Windcall Institute
Over the course of 2014, Windcall alumni, allies, and partners celebrated its 25th anniversary and provided multiple ways for everyone to share healing and transformative practices. Our Cultivate Your Staying Power Poster, designed by alum Fabricio Rodriguez, has become a favorite reminder of the varied and simply accessible ways organizers can stay resilient, whole and […]
Alumni organized weekend-long gatherings in the Central Valley of California and in North Carolina, as well as shorter get-togethers elsewhere to create connections between organizers who were focused on sustainability and transformative leadership. The conversation on self-care deepened and alumni saw the need to continue advocating for organizers’ healing spaces and learning new practices. The […]
From 2006 onwards, Windcall cultivated meaningful partnerships with programs and individuals who donated facilities, land and staffing: Stone Circles, NC; Pie in the Sky, VT; Blue Mountain Center, NY; Tunitas Creek Ranch, CA. Merrill Weyerhaeuser and Pat Welly offered their home in the Hood Canal, WA, surrounded by forests, mountains, and water. Twice a year, […]
Susan and Albie retired in 2005 and a group of alumni committed to its mission fundraised to continue the project as the Windcall Institute. The group strove to maintain the integrity of the original model as self-driven exploration, while identifying the “Windcall practices” listed previously to be replicated in new sites. Alum Holly Fincke was […]
Susan Wells, at the urging of Windcall Residents, wrote a book, Changing Course: Windcall and the Art of Renewal, which tells the story of the first seventeen years of Windcall and the organizers who were transformed by it.
The practice and policy of taking a sabbatical slowly took hold. The Windcall Residency established a new model that convinced organizers to take a sabbatical for the first time. Initially, movement folks were resistant to the idea of taking time off and organizations did not have the resources or the culture of instituting sabbatical policies. […]
The program soon proved to be transformative for organizer after organizer – far beyond the expectations of the Wells’ and the social change leaders serving on the Windcall Selection Committee. With feedback from Windcall alumni, Susan’s background in psychology, and staffer Joy Sue Hutchinson’ experience as a community organizer with Association of Community Organizations for Reform […]
Windcall was the first program of its kind for social justice organizers and leaders. It stood out for its prioritization of organizers, both community and labor organizers; its national scope, including in regions where organizers have few leadership opportunities and great challenges in organizing for social change; and eventually honing its focus on organizers of […]
The first Resident was Anthony Thigpenn of SCOPE / AGENDA in Los Angeles.
Windcall was founded in 1989 by long-time social justice funders Albert and Susan Wells (Abelard Foundation of the Common Counsel Foundation) and housed at their ranch in Montana. They were spurred by having met many organizers who were exhausted, or who had left the field prematurely due to burnout or because of coming to a […]