www.wehere.space WE HERE LLC - JANUARY 2022
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2 The 0 2 1 Wrap Up WE HERE™ LLC — JANUARY 2022 www.wehere.space
CONTENTS
Written and designed by Jennifer A. Ferretti on behalf of We Here LLC
01 - Our Mission and Methods 22 - The Community School
03 - We Family 30 - Community Study
33 - up//root: a we here publication
10 - Member Communities
36 - We Together
13 - Public Communities and Supporters
39 - We Reads
17 - Grants Given 43 - Event Round Up
20 - Grants Received 48 - Pay Us
WE HERE™ LLC — JANUARY 2022
OUR MISSION We Here™ seeks to provide a safe and supportive community for Black and Indigenous folks, and People of Color in library and information science professions and educational programs and to recognize, discuss, and intervene in systemic social issues that have plagued these professions both currently and historically. 01 WE HERE™ LLC — JANUARY 2022
OUR Member Communities
Our private communities have
METHODS
been in place since late 2016 and
are essential for keeping our
members safe and supported.
Growing Together Community Learning Uprooting Knowledge
Our mentorship program, We coordinate events as up//root: a we here publication
established in 2020 and practitioners, learners, and is a publishing collective that
freshly named We Together, is people who contribute to the exists to center the work,
reimagining mentorship for Library and Information knowledge, and experiences of
mutual growth and liberation Science community. We are folks who identify as Black,
for both mentor and mentee. firm believers of learning in Indigenous, or People of Color
community. within the context of the library
and archives community.
02
WE FAMILY
We Here's Program and Project Leaders
03
TEAM WE HERE
Membership Community Admins
Jennifer Brown Crystal Chen Nicollette Davis
Community Manager Community Admin Community Admin
04
TEAM WE HERE
Membership Community Admins Continued
Jennifer Ferretti Charlotte Roh
Founder & Principal Community Manager
05
Jennifer A. Ferretti
COMMUNITY SCHOOL Founder & Principal
Learn in community
Kristina Santiago
Community School Coordinator
Cindy Teyolia
Community School Coordinator
(February - July 2021)
COMMUNITY STUDY nicholae cline
(be)coming together in study
Organizer
Sofia Leung
Organizer
Jorge López-McKnight
06 Organizer
UP//ROOT EDITORIALTEAM
a we here publication
Megdi Abebe Jorge López-McKnight
Editor Editor
Joyce Gabiola Kristina Santiago
Editor Editor
Sofia Leung
Editor
07
UP//ROOT ADVISORY TEAM+
Jennifer Brown Charlotte Roh
Advisory Team Member Advisory Team Member
Jennifer A. Ferretti
Advisory Team Member +
Creative Director
08WE TOGETHER Crystal Chen
Reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation Program Manager
Nicollette Davis
Program Manager
WE READS Jennifer Brown
Literature that nourishes us
Crystal Chen
nicholae cline
Project Founder
Charlotte Roh
09MEMBER
COMMUNITIES
Our Home
10OUR MEMBER
COMMUNITIES ARE HOME Slack
20.9%
Our member communities are the
foundation of our work. We ended the
year 2021 with 2,064 Facebook group
members; 595 Google Group members;
and 703 Slack project members, with Google
Facebook
Groups
some members on multiple platforms. 17.7%
61.4%
As always, we recognize the ways in which
these platforms help us connect virtually, but
also the imperfection of these platforms.
Graphic: Pie chart showing percentage of members in each Member
Community: Facebook at 61.4%; Google Groups at 17.7%; and Slack at
20.9%.
11OUR MEMBER
COMMUNITIES
Here are a few new things we were able to implement for
ARE HOME all of our private spaces during the year 2021.
Week End Round Up Private Space Task Force Mutual Aid and Mentorship
We Here may have several calls, After admins and member Recognizing the impact of the
resources, events, happening all communities expressed ethical ongoing pandemic, we were
at once. To help members keep and privacy concerns around financially able to offer our
track, we launched "week end," our largest platform, we second round of micro grants.
rounding everything up for ease released a call for volunteers for We also convened our first
of search. a Private Space Task Force and mentorship cohort. More about
look forward to working with this both in the following pages.
group of 10 people in 2022.
