Windcall Institute
As part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations, Windcall is debuting a new video highlighting the journey from trauma healing to transformation of two Bay Area organizers who did their Windcall Residency in 2018. Check out the video here and join us here in raising $50K for our Albert & Susan Wells Resilience Fund. Our anniversary […]
With the rise of white supremacy and increased violence against communities of color, Windcall renews its commitment to hold healing and transformative spaces for POC organizers. In the Fall, 2019, we hosted our first all African-American/Indigenous cohort. In 2019, all POC residents included: M Adams, Freedom Inc.. WI Charlene Carruthers, BYP100, IL Carlos Duarte, Mi […]
Long aware that many organizers are limited from taking sabbaticals by caretaking responsibilities while they raise a family or care for a family member, Windcall started offering one-week Mindful Breathers. Just enough time to catch their breath alone, or together with their family. Windcall now hosts Breathers in the Tennessee Smokey Mountains, in the Connecticut […]
Responding to alumni’s interests for continued learning of wellness and healing justice, Windcall holds several webinars per year focused on various transformative practices. Alumni organizers often facilitate these sessions, grounded in their lived experiences. A rapid response grant from the San Francisco Foundation supported Windcall in forming a training team and designing a curriculum to […]
In partnership with the idyllic inn Rancho Gallina in New Mexico, Windcall holds the residencies at a movement home for the first time. Owners and hosts Leslie Moody and Mitch Ackerman organized in labor for decades before retiring and deciding to contribute to the movement by hosting retreats in their environmentally-upgraded ranch outside of Santa […]
In 2015, Windcall partnered with the Four Freedoms Fund to sponsor residency opportunities for Immigrant Rights organizers. Groundswell Fund joined the following year to offer more capacity building experiences for their Reproductive Justice grantees. These partnerships increase Windcall’s capacity to support frontline organizers in times of crises. Every year, the alumni board convenes to determine […]
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 […]