From precarity to liberatory: creating a new model of resourcing grassroots groups (Network Meeting July 2024)

Thursday 25th July 2024, 4.00-5.30pm

In this month’s Network Meeting we will hear about the importance of challenging funding practices and the need to build on work at the intersection of racial justice and mental health.

Staff from Synergi, NSUN’s hosted project, will discuss their approach to grantmaking towards racial justice and mental health. Joining the discussion will be Nusrat Faizullah, who launched the Resourcing Racial Justice fund with Farzana Khan in 2020 as a direct response to an inflexible philanthropic approach to funding the racial justice sector. We will also hear from Evie Muir from Peaks of Colour, discussing the precarity of funding/philanthropic environment which maintains and perpetuates the colonial model of grant making creating a state of precarity. This will be an enriching conversation to unpack what it means to be relational and intentional when speaking about and resourcing racial justice beyond an economic framework.   

About the guests

Nusrat Faizullah (she/her) – Resourcing Racial Justice

Nusrat Faizullah (she/her) is a strategist and ecosystem builder who works between the grassroots and mainstream structures to support them to tackle systemic injustice. Her work is concerned with: understanding and disrupting power, structural oppression and its relationship to identity, and nurturing leadership. She has worked with and advised many institutions including the National Lottery Community Fund, Lankelly Chase, Esmee Fairbairn, Blagrave Trust, Nike Sports for Good and Churchill Fellowship. She also works with many groups, collectives and organisations across areas including health, criminal justice, homelessness, LGBTQI+ rights, refugees and forced migration, and education. Nusrat was a teacher in the first cohort of the Teach First programme and also developed a number of new models and education projects while working at the Young Foundation. Nusrat is also the co-lead of Resourcing Racial Justice, an experiment that moved resources to communities of colour during the pandemic.

Evie Muir (she/they) – Peaks of Colour (@xeviemuir on Instagram/Twitter)

Evie Muir is a nature writer and founder of Peaks of Colour – a Peak District-based nature for healing grassroots community group by and for people of colour. Having worked in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector for over 10 years, Evie left after becoming burnt out, disillusioned and disenfranchised. Now through their writing and organising Evie is interested in exploring alternative, anti-carceral routes to healing and justice for survivors of gendered and racialised violence. Their debut book, Radical Rest explores Black Feminist, Abolitionist and nature-allied approaches to activist burnout, and will be published by Elliot and Thompson in July 2024.

About NSUN’s monthly Network Meetings

The NSUN network meetings are for members who want to connect with others shifting power in mental health. Maybe you’re part of a user-led group supporting your community, maybe you campaign for change, or maybe you want to get more involved in the network.

The space will be relaxed – there’s no requirement to stay for the whole time, you can keep your camera on or off, and there’ll be lots of different opportunities to talk, listen and connect with other members. 

Spaces for this meeting are limited so please check your availability before registering, and email us at info@nsun.org.uk if you can no longer attend.

You will need to be an NSUN member to get your joining link – please sign up here if you are not already a member.

NSUN’s Conduct Agreement

We want virtual NSUN spaces to be safe, welcoming, and inclusive. Harassment, hate speech, and inappropriate behaviour of any kind, verbal or in the chat/Q&A, will not be tolerated. 

We reserve the right to immediately remove any attendee we consider to be in breach of this conduct agreement. This includes anyone making racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory, offensive, or hateful remarks.

Removed participants will not be able to re-join the session, or, if applicable, join any of the rest of the sessions in a day or series of events. In order to avoid the derailing of sessions we will not enter into conversations around why conduct was deemed inappropriate in the sessions themselves.

Late admittance  

Please note that to avoid disruption or distraction, we will be unable to admit latecomers (anyone who arrives ten minutes after the event’s start time). 

Access 

You can find an Easy Read Guide to joining Zoom meetings here.

If you need help with costs to be able to access this event, we may be able to make a contribution – please get in touch with us at info@nsun.org.uk.

Zoom closed captions will be available to turn on during the meeting. 

We will be asking that attendees keep themselves on mute while others are talking to avoid audio distractions. 

Please let us know of any access requirements in your sign up form and we will try to accommodate them as best as we can. 

Data 

Information provided during your registration to this event is collected in order to process your registration application and to communicate with you about details and joining links for this event. We will not use your data for any other purposes or pass it onto any third parties. You can find our privacy policy here.

About NSUN

This meeting is free to attend. It is for NSUN members (individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, and/or trauma, as well as grassroots, user-led mental health groups). If you are not already a member, sign up for free here.

NSUN is a charity and membership organisation of people and grassroots groups with lived experience of mental ill-health, trauma and distress, working towards the redistribution of power and resource in mental health. You can find out more about us here.