HOME Jam for Environmental and Climate Leaders: “Healing our Movement Ecosystem”
Priority deadline : April 20, 2026
Final deadline : June 8, 2026
Since 2013, the HOME Jam has woven together the journeys of hundreds of leaders from across the world’s environmental and climate movements — strengthening a synergistic ecosystem that powers our collective impact. As we face unprecedented challenges in our rapidly changing world, this year’s HOME Jam offers a powerful opportunity to connect, cross-pollinate ideas, heal and envision the regenerative world we know is possible.
We invite you — as a committed and/or newly aspiring changemaker in climate, environmental, and related justice movements — to step away from your desk, breathe deeply, open and realign with your whole self, and meet a beautiful array of collaborators, so you can shine even brighter in your life and work.
Let’s embody the healing, community, and justice we wish to see in the world.
Why Gather? Why Now?
In these times, people are recognizing the need to reclaim and revitalize HOME in all of its dimensions: communities, economies, ecologies, etc. (remembering that ‘eco’ means ‘home’ in Latin). It is a moment for both the defense of home and also the fortification of our understanding of how we’re all connected within a wild diversity of life – identities, experiences, biologies, movements, and cultures. Honoring our mutual flourishing and reciprocity is essential, not just for our survival, but to thrive.
Our environmental, economic, and social systems are under constant, intensifying pressure. While there have been incredible gains in some countries (like plastics removal, indigenous rights protection, the growth of solar power, and the reduction of deforestation), in the U.S. it can feel like we’re not just losing ground, but going backward. Our movement stability and safety continue to be threatened by political intimidation and suppression. As the sixth mass extinction is well underway, many of us are feeling profound grief, demoralization, and wondering what action looks like now. Across our movement ecosystems, we hear common stories of limited time, fractured trust, overstretched capacities, and competition for scarcer resources, which threaten the strength and unity of our shared and interconnected missions.
When we gather, our hope is to have a space for reimagining the future we want to see, where we’re nurturing our spirits, building bridges across movements, and finding solutions for our common challenges. We are exploring new pathways of working together, grounded in trust and cultures of belonging and solidarity. We’re also recognizing that healing and caring for ourselves is crucial to developing wider systems of interdependence. These are essential foundations for sustaining our intersectional movements and growing their capacity for transformation. This is exactly where the HOME Jam comes in.
“You feel like the most soothing ointment to my wounds. I feel seen, loved, heard. The HOME Jam has been a space I’ve been looking for and more. Thank you for this sacred, transformational, alchemical space.”
– Chiara Armand, 19, student, Williams College, Environmental Studies, New York City, NY, USA
The Purpose of the HOME Jam
As we face significant movement building challenges, new and deeper forms of learning and community will strengthen our ability to act collectively. We are guided by these inquiries:
- How can we build community, generate more mutual support within and across the full spectrum of environmental, climate and related movements, and welcome in more potential partners?
- How do we honor our differences and find common ground within polarizing contexts?
- How can our personal healing impact collective liberation, and vice versa?
- How can we apply our collective wisdom to join forces across movement sectors to reimagine, organize, and continue to build towards the future we wish to see?
- How do we protect our spirits, cultivate energy and hope, and keep our hearts soft in these times?
What questions are alive for you? Bring them to the Jam!
“I loved the variety of experiences and modalities, from games to music, from writing to somatic expression, and more. In our times of complexity, I see how [the Jam] builds a greater capacity and context within ourselves, with one another and with the broader movement. I loved the space for being with difficulty and pain. Thank you for resourcing and fortifying me when I truly need it most.”
-Jessica Groopman, 39, Founder, Regenerative Technology Project, Berkeley, CA
The HOME Jam engages three interconnected levels of transformation: Inner, Interpersonal and Systemic.
→ As Individuals: We Practice Authenticity and Foster Rejuvenation
We create space for restoration, healing, and inspiration so that each of us can nurture our transformative potential. Here, you’re invited to take off your mask, explore your growing edges, and connect with your body, mind, heart, and spirit.
→ As a Community: We Build Solidarity
We ignite a collective fire that forges strong relationships. Through exercises that stretch us out of our comfort zones, we discover common ground and celebrate our differences. By honestly addressing our interpersonal and systemic conflicts, we move beyond collaboration and allyship towards deep friendships that sustain us long after the Jam ends. As our elder Joanna Macy reminds us, the point isn’t to ‘save the world’ but to ensure that, even as the world falls apart, we turn to one another instead of turn on one another.
