What's New this Month?

Hi friends,

Minnesotans are organizing, coming together, and bravely resisting the unlawful attacks on our communities by ICE and other federal forces. Our Somali friends and neighbors deserve dignity and respect. All of our immigrant & refugee friends and neighbors deserve to feel welcome and safe here. There are many ways you can join our grantees and friends in taking action. Here are some of them...

We hope each and every one of you continues to hold each other with care through these times. Stay safe, stay loud, and stick together. Our strength is in each other.

❄️ End of Year Office Closure ❄️

Please note that the Headwaters office will be closed from Wednesday, December 24th, through Sunday, January 4th. We look forward to returning to our collective work with you in the new year.
New Program: Bridging Ecosystems Fellowship

The Bridging Ecosystems (BE) Fellowship is a new Headwaters program, launching next year. The BE Fellowship is an 8-month program that runs from April through November 2026. We will bring together 16 participants – representing 8 organizations – in a cohort. The program will focus on individual fundraising & donor organizing; strategic communications & narrative work; and healing justice. Through this participatory, cohort-based pilot, leaders have the opportunity to strengthen their own work while helping shape an ecosystem that supports others doing the same. 

The BE Fellowship will be open to current Headwaters grantees from the following programs: Fund of the Sacred Circle; Giving Project; Justice and Liberation Fund, and the Wellspring Fund. Please note: Rapid Response Fund grantees may be eligible if space allows. If you are a current grantee, please join us for an interactive information session on December 17th to learn more about the program and how to apply.

🌱 Sign up for a BE info session 🌱
Headwaters isn't backing down

Watching and listening to the news these days is frequently heartbreaking and disarming. Our communities - Black, Indigenous, Latine, immigrant, queer, transgender, disabled, and many others - are experiencing unimaginable harm. At Headwaters, we know our power comes from leading together. Everyday people throughout Minnesota have made Headwaters the rooted and bold organization that it is today. As we approach 2026, we know we must keep showing up shoulder to shoulder with our communities. Donate today to help us meet the moment, together.

✨ Join us in the fight ✨
Rapid Response Fund: Info Session in January

Our next cycle for the Rapid Response Fund will open on January 12th, 2026. Save the date for an upcoming virtual info session on January 20th at 12 PM. We hope to see you there! Keep an eye out for the registration link in January.
 
Meet Hend, December's Featured Artist

Hend Al-Mansour is an immigrant from Saudi Arabia who draws inspiration from Islamic art and Arabic aesthetics. Gender discrimination and social injustice shape her themes of highlighting women's power and their equal participation in cultural production. Hend's piece, "SHE THINKS SHE MAKES ART," features a mandala-like arrangement with a mirror-image double self-portrait. Each figure is holding her brush like a fencing sword, fighting her image, symbolizing the circular psychology of self-doubts and self-affirmation.

🎨 Learn more about Hend 🎨
ICYMI: New Blog About Collective Decision-Making

We’re excited to share the second installment of Blueprints for Change - our new blog series that takes you behind the scenes of Headwaters’ journey to transform our internal structure, policies, and key practices! Leadership transitions in 2022 coincided with significant questions among remaining staff about leadership models, equity, and pay and a desire to imagine a more liberatory and values-aligned workplace. As a result, we knew we needed a more permanent decision-making process to guide us as we navigated these important decisions and our day-to-day work. Learn all about it here!

🏗️ Democratizi​ng Decision-Mak​ing 🏗️

Community Events

🍱 Equitable Dinners by Mixed Blood
Thursday, December 11th at 6 PM

Equitable Dinners is a trademarked program of Out of Hand Theater. Mixed Blood is hosting ongoing Equitable Dinners to bring together strangers and neighbors from diverse backgrounds to talk about complex issues like race, over a meal, fueled by theater. Upcoming topics include mental health, racial equity, and climate resilience. 

✨️ What We Carry: A Mental Health Showcase
Friday, December 12th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

What We Carry is an intimate showcase of the 2024 Black Scholar Fellows, organized by Atlas of Blackness. Over ten months, these young storytellers explored the emotional landscape of Black life, what we hold in our bodies, our families, and our cities. Their work examines the mental health of Black artists, the quiet struggles of Black motherhood, and the long shadow of loss. Through photography and storytelling, they ask what it means to heal in public and to name what has tried to go unnamed. This showcase is both reflection and possibility. Each project is an offering, a way to be seen, heard, and transformed. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments provided.

Job Opportunities from the Headwaters Community

Ayada Leads
🔸 Civic Engagement/Advocacy Manager

Ayada Leads is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization located in Minneapolis. Our mission is to provide comprehensive leadership development programs to New Americans, particularly African Diaspora Women, to have the skills necessary to become effective leaders and engaged citizens in their communities.

COPAL
🔸 Development Director
Salary: $80,000 - 90,000

COPAL, Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action, is a member-based organization established in 2018 to improve the quality of life of Latine families. Grounded in the Principles of Jemez, COPAL is committed to continue building meaningful relationships that transcend both identity and geographical boundaries. COPAL envisions a Minnesota where everyone lives with dignity and respect.

Theater Mu
🔸 Development Manager (Part Time)
Salary: $25,000

Theater Mu is one of the nation’s leading Asian American theater companies. With a commitment to equity, access, and community, Mu produces work that celebrates our shared humanity and advances a more just and inclusive future. Our audiences, artists, and supporters come from many backgrounds, and we strive to ensure that every person who engages with Mu feels welcome, valued, and seen.
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