Brigette Rouson, J.D., M.A., (she/her) is principal of Rouson Associates, a consulting practice formed to support policy advocacy, then turning to broader capacity building. She brings over 30 years’ experience advancing nonprofit effectiveness toward a just society. Brigette is a member of the RoadMap (www.roadmapconsulting.org) network of social justice consultants, serving on its leadership teams for over 4 years. She is deeply committed to bringing an equity frame to organizational change and leadership development, facilitation, training, action research, and public speaking.
What fired me up as a young teen growing up in the South was imagining what could change despite injustices that seemed impossible to turn around. I reached out to connect with people who were unapologetically radical, folks working toward a world of Black liberation and women’s liberation. As a result, I found myself reading long handwritten letters sent from prisoners who were being abused by incarceration practices, including medical and psychological experiments. I campaigned for Shirley Chisolm with wild hopes (in the 1970s when electoral politics seemed to be a shining way forward) of electing the first Black woman President of the U.S. These were lasting inspirations for analysis and action to spark systems change. At the same time, noticing how people were locked out of voter registration and the voting process, I spoke up about it in the local newspaper. Something had to be done, and I had to be part of the solution.
Since that time, I’ve become ever more deeply committed to building relationships and building power so that all people can thrive.
Rouson Associates’ practice contributes to strong, resilient groups that transform movements for justice.
We believe that reality is shaped at every level of human experience — from inner/individual, to interpersonal, to institutional, and widening the circle to community and society. Changing our world for the better means building power and relationships. It means being deeply attuned to the experiences and hopes of changemakers, and freeing people up to be their best selves.
Rouson Associates is happy to showcase these
Maryland Nonprofits
Home of Standards for Excellence Institute
We are a group of organizers whose work addresses a variety of issues, and we recognize that there is no organizing community or area of our work that will not be touched by this crisis. We hope this list of demands will serve as a tool for organizers and activists who are crafting their own responses to COVID-19.
The COVID-19 virus does not discriminate — it can infect anyone. However, when an indiscriminate virus is unleashed in a country where racially unjust systems have long decided who lives, who dies, who thrives and who just gets by, the impact is anything but equal.
Racism is inherently intersectional – often intertwined with other systems of oppression, such as classism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, xenophobia and discrimination based on immigrant status, ageism and ableism. Conversely, racial justice[2] is critical to social justice and benefits everyone.
Contact info[@]roadmapconsulting.org or see the events blog.
Only for DC-based grassroots social justice work with projects led by and for people of color/global majority.