→ As a Movement: We Foster Collective Liberation
We intentionally examine the tools and perspectives we use in our work to decolonize our imaginations and ways we work in our movements. We explore how our individual liberation is intertwined with the freedom of the whole and learn practices we can bring home to transform our organizational and coalition cultures. We co-create shared visions of the present and future, and learn how we can weave our work together into an interconnected whole for systems change.
“Thank you for providing a space for me to step into my heart and power. I am overwhelmed by how deep a community could be created in four days and how much trust and compassion and love we have held for each other. It gives me an abundance of hope for our movement ecosystem.”
– Anwen Cai Baumeister, 22, Cozy Bones Farm, San Rafael, CA
What is a Jam?
In music, a jam is a creative, live gathering of musicians who come together to create an emergent new sound — where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Similarly, YES! Jams are spaces where diverse changemakers pool their passions, unique perspectives, and open hearts. To date, more than 250 jams have been held in 85 nations across six continents, forging connections that last a lifetime.
The Jam is about cultivating a culture of deep belonging with ourselves, one another, and the Earth. It’s a collaborative space to imagine and live into the practice of a beloved community and the world we want to see. Balancing structure with spontaneity, we come together authentically and generously give and receive our loving attention and creative gifts.
“The Jam afforded us a unique opportunity to feel loved and to show love. This has lifted a heavy burden off my mind, and I am going back home knowing that I have a community of friends who share in my vision.”
– Nehemiah Tettey Odjer-Bio, 40, Program Coordinator for Forest & Biodiversity, Society for Ecological Restoration, Friends of the Earth Ghana, Accra, Ghana
How is the Jam structured? What will we be doing?
To create the change we seek, we have to practice it in real time. A Jam is not a conference, seminar, or typical meeting. Together, we will explore our questions through facilitated dialogue, visioning exercises, sharing circles, collective ritual, artistic expression, playful games, participant-led offerings, outdoor adventures, quiet spaces for reflection, and intentional free time for spontaneous magic-making. Rather than trying to “solve the world’s problems” or produce specific programmatic outcomes (like counting trees planted or policies enacted), we’ll make space for simply being and belonging. The relationships, synergies, and partnerships we form here will sustain us long after we return to our day-to-day work.
Who is invited?
Anyone who identifies as a changemaker in, or aspires to be a changemaker in, environmental, climate and interconnected movements is welcome to apply. Our intention is to gather a diverse community of practitioners from across ecologically-focused movement spaces. To maximize our movement-building impact, we also encourage you to invite other individuals and organizations you’d like to Jam with, too.
We welcome diversity in:
- Livelihoods & Perspectives: Foresters, clean energy engineers, food justice advocates, indigenous culture bearers, community organizers, climate & environmental justice activists, artist and creatives, students, land stewards, social entrepreneurs, environmental lawyers, policy wonks, members of intentional communities & ecovillages, those affected by environmental racism, conservation biologists/ecologists, climate grief therapists, sustainable tech designers, and anyone engaging in the domains of environmental and climate movements. We also want to explicitly invite practitioners in the regenerative economies field – to heal the trope of ecology vs. economy, and remember the ‘eco’ (home) at the root of it all.
- Identities & Worldviews: Class, race, religion, sexuality, gender, dis/ability, ethnicity, and more – we welcome all diversities.
- Age & Experience: We embrace intergenerational participation, welcoming participants approximately between the ages of 18 and 70. A special welcome to youth and emerging leaders!
“Thank you for reigniting my belief in my capacity and ability as a facilitator, leader, and organizer. It has been a true gift to return to my confidence. You have also gifted me, gifted us, with a restored belief in our collective capacity to find joy amidst uncertainty, hold conflict with care and increasing ease, dream of and create cultures of care and integrity.”
Rachel Duthler, 39, therapist, wilderness guide, facilitator, Verdure Counseling, Seattle, WA, US / Duwamish territory
Dates & Venue & Contribution
Dates: Sunday August 2 (start time 2 pm) – Friday August 7, 2026 (end time 11 am)
Location: The Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, California. Located 90 minutes south of San Francisco in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Quaker Center is a serene and magical retreat space away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. We will be staying in simple rooms and having delicious food prepared by our chef, Yanni. We welcome families to the Jam and will support with childcare.
The HOME Jam is offered on a sliding Scale: $300 – $1200
Organizing and facilitation require resources. The at-cost price per person for this Jam is $1000 — half of which covers food, lodging, and supplies; and the other half supports the honoraria for our organizers and facilitators.
We offer tiered pricing based on your financial situation. You can see more about that in the application. We also encourage partial work trades and customized monthly payment plans, if that helps you participate.
Also, we encourage you to seek support from your organization; many past participants have received professional development funds knowing they’ll bring back valuable learnings and tools to their workplaces and movements and ‘spread the Jam’ (which is our hope!).
We also understand that even the lower end of our scale may be a significant expense, so please let us know your needs. And if you’re in a position to contribute more, wonderful! The extra funds will help grow our scholarship pool for those in need.
APPLY HERE: https://forms.gle/vWBddJcW4KtGVMhr9
Priority Deadline: April 20, 2026
Final Deadline: June 8, 2026
Please feel free to contact us at <homeecojam@gmail.com> if you have any questions, and we can set up an info session and/or time to talk. We look forward to hearing from you!
With gratitude for who you are and all you do,
Jodi, Marisa, Shilpa, Wei Li, and Zi
Organizer
wei li king (they/he) is a community pollinator, farmer, and caregiver making home on Ohlone land (Oakland, CA). After a decade designing systems and products in the startup bubble, wei li now channels their skills into co-creating liberatory structures. Their life energy supports a worker-owned cooperative healing soil through mushrooms, as well as intentional communities and practice spaces that honor interdependence and ancestral wisdom. Deeply moved by Buddhist practice and the healing justice work of the Fierce Vulnerability Network, wei li is actively exploring the sacred balance of giving and receiving. Whether they are intently studying the wisdom of mycelium, tending to collective grief, or practicing relationship ecology, they are dedicated to the slow and vital work of growing resilient communities.
Zihir Unique is a climate resilience and sustainability advocate dedicated to building greener, more equitable communities. With a background in program development, outreach strategy, and community education, they have led initiatives that reduce environmental disparities, increase urban canopy cover, and empower residents to take action in the face of climate change.Beyond strategy and policy, they believe real change happens when communities are engaged, informed, and equipped with the tools to create lasting impact. From spearheading volunteer driven environmental projects to designing public education campaigns, they bring a mix of data-driven solutions and people-centered approaches to their work.
When not working on sustainability initiatives, Zihir channels his passion for movement and connection into music and wellness. He crafts house, disco, and Afrobeats sets as a DJ, and is also working to make holistic health practices more inclusive. to transmasculine people At the core of everything they do is a commitment to fostering resilience—whether in ecosystems, communities, or individuals
Born into a large, multicultural Mexican American family in Los Angeles, Marisa Villarreal (she/her) grew up surrounded by matriarchs who nurtured community through family, spirituality, and food. Shaped by these women, she sees herself as a nurturer, connector and cross pollinator, working to bring more heart, joy, and spiritual/ancestral practices into the climate movement (and revolution). For over 15 years, Marisa has helped build and manage intersectional programs for organizations that aspire towards climate resilience, equity, and social justice. In her day job, Marisa works as a Program Director at GRID Alternatives, an organization advancing economic and environmental justice through renewable energy jobs and technology. The work that calls most to her soul is designing and facilitating spaces, like the Jam, for transformation, healing, dreaming, and play. She’s called Oakland her home for the past 11 years, where she finds joy through cooking big delicious meals with and for her friends, surfing, and dance parties.
Originally from Asheville, NC, Jodi Lasseter is an educator, facilitator and cultural catalyst who has been engaged at all levels of the climate justice movement. She founded and serves as the Co-Executive Director of the NC Climate Justice Collective (NCCJC), a statewide movement ecosystem of environmental justice communities doing popular education, civic engagement and cultural organizing. Through previous leadership positions at the Amazon Alliance, Engage Network, and Friends of the Earth, she has partnered with hundreds of communities in the US and abroad. She co-founded the HOME Jam and created the 4Rs of Social Transformation framework used by Yes! Jams all over the world. She also leads an ecofeminist activism training for women. Jodi has a BA from UNC-Chapel Hill and earned her MA as a Social Change Fellow at Clark University’s International Development, Community and Environment program. She currently lives near Durham NC, where she delights in song circles, playing frame drums, and exploring the local swimming holes.
Shilpa Jain (she/her) is currently rooting herself in Oakland/Berkeley, CA. For 11+ years, she served as the Executive Director of YES!, working with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aiming to co-create thriving, just and balanced ways of life for all. Prior to taking on this role, Shilpa spent two years as the Education and Outreach Coordinator of Other Worlds and ten years as a learning activist with Shikshantar: The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development, based in Udaipur, India, where she served as coordinator of the Swapathgami (Walkouts-Walkons) Network. She has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings with hundreds of young leaders from over 50 countries. She is passionate about dance and music, organic and natural farming, upcycling and zero waste living, asking appreciative questions and being in community. A focus on healing, forgiveness, compassion, love and wholeness permeates all of her work and life.
Recent Comments