12PUBLIC
COMMUNITIES AND
SUPPORTERS
13PUBLIC COMMUNITIES AND SUPPORTERS Patreon Community Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. Members get access to exclusive We Here content, including the We Here Mixtape, a curated list of what the We Family is loving, tending, and growing each month. We're closing out the year with 617 Patreon supporters, which is a 96-person increase from 2020. We are so incredibly grateful to all of our Patreon supporters. They are the reason we are able to offer mutual aid, pay speakers for free events, send thank you gifts to We Together mentors, and much more. Anyone can join our Patreon community and to receive perks, membership begins at just $5 per month ($60 per year). Learn more at patreon.com/wehere. 14
We're always seeking to add new perks to
being part of our Patreon community.
PATREON SUPPORTER PERKS Join us to learn more.
Exclusive access to the We Here Access to weTV - a series of short, Early notification and access to
mixtape, a curated list of what the unscripted videos where we talk things like Community School
We Family is getting into for the about resources that resonate with events and up//root articles.
month. Team We Here.
15 patreon.com/weherePUBLIC COMMUNITIES AND SUPPORTERS Seed Circle Memberships Seed Circle Memberships was developed out of the need to have an alternative to Patreon for folks and organizations. To receive perks, Seed Circle Memberships begin at the same dollar amount as our Patreon community ($5/month or $60/year). However, the perks are limited compared to our Patreon community. Seed Circle members receive early access/notifications. We're looking forward to offering more perks for these memberships and promoting it more in 2022. Learn more at wehere.space/support-us. 16
GRANTS GIVEN While We Here is restricted from certain types of giving because of our entity type, we've found ways to support our community through taxable, one-time grants to individuals. In an effort to recognize and support all the incredible work folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color do for the profession and the world, we identified eight projects and organizations to support. We also offered 30 micro grants to individuals in our membership community who expressed financial need. 17
GRANTS GIVEN
$15,396 $15,000
donated to individuals who donated to 30 individuals
manage projects and who expressed financial
organizations. need.
$30, 396
TOTAL
DONATED
18WE HERE GAVE Archivistas en Espanglish
(archivistasenespanglish.org)
to the following groups or Black Librarians (@blacklibrarians)
organizations
Hijabi Librarians (hijabilibrarians.com)
Joint Council of Librarians of Color
Inc. (jclcinc.org)
LibVoices Podcast (@libvoices)
Urban Lib Room Podcast (@urbanlibroom)
WOC+Lib (wocandlib.org)
19GRANTS RECEIVED
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic
Resources Coalition) is a global advocacy organization
working to make research and education open and
equitable by design—for everyone. SPARC generously
gave $20,000 to We Here for calendar year 2021,
specifically to support up//root: a we here publication,
and chiefly to compensate the editorial team, peer
reviewers, and authors. We are so grateful to our
colleagues at SPARC, now and throughout the entire
process, which has been caring and supportive. Read
more about up//root's work in the following pages.
20From the press release (January 17, 2021):
"SPARC is for real. With this move, they have joined us on this side that sees that the
dominant white publishing world doesn't care about Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color (BIPOC) knowledge(s) and experiences and has actively caused harm toward
BIPOC communities. SPARC isn't dictating what we do with our funds; they trust us to
lead ourselves."
— up//root Editorial Team
"up//root's reimagination of the publication process to prioritize care and justice is an
idea that is as necessary as it is radical. The space that We Here is creating to center
BIPOC voices, experience, and leadership is vital, and these efforts need to be
supported as such and on their own terms."
— Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC
21The Community School
Learn in community
22THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL The We Here Community School (launched in 2020), seeks to provide a learning community with opportunities for personal and professional development based in anti-racism pedagogy, recognizing and acknowledging systemic racism and oppression, while centering folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It was born out of the exhaustion we felt from other professional development opportunities that perform diversity or approach diversity, equity, and inclusion from a position of interest convergence rather than from a position of genuine learning, growing, and the desire to better not only the profession, but the experiences of historically excluded folks in the profession. We coordinate events as practitioners who contribute to the Library and Information Science community. The School hosts multi-week synchronous and asynchronous courses, seminars and webinars, most of which are open to the public. During 2021, we offered our first asynchronous course; developed a brand identity for the School; updated our Code of Conduct for all We Here events; and added a new recorded workshop to our catalog. Cindy Teyolia joined us as Community School Coordinator from February - July 2021 and Kristina Santiago joined us from August to the end of the year. Learn more at wehere.space/school. 23
COMMUNITY 19 Instructional Designers
SCHOOL
9 Synchronous Webinars
NUMBERS
2 Seminars
*Mission Critical events are generally 1 Asynchronous Course
focused on topics we consider to be
of great importance to our community
(e.g. mental health and wellness) and
typically the cost to join is donation- 1 Synchronous Course
based. So far this has always meant we
pay the instructional designer out-of-
pocket rather than from enrollment
sales. 1 Mission Critical Event*
24COMMUNITY SCHOOL CATALOG Who's Afraid of Critical Race Cultivating Intuition: Rooting Our Trauma Informed Librarianship with Theory? with Sofia Leung and Jorge In-Sight with Celia O. Hilson. Nisha Mody. [Course.] López-McKnight. [Course.] [Webinar.] 25
COMMUNITY SCHOOL CATALOG
Writing Your Personal Annual Global Work/Learning Library Programming for Beginners:
Review and Strategic Plan with Opportunities for BIPOC Library How to Make It Happen with Kelly
Saira Raza. [Webinar.] Workers with Raymond Pun. Campos. [Webinar.]
