Truth & Purpose Learning Experiences
A profound experience that will imbue you with a heightened level of compassion and respect for history makers as it inspires you to help create a future defined by integrity, equity, and democracy.
The Institute for Common Power Truth & Purpose Learning Tours are profound journeys through the American South and through self. We committed to fighting the assault on truth that is occurring in cities across the country. Moreover, we are wholly dedicated to the essentiality of finding / renewing purpose. We explore aspects of our collective history that are too often dismissed, ignored, or denied. By diving into the historical roots of this country and attendant racial and structural disparities born from the past, we aim to equip you with the knowledge and insights necessary to recognize and dismantle injustice as you drive lasting change.
While our central focus will be the modern American Civil Rights Movement, our journey will place the movement in historical context. The places we visit allow us to examine the long history of people of African descent in America. You cannot understand the Civil Rights Movement without understanding the broader history of African Americans. By extension, you cannot understand our modern existence without exploring the historical processes that have worked to create both tragedy and triumph.
The learning tours are led by renown scholars in their fields as well as foot soldiers from the past and present who transform the nation. You will learn from historical events and contemporary first-hand experiences of people and institutions that did, and are doing, transformative and inspirational work. You will come away inspired to create change!
We are moved, we are part of a Movement, and we must move. This is what we at the Institute for Common Power call Movement Learning. Essential to our definition and execution of Movement Learning is the act of physically engaging in learning at the sites where history occurred as we move into a future defined by equity. Movement Learning, then, is a three-tiered ideology that entails learning from social movements that preceded us, learning by going, learning how to project and create change as we move into a more equitable future.
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Truth & Purpose Learning Experience, September 12-17, 2024
Join Institute Director Dr. Terry Anne Scott, Common Power (CP) Executive Director Charles Douglas, senior leader Dr. David Domke, and other CP staff in an investment in CP's foundational principles of mindset, mojo, mobilization with a trip to Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham AL. These are not vacations; they are challenging, growing, intentional deep dives into historical and contemporary realities of race and voting justice, realities that are foundational to the work of Common Power. The goal, always, is to move from education to action.
Register here: Truth + Purpose: Common Power Learning Tour -- SEPTEMBER 2024 Tickets, Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite
Truth & Purpose Learning Experience for Educators
Apply now for the September 26-October 1 Journey! All expenses paid, if you are selected.
The Institute for Common Power partners with teachers, tutors, curriculum specialists, organizational foundations, and school system leaders across the country to provide an experiential learning opportunity for educators in the long historical arcs of Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and the African American experience in America. Truth in education is essential for democracy to work and truth is under attack in many parts of the country. We are dedicated to creating a nation of educators who understand and teach accurate, sometimes, challenging, history while serving as models for students learning how to work collaboratively in building a just and inclusive American democracy. Educators who are accepted into the program receive full scholarships that cover airfare, ground transportation, hotels, and meals.
Participant from Seattle, WA
“Our recent Truth and Purpose Learning Experience proved to be one of the most profound and enriching experiences of my life. Dr. Terry Anne Scott and David Domke were world class instructors who riveted our group with their insights. I was dee ply moved by the chance to meet and lean from Civil Rights heroes like Charles Mauldin, Bob Zellner, JoAnne Bland and Bernard Lafayette. Despite being from thirteen different states and three countries our group of educators and professionals shared so much together in such a short period of time. It felt like finding an extended family that I had never met before, and I'm humbled to be part of such an amazing group of generous and talented people. This is professional learning at the highest possible level!”
We partner with organizations from around the country to lead them through our Truth & Purpose Learning Tours. From the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, to the Washington Women’s Foundation, to the Seattle Seahawks, BlackPAC, and many more, our partner organizations are essential to the work we do in building a more just and inclusive democracy as we safeguard the teaching of truth.
If you are interested in partnering with us for a Truth & Purpose Learning Tour, please contact us at institute@commonpower.org.
Truth & Purpose Learning Tours with Partner Organizations
Unlocking a Pathway to Health Equity
At the Institute for Common Power, we recognize the urgent need to confront and dismantle institutionalized racism within the U.S. healthcare system. To this end, we work in partnership with established medical organizations to expose and eliminate racial disparities in health care by providing education, resources, and support to healthcare professionals and marginalized communities. Our commitment to this cause is unwavering and we are excited to introduce our Truth and Purpose Learning Experience for Healthcare Professionals, set to occur in January 2025.
The Institute for Common Power Truth and Purpose Learning Experience for Healthcare Professionals is a journey like no other. Designed to take people in various healthcare occupations through spaces in the American South where structural racism has impacted and defined the lives of countless people for generations–spaces where, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, people have historically worked to create change.
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