What is the Rooted Connections Lab? (Coming November 2025)

Rooted Connections Lab: Building Resilient Communities for a Regenerative Future

Are you ready to explore the art of community-based solution-building and create a blueprint for change? The Rooted Connections Lab is a transformative, three-week experience designed to empower changemakers in the sustainability field. Through storytelling, collaboration, and hands-on activities, you’ll gain the tools and connections needed to foster resilience and create meaningful impact in your community.

Week 1: Laying the Foundation – Understanding Community and Connection

We’ll kick off the lab with a grounding introduction:

• A walkthrough of the lab structure and expectations

• Access to resources and a WhatsApp group for ongoing collaboration

• Space to connect, share passions, and articulate the changes you hope to create

Introductions & Icebreakers: In our first sessions, participants will:

• Share their backgrounds, fields of expertise, and sustainability goals

• Engage in creative icebreaker activities like imagining their roles in a "community soup" or "village play"

• Begin fostering connections that will strengthen throughout the lab

Learning & Storytelling Activities

• Explore sustainability through a decolonized lens

• Discuss why money matters—and why it doesn’t—in building sustainable systems

• Collaborate in small groups to craft a fictional village storyline:

  • Develop characters and unique gathering traditions (ceremonies, potlucks, celebrations, etc.)

  • Imagine how these gatherings build resilience in times of crisis

  • Present your story with creativity and flair

Homework: Find examples of resilience in your local community and reflect on how they can inspire broader systemic solutions.

Week 2: Building Resilience – Creating Spaces for Sustainable Connection

This week focuses on what strengthens communities in the face of adversity. We’ll dive into the elements that foster sustainable connection:

Icebreakers & Group Discussions: Zoom breakout rooms will explore questions like:

• “If we were crafting an event, what passions and skills would you bring to the planning process?”

Activities: Participants will collaborate to:

• Design real or hypothetical spaces and systems that foster resilience, from community hubs to shared resource systems

• Share insights and feedback, learning from each other’s ideas and experiences

Key Topics

• How shared spaces contribute to mutual aid, learning, and celebration

• The role of rituals, ceremonies, and traditions in creating cohesion

Week 3: Networking for Change – Connecting Local to Global Action

In the final week, we’ll explore how to weave networks that scale solutions from the local to the global level.

Icebreakers & Visioning: Breakout sessions will explore how personal passions and skills can be used to forge strong, transformative networks.

Workshops

• Building connective tissue between local, national, and global efforts

• Techniques for storytelling and advocacy to amplify community solutions

• Strategies for overcoming common barriers to collaboration and scaling impact

Final Reflections & Next Steps: Participants will:

• Share actionable plans for creating and sustaining community-based solutions

• Celebrate the ideas, connections, and growth fostered during the lab

This virtual lab will be followed by a weekend retreat event in June where participants can meet in person and eat, drink, laugh, work, dream and play together! An invitation and discounted price will be sent after completion of the online lab.