How do you begin an experience like Upswell 2020 – one that is designed to both wrestle with the painful truths our society faces and embrace the optimism required to heal our communities and nation? It turns out the answer is straightforward: by getting comfortable with that deeply uncomfortable dichotomy. The very first moments of…
read more2020 has been an unexpected year. It shouldn’t have been, of course, because the writing has been on the wall. The fatal flaws in our systems – lack of trust, lack of empathy, lack of leadership, lack of preparedness -- are not new. The racial injustice that has consistently and brutally oppressed so many human…
read moreLast November, when Reverend Jen Bailey came to Chicago from Nashville, Tennessee to attend Upswell, she expected to meet up with old colleagues, and learn from leaders that she’d long followed as executive director of
read moreAfter months of meetings, thousands of Post-It notes, and countless emails, you might think the Upswell Accelerator would be feeling a little … spent. Instead, as members gather for the next-to-last time on a late summer afternoon, there’s a surprising energy in the room. The agenda includes report-outs from five community focus groups (read our…
read moreSometime after 7:30pm, a longsuffering security guard ambles to the conference room door to check on the progress of the meeting inside, but almost no one notices him. At this precise moment, perhaps a dozen people are talking over themselves about the disappearance of black neighborhoods in Chicago. They’ve been at it for more than…
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