“Imagine a world where mistrust, power-over dynamics, domination, and oppression no longer exist because children have never experienced them.”
– Teresa Graham Brett, JD
The Kindred Fellowship Program's application period is closed for 2022. However, we invite you to learn more about the program, about Kindred Activism, and to support our nonprofit work and sustainable strategies for cultural transformation.
About KFP
KFP’s unique mission is to guide students on an innovative educational journey that explores the systemic roots of social (in)justice in childhood through kindred activism: a theory of activism that is authentic, relational, and imaginative, and centers childhood as the first experience of sovereignty or oppression. The program has been featured on the Centers for Partnership Studies Leadership blog, the Rutger’s University’s Childism Institute blog, and in an ongoing series on Kindred Media.
Our 2022 KFP instructors include dedicated and dynamic professionals. We are overjoyed to welcome for 2022:
– Dieudonne Allo (South Africa) Dieudonne Anumbosi Allo from the Eastern Cape in South Africa is the Founder and CEO of the Global Leading Light Initiatives, a registered non-profit organization formed in 2014 on a strong conviction that collective prosperity can be achieved in Africa and globally through coordinated grassroots initiatives aimed at creating nurturing and enabling environments for children and youths.
– Suzanne Zeedyk, PhD (Scotland) Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk is a research scientist fascinated by babies’ innate capacity to connect. Since 1993, she has been based at the University of Dundee (Scotland), within the School of Psychology. Her academic career began in the USA, where she completed her PhD at Yale University.
– Wesley, Bugg, JD, (Georgia), of Reaching Our Brothers Everywhere, ROBE. Wesley Bugg is currently the deputy director of Court Vision International Inc., a nonprofit that promotes youth advocacy and conflict resolution. His current interests include legal compliance and business development, especially for startups and small nonprofits where these tasks are often expensive and difficult. In this spirit, he serves ROSE as the Legal Compliance Officer and financial assistant, aggregated into his role as Financial and Legal Operation Coordinator.
– Four Arrows, (California) Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) is a professor at Fielding Graduate University. Former Director of Education at Oglala Lakota College, he is a made-relative of the Oglala and a Sun Dancer. Selected by AERO for their text Turning Points as one of 27 "Visionaries in Education" and recipient of a Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies "Moral Courage Award" for his activism, he is the author of more than 20 books, praised by such notables as Noam Chomsky, Vandana Shiva, Henry Giroux, Darcia Narvaez, Greg Cajete, Sam Keen, Thom Hartmann, and many others. His books, chapters, articles and videos on Indigenous Worldview and its applications for sustainability can be accessed at fourarrowsbooks.com.
– Carey Sipp (South Carolina), Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences, PACES. Carey Smith Sipp is the Director for Strategic Partnerships for PACES, Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences. She is a science, brain, health, and parenting enthusiast who learned about the ACE Study almost 20 years ago. As the Southeastern community facilitator for PACEs Connection, Carey uses four decades of experience as an award-winning writer, marketer, fundraiser, and campaigner to help PACEs initiatives in 11 states create communities on PACEsConnection.com, find resources, and leverage opportunities to take trauma-informed practices into new and existing sectors.
– Teresa Graham Brett, JD, (Arizona) Teresa Graham Brett, J.D., is a Kindred contributing editor and a board of director member of Kindred World. She is the founder of the Kindred Parent Liberation Alliance and Project and the author of Parenting for Social Change. Teresa is the Assistant Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion, at the University of Arizona.
And we will be welcoming back our 2021 Cohort Graduates, Jenna Wes, Kendall Lobdell, and Kambria Farwell.
Facilitating the program will be the Kindred Fellowship co-founders, David Metler, Reshma Grewal, and Lisa Reagan.
Kindred fellows will be prepared and supported to launch their own innovative community action ideas and begin a life-long journey of maximizing their impact on social justice. Learn more about the 2022 instructor line-up here.
The 2022 Kindred Fellowship Program begins June 14th and ends July 31st. Each fellow is the recipient of a $750 award upon the completion of the program. Please save the date for the Kindred Fellowship Showcase on July 26, from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Our Kindred Fellows will be sharing their insights from the KFP experience and their plan-of-action for community engagement integrating Kindred Activism. All are welcome to attend and support our fellows on their next steps. (Watch the 2021 KFP Showcase here.)
For a quarter century, Kindred World thought-leaders have been exploring the connections among human consciousness, human and nonhuman kin, and ecological systems. As awareness of “One Family, One World” expands, humanity connects more authentically with ourselves, our family, and our world, but also with our capacity to achieve lasting social justice.
Kindred’s new connected story of human kinship is bringing forth the possibility for a new story of activism. Visit the Kindred Fellowship Program to learn more about our unique social justice education fellowship.
The Kindred Fellowship Program is excited to announce applications are being accepted for the 2022 Summer Cohort beginning March 1, 2022. The 2022 summer program runs from June 14 to July 31, 2022. Applications will be accepted until April 11, 2022. Apply here.
Our 2021 Cohorts on their KFP Experience:
“I am a past Kindred Fellowship student and I cannot say enough about what I learned from Kindred and all of those involved in making this program. Psychology student or not, this non-profit will teach all how to implement kindred activism into you lives, and many other lessons. I hope to continue my involvement with Kindred for years to come and hope to share its teachings with those around me!”
– Kendall Lobdell, University of Wisconsin, Madison
“I found Kindred World before I knew what I was looking for. I thought I was on my own in terms philosophy surrounding what the world needs as a way forward. Kindred is a revolutionary movement; one that centers not only childhood into the conversation around activism, but development, in all it’s forms, holistically, and throughout generations as an essential role in healing both ourselves and the world. It is the most transformative thing out there, and I was honored to have had the opportunity to serve as part of their inaugural Fellowship Program. During my time immersed in their philosophical and actionable program, I learned more about myself than I thought I would. In turn, I gained a deeper sense of clarity about where and how we can intervene, individually and collectively, in a way that prevents unnecessary cycles of trauma from repeating themselves, in our own lives, in our family systems and in the world. Thus, no longer just responding to suffering, but transforming it.
“Desmond Tutu said, ‘We need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream, and find out why they’re falling in.’ And that’s exactly what Kindred World is doing. And it’s revolutionary.”
– Jenna Wes, Kindred Fellowship Cohort 2021, Graduate Student, California Institute for Integral Studies