Working Groups
Our Working Groups are capacity-sharing collaborations that contribute to Next Step Cohort members’ projects, build towards our vision, and grow the experience and praxis of Network members. Working Groups are composed of members from all different disciplines (grassroots organizing, planning, policy, research, communications, and more) and combine members’ lived and learned experiences in joint knowledge production.
In 2025, members collaborated to design 3 new Working groups, aligned with the interests and needs of Next Step Cohort members:
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This group is developing guidance for communities considering shared equity and community ownership approaches to housing, land stewardship, and Land Back / rematriation.
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This group is generating a visioning and planning approach for residents who are interested in relocation together as a group, alongside a community-based organization.
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This group is developing guidance for funders on how to better organize funding to support communities facing climate displacement and developing tools to help community partners navigate the funding landscape.
Get Involved: Want to