[Webinar.]
26COMMUNITY SCHOOL CATALOG Designing Context-Driven Critical Race Theory and Library Library Exhibitions: Beyond Book Programming and Content with Philanthropy: Carnegie Libraries at Covers with Lourdes Santamaría- Amanda Figueroa and Ravon Ruffin HBCUs and Interest Convergence Wheeler. [Webinar.] of Brown Art Ink. [Seminar.] with Shaundra Walker. [Webinar.] 27
COMMUNITY SCHOOL CATALOG Critical Library Programming for A Critical Management Studies Introduction to Critical Race Theory Public Libraries with Crytal Chen, Perspective on Leading in Libraries in Library and Information Studies Nicollette Davis, and Constance with Silvia Vong. [Webinar.] with Sofia Leung. [Webinar + Milton. [Webinar.] Recorded Webinar.] 28
COMMUNITY SCHOOL CATALOG
Coming in 2022
Writing Your Personal Words on Display: Critical Management
Annual Review and Curating Library Studies: Critical Praxis for
Strategic Plan with Saira Exhibitions with Lourdes Library Managers with
Writing Your Personal Annual Raza. [Webinar.] Santamaría-Wheeler. Silvia Vong. [Course.]
Review and Strategic Plan with [Course.]
Saira Raza. [Webinar.]
29Community
Study
(be)coming together in study
30COMMUNITY STUDY Community Study is an ongoing constellation of study groups, immersions, community learning spaces, and reading groups centered around Black, Indigenous and People of Color being and (be)coming together in study. Community Study believes that learning and exploring together is a joyous and generative form of community (and community building) that facilitates curiosity, intimacy, and care—all of which are deeply needed now. Community Study is inspired and moved by, reaching out and called to, projects of study by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, The Night School Bar, Freedom Schools, Study & Struggle, and may other beautiful ways of being together. Community Study launched in 2021 and is cared for and organized by nicholae cline, Sofia Leung, and Jorge López-McKnight. Community Study is for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Learn more at wehere.space/community-study. 31
COMMUNITY STUDY
First Study, May - August Second Study, November Learn More at
2021: Contemporary 2021 - Ongoing: wehere.space/community
Abolitionist Feminisms Disability Studies -study
Thirty-eight participants organized Twenty-one participants organized Learn more about the group, what
into three clusters. into three clusters. they're reading, and check out their
sonics of study (Spotify playlist).
Read the wrap up and reflection at
https://bit.ly/westudyabolition.
32a we here publication 33
UP//ROOT up//root: a we here publication is a publishing collective that exists to center the works, knowledge, and experiences of folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color within the context of the library and archives community. Their focus is to center and build on works of knowledge and/or creative expression by Black, Indigenous, and People Color that impact archives, libraries, Library and Information Science education, and/or information. They encourage interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches, analyses, and lenses. They ask, "be uncompromising as you center justice." In 2021 the founding editors, Joyce Gabiola, Sofia Leung, and Jorge López-McKnight, welcomed Megdi Abebe and Kristina Santiago to the team, after releasing a call for editors who were current graduate students. The team presented at three conferences, published five features, and created resources to guide contributors and peer reviewers. They also contracted an accessibility consultant to review the publishing platform and downloadable PDF files. We're excited to implement all we learned during the process. Thanks to a generous grant from SPARC (see page 20), up//root editors, contributors, and peer reviewers are provided a stipend for their work. Learn more at https://uproot.space. 34
UP//ROOT Features Published
Letter to Asian Diasporic Workers, by Confronting Anti-Asian Racism: A
Desmond Wong, Anastasia Chiu, Jessica Statement on (In)visibility and
Dai, Deborah Yun Caldwell, Charlotte Targeted Online Harassment, by
Roh, February 22, 2021 Reanna Esmail, October 21, 2021
The House Archives Built, Make the Library Loud: Removing
by Dorothy Berry, June 22, 2021 Communication Barriers for Library
Workers with Hearing Loss, by
Michelle Khuu, November 17, 2021
Drowned Disillusions,
by Hridi Das, July 26, 2021
35 Read them at https://uproot.spacewe
TOGETHER
Reimagining mentorship for
mutual growth and liberation
36WE TOGETHER Recently branded We Together: Reimagining mentorship for mutual growth and liberation, our mentorship program launched in October 2020. While peer mentoring has always been an important part of our member communities, we learned after our first annual member survey that some members wanted a more formal arrangement. Community Admins Crystal Chen and Nicollette Davis conceived and continue to care for We Together, which includes developing calls, matching mentors and mentees, organizing check-ins, bringing in guest speakers to talk to the cohort, and more. The program is organized with the knowledge and feedback from folks who have expressed having negative experiences with other mentor programs within Library and Information Science. This adds a level of labor on the organizers that result in the need for longer breaks in between cohorts. The 2020-2021 cohort had a total of 30 participants (15 pairs) and we anticipate the 2022 cohort having roughly the same amount of participants. 37
WE
TOGETHER
• Angel Alexander • Araceli Moreno
• Daylily Alvarez • Grace Munoz
• Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez • Amir Rabiyah El-Chidiac
2020-2021 Participants • Olivia Baca • David Satten-Lopez
• Ellen Bae • Shawnta Smith Cruz
• Yoalis Cintron Sanchez • Denisse Solis
Thank you all for your time and
• Amanda De Oliveira Fogaca • Laura Tadena
energy! • Reanna Esmail • Jill Tokutomi
• Mar Gonzales Palacios • Chella Vaidyanathan
Special thanks to Aidy Weeks, • Talia Guzman Gonzalez • Anu Vedantham
Tarida Anantachai, and • Nancy Kirkpatrick • Alysia Verhagen
• Jess Koshi-Lum • Michele Wan
Charlotte Roh who consulted
• Amita Lonial • Desmond Wong
with us and helped us in the • Jessie Maimone • Kelli Yakabu
early development stage of • Tulip Majumdar
We Together. • Chelsea Misquith
38we
reads
Literature that nourishes us
39WE READS We Reads officially launched in 2021 through the recognition that an ongoing, living resource to help guide readers to significant works by and for folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, especially one curated by folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), was deeply needed. Project founder Nicholae Cline approached We Here with the project, in the hopes of leveraging the We Here community and their collective knowledge to create seasonal recommended reading lists, centering literature written for us, by authors like us. Throughout 2020, Nicholae and project organizers Jen Brown, Crystal Chen, and Charlotte Roh met to discuss the mission and vision for this project and were eager to gather literature reflecting BIPOC voices, rather than books reinforcing white and colonial lenses of mainstream publishing. We Reads is, first and foremost, about highlighting BIPOC voices in literature. It is also deeply personal and communal, and joyfully so: we read as our whole selves, bringing our identities and experiences with us when we enter the world of a story or poem. The works collected by We Reads and our member communities have resonated with, shaped, and nourished us, changing us in ways we might not yet understand and living inside us as we once chose to live inside them. Learn more at https://www.wehere.space/about-we-reads. 40
WE READS
Total titles: 273
Winter 2020 Collection Spring 2021 Collection
52 titles 69 titles
Autumn 2021 Collection Winter 2021 Collection
115 titles 96 titles
View them at https://www.wehere.space/current-collection
41WE READS SUPPORTING
INDEPENDENT
BOOKSTORES
We care just as much about supporting independent bookstores
as we do about supporting and uplifting BIPOC stories and work,
which is why we are a Bookshop.org affiliate. Bookshop.org is an
online bookstore with a mission to financially support local,
independent bookstores. As an affiliate, we get a very small
percentage of every book purchased through our We Reads
"Buy It" links. We also provide "Find it at your library" links for all
titles.
Online marketplaces have shown a severe lack of empathy for
humanity. We know major online marketplaces can get you what
you need very quickly (which sometimes puts workers in
danger), but we're hoping you'll consider investing in your
community by purchasing locally or from BIPOC-owned
42 businesses.EVENT ROUND UP
Public and private We Here events from 2021
43EVENT ROUND UP
Family Meeting: What's Good
with Library School? A discussion
about Library and Information
Science educational programs with
current students, potential
students, and library and archives
workers. Saturday, February 6, 2021.
The Lived Experiences of Library
Workers of Color Pursuing
Doctoral Degrees: A panel
discussion on doctoral education
and leadership in libraries.
Featuring Regina Gong, kYmberly
Keeton, Oscar Lanza-Galindo,
LeRoy LaFleur, & moderated by
Raymond Pun. March 5, 2021.
44EVENT ROUND UP
Family Meeting: Holding Space
for Grief and Power: Discussing
the Letter to Asian Diasporic
Library Workers [published by
up//root: a we here publication].
March 27, 2021.
We Got Us: BIPOC Mental Health
and Solidarity
Featuring Cecily Walker, Nisha
Mody, Amanda M. Leftwich, Alanna
Aiko Moore, Kaetrena Davis
Kendrick, Moderated by Annie Pho.
May 14, 2021.
45EVENT ROUND UP
Meet and Learn About The Green
Book for Libraries.
July 21, 2021.
46EVENT ROUND UP
"The Problem with Latinidad": A critical
discussion on the single narrative of
Latinidad, anti-Blackness and white
privilege, US imperialism, and Indigenous
erasure from the perspectives of library and
archives workers
With Cristina Fontánez-Rodríguez, Mario
Macías, Obden Mondésir, Yvette Ramírez,
Amanda Toledo, and Gabby Womack
The edited transcript will be published by
up//root: a we here publication in 2022.
This mission critical event was made possible
by our Patreon and Seed Circle communities.
47 Learn more at https://www.wehere.space/problem-with-latinidadEVENT ROUND UP Making Knowledge Justice were three book launch events (March and April 2021) celebrating the release of Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory edited by Sofia Y. Leung and Jorge López-McKnight, from MIT Press. Knowledge Justice is the first book-length text that utilizes Critical Race Theory in Library and Information Studies. With contributions from 29 Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color scholars, educators, and practitioners, the foundational principles, values, and beliefs of LIS in the U.S. nation-state are challenged, while also imaging possibilities for justice to be actualized in the here and now. The three events featured the following authors: Miranda H. Belarde-Lewis (Zuni and Tlingit), Jennifer Brown, Anastasia Chiu, Nicholae Cline (Coharie), Fobazi M. Ettarh, Jennifer A. Ferretti, Todd Honma, Sarah R. Kostelecky (Zuni Pueblo), Myrna Morales, Stacie Williams, Anthony Dunbar, Harrison W. Inefuku, Vani Natarajan, Sujei Lugo Vázquez, Shaundra Walker, Anne Cong-Huyen, Isabel Espinal, April M. Hathcock, Kafi Kumasi, Lalitha Nataraj, Antonia P. Olivas, Kush Patel, Torie Quiñonez, Maria Adoria Rios, Tonia Sutherland, and Rachel E. Winston. 48 Learn more at https://www.wehere.space/knowledge-justice
PAY US
We're normalizing paying folks who identify as
Black, Indigenous, or People of Color in Library
and Information Science Professions for their time
and labor.
Last year's Wrap Up featured a section called "Pay Us" which
recapped how much money We Here paid folks who identify
as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color who worked with us
throughout the year.
The following pages include the highlights.
49PAY US
Micro Grant Program
$30,396
Total donated to 7 organizations or projects and 30 individuals
who expressed need.
50PAY US
Community School
$18,827
Total paid to Community School instructional designers and
the part-time coordinator position.
51PAY US
Professional Services
$5,225
Total paid to folks who provided professional services,
including graphic design, legal work, accounting, publishing
and accessibility expertise, and an intern assisting with
communications and marketing.
52PAY US
Event Speakers
$2,800
Total paid to event speakers for events that were free for
attendees.
53PAY US
$89,428
Total donated or paid to folks for their time and expertise in
2021.*
*$13,055 was paid through the grant from SPARC for their
54 contributions to up//root: a we here publication.THANK YOU
FOR READING
We're incredibly grateful to our communities for all their support.
Community we WE
TOGETHER
The Community School
reads
Study
us@wehere.space @wehere.space @weherespace
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