TheCaseMade

"In moments of great chaos, it's especially important to dedicate time and energy to simply talking the people around you back into their hope and their power." Those are the words of our COO, Jennifer L. Rich. This week, she decided to tell five people what makes them amazing and made for this moment. We invite you to join her! And if you do, comment below to let us know how it went 👇 PS Even talking one person back into their power this week is a job well done! ❤️

Happy #earthday, everyone. As DrT says, "We have to get stronger in how we make the case for protecting the planet by putting PEOPLE at the center. "Because when we talk about the environment, whether we like it or not, we are also talking about housing justice, public health, food security, and the future of every child who dreams under this sky."

Deepest admiration for the folks working hard every day to build a world in which every child has a safe, secure childhood and a bright future ahead! Dr. Tiffany Manuel and the team were honored to attend Child Welfare League of America's national conference in Washington, DC, last week. There's no more appropriate location for DrT's message to the crowd that day: "In the middle of this storm, there's an opportunity to grow something really powerful." She talked about trust, community building, growing more solutions, and talking people back into their power by reminding them of all the powerful things they've done before. Here's DrT with CWLA president and CEO Linda Spears and a couple of new friends from Lucas County Children Services in Toledo, Maleeka Kynard, MS and Hope Bland, Ph.D. 💐 💐 💐

No matter what's going on in the world, it's always a good time to shift the energy in the room by getting folks to envision the future they want to see. Ask people what a better future looks like, feels like. Here's Rachel Heller of Citizens' Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) telling Dr. Tiffany Manuel about the future she's working toward: "It's a future where everyone can thrive, where we have addressed and redressed so many of the harmful impacts of housing policies throughout our history and that we really everyone benefits from that, that, that we're all seeing that the world is a much brighter, healthier place when we all have a safe place to live." ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ More #FierceCaseMaking videos: https://lnkd.in/gbFyxumF

Meet Nur Kausar (far right in the photo), a Strategic CaseMaker™ in Sacramento, CA, and business development manager at EAH Housing, a nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing in California and Hawaii. We talked to her about showing people what solutions look like, what we lose if we don’t build the housing we need to sustain fragile communities, and storytelling as leadership. Nur told us, "I love collaboration, bringing people together for a common cause, and working together on solutions. My favorite tool is fostering collective ownership. As Dr. Tiffany Manuel says, 'We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.'" She's pictured here giving a tour of the EAH Housing development on Broadway in Sacramento, currently under construction, with California Assemblymember Maggy Krell (left) and Sacramento Housing Alliance Executive Director Jonathan Melgarejo Cook (center). Read more in our latest CaseMaker spotlight: https://lnkd.in/gzYDUyiR

What does it sound like to communicate from a place of strength and possibility?    For too long, philanthropies and nonprofits have often relied on deficit-framed storytelling: highlighting problems, needs, and gaps.     💡 Asset-based framing, by contrast, emphasizes the strengths, wisdom, resilience, and leadership that already exist in communities. It sounds like this:    📢“We invest in community leadership and ingenuity.”    📢“We support bold ideas and local wisdom.”    📢“We trust the expertise and vision of our community.”    If you’re not already using asset-based framing, try it out. We guarantee you’ll sound like a leader of change. ❤️

It’s no secret that we’re BIG Octavia Butler fans at TheCaseMade, so when Samara Crawford Herrera recently came across this quote from a 2000 essay of hers, she wanted share it. Octavia wrote: "The one thing that I and my main characters never do when contemplating the future is give up hope. In fact, the very act of trying to look ahead to discern possibilities and offer warnings is in itself an act of hope." And Samara says: "My ‘act of hope’ is boldly supporting our local public school bond on the upcoming April 8th ballot. It’s been deemed a ‘long shot’ but I just keep making the case and reminding folks that our children’s future is worth the investment!" ❓ What are YOUR ‘acts of hope’ as you contemplate the future? Please share below!👇🏾 ➡️ Full Octavia essay here: https://lnkd.in/e-kDjkV5 ➡️ DrT on Octavia here: https://lnkd.in/gF44cVDS

These are serious times. But as Dr. Tiffany Manuel Manuel has said, "Who said social change can't start with music, laughter, and celebration?" And even when the world around us is chaotic, we've got to celebrate our wins and our milestones. That's why DrT was honored to work with Proud Ground in Portland, Oregon, to celebrate their 25th anniversary—a milestone not just for them but for everyone who believes in the power of community land trusts to change lives. And that's the story behind the pictures: A night celebrating the remarkable work of their team, honoring the visionaries who brought community land trusts to Portland, and looking boldly toward the amazing road ahead. How are you celebrating your wins—both large and small—these days?

The most powerful leaders aren't the fastest reactors ... They're the clearest thinkers. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it's understandable. But don’t give in to the chaos. The barrage of headlines, inflammatory rhetoric, and confusing policies are all meant to “jam the signal”—pulling our attention away from the real organizing work so many of you have been doing all along. If we’re constantly reacting, we risk losing the discipline needed to win. Let's pause. Breathe. And refocus. We won’t gain social change if we panic. We'll win if we think clearly, organize on theground, move with intention, and adapt, adapt, adapt. The most powerful leaders aren’t the fastest reactors—they are the clearest thinkers, the sharpest #CaseMakers, and the most #adaptiveleaders. Let’s be those leaders.

Need a boost? Need inspiration? 💡💡💡 Meet Rachel Joy, a Strategic CaseMaker™ in Champaign, Illinois, and her city's first-ever equity and engagement director. We talked to her about what it means to be a “welcoming community,” how she used her Strategic CaseMaking™ skills to hit a home run in a local TV news interview, and the joy of “hooking” an audience. Rachel told us, "I want Champaign to be a place where everything we do is a reminder of how critical our diversity is to our existence. Where assimilation isn’t an expectation but instead we lift up each unique person and their experiences to support them as they reach their dreams. When we are truly welcoming, we build, sustain and become our safest, healthiest, economically thriving, and hopeful community." ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Read more in our latest CaseMaker spotlight: https://lnkd.in/gjPX6zVm