This is the start of an attempt to build expansive Beloved Community for those who need it in Northeast Ohio – primarily Wooster, Akron, Canton, Kent, Youngstown, and Cleveland areas. Our name is inspired by the work started by Unitarian Universalist Minister, Rev. Sunshine Wolfe, and speaks to our vision of how we will go about building community. It is okay to be “wacky” together. It is also okay to be sad together, or joyful together, or frustrated together, or any of the dozens of emotions we’re safely capable of expressing in community. This is a group for building our emotional vocabulary, range, and fluency while building our resilience for the work needed to be the change the world needs. All who are committed to wholehearted compassionate connection with others who are working on being their best versions of themselves are welcome. It is okay to be at the very start of that path. It is okay to have stumbled and fallen off that path countless times. You are always invited to join – and rejoin – us as we forge this path with kindness.

What forms this will take are still a bit up in the air, and we’re watching to see what bubbles up as needs in our community. We are committed to centering the margins, listening first to those voices that are most often silenced, seeing that which has been made to feel invisible, and acknowledging where we could have done better while learning from past mistakes. First and foremost, our priority is rebuilding direct meaningful, mutually beneficial connections of people in this region so we can build capacity to be a greater force of good in the world together.

Please come back soon to find out how to be a part of this effort!