-one person at a time. We believe that imagination is a means of liberation, so we use art as an instrument of change. We intend for personal change to lead to community, institutional, systemic, social, and cultural change. Change is hard, scary work; we strive to create a safe environment and provide support for people in transition. We incorporate evaluation into our planning process, so we know if we have created the change or the ground for change we planned for.


Aesthetics of Beauty and Justice

We recognize and acknowledge that social justice aesthetics values multiple perspectives.


Our work is arts-based social change. We believe the arts can be a powerful way of creating personal and community transformation.

(From the Alternate ROOTS Resources for Social Change Workbook)