Over the past few years, FFJ members have expressed a need for introductory  learning and training sessions to support their own education and that of their colleagues on the specific issues areas we focus on at FFJ. Our member learning series is designed for people who have no previous experience with the topic, and are simply coming eager to learn; experienced folks are also welcome to participate for a refresher. We welcome staff, board members, grants panelists, and donors of grant-making institutions, donor networks, and funder affinity groups. Below you’ll find a list of all of our Member Learning Series’ that took place in 2023. 

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Intro to PIC Abolition

Facilitated by Rachel Herzing, Program Officer at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

Description:Many of FFJ’s members and funders in our broader network have expressed a desire to learn about the framework, history, and real-world application of abolition. Whether national or local portfolios, grassroots, grass-tops, or neither, more and more organizations are identifying their work as abolitionist. Grant-makers, donors, and funder/donor networks are eager to understand how this applies to their grant-making. Join us for an Intro to PIC Abolition training with Rachel Herzing, co-founder of Critical Resistance and current Program Officer at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Intro to Divest/Invest

Facilitated by Kung Li, longtime movement strategist and lawyer, and author of Begin the World Over.

Description: Many of FFJ’s members and funders in our broader network have expressed a desire to learn about the framework and real-world application of divest/invest. This is the third installment in our Member Learning Series. Join us for an Intro to Divest/Invest training with Kung Li, long-time movement strategist and lawyer, and the original author of FFJ’s divest/invest online learning tool for funders: https://divest-ffj.org/.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Crimmigration 101

Facilitated by: Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network. 

Description: Co-Sponsored with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), this session will be an introductory course on immigrant criminalization facilitated by: Silky Shah, Executive Director of Detention Watch Network. This is the fourth installment of our member learning series.

The prison industrial complex and US immigration enforcement policy are not separate, as is commonly understood, but are intertwined systems of repression. In this session participants will learn about how these systems began to merge in the 1980s and 1990s, and how over time the rise in mass incarceration resulted in millions of deportations. Through understanding the connections between the immigration and criminal legal system, the immigrant justice movement developed strategies to reduce mass deportations in the interior and stop the continued expansion of immigrant detention. However, the siloed nature of our movements has limited our ability to fight for all immigrants and communities of color in the United States. Bridging these struggles will be essential to achieving racial and migrant justice.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Eroding the Power of Police Unions 101

Facilitated by Jeree Thomas, Director, Communities Transforming Policing Fund at Borealis Philanthropy,  Ken Chapman, Director at Democratizing Justice Initiative, and a will feature a discussion with one of FFJ’s Movement Advisors, Hairo Cortes, Executive Director at Chispa.

Description: This session will be an introductory course on police unions and associations. We’ll explore their history, purpose, how they function and their landscape of influence. Police unions are an issue across all social change that communities and philanthropy care about, and this session will illustrate how they have taken over the criminal justice policy and budget making process across the nation.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Eroding the Power of Police Unions 101 Pt. 2 – Police Unions and the Labor Movement

Facilitated by Maurice BP-Weeks, Labor & Abolition Fellow at Interrupting Criminalization.

Description: Police unions are an issue across all social change that communities and philanthropy care about and support. This session is part two to the June 15th’s training which was an introductory course on police unions and associations – exploring their history, purpose, how they function and their landscape of influence. You can still join the session if you weren’t able to make part one. Folks who register will have access to the part one recording!
Our facilitator will be Maurice BP-Weeks, who is the Labor & Abolition Fellow at Interrupting Criminalization, which links together anti-capitalist and abolitionist analysis and campaigning through narrative intervention, campaign support/technical assistance, and the building of lasting infrastructure for anti-capitalist fights in various subsets of work connected to abolition. This session will navigate the intersections between police associations and the labor movement, supporting participants in navigating the interests and concerns of labor unions, and how funders can best resource movement organizations that are engaging the labor sector.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series: Introduction to Healing Justice – Funding the HEART of our Movements

Facilitated by Emanuel Brown, Executive Director of Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom and FFJ Movement Advisor

Description: During this session, facilitated by Emanuel H. Brown, Executive Director of Acorn Center for Restoration and Freedom and FFJ Movement Advisor, participants will engage modern definitions of Healing Justice, explore real-world examples of Healing Justice movement strategies, and learn best practices for Healing Justice funding.
This space is excellent for funders exploring Healing Justice for the first time, or those who have been vanguards in the field. During the workshop, we will highlight Acorn as an example/case study of how Healing Justice is centered within a movement organization. There will be opportunities to share your experiences funding Healing Justice and address your burning questions for launching new Healing Justice funding initiatives.

FFJ Member Monthly Learning Series – This ain’t the Love Boat: Transformative Relationships for Abolitionists

Facilitated by Ignacio Rivera of HEAL Project and FFJ Movement Advisor

Description:An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony, McDade and other recent forms of state violence revealed once again how incapable our current systems are of protecting life and creating safe communities. As prison and police abolition hit the mainstream as necessary alternatives, it’s important to remember that abolitionist work must also happen in our everyday engagement with others. Abolition is a way of life and a collective approach to social change. Engaging with abolition on an interpersonal level includes fighting against carceral logic, integrating accountability into your response, and affirming community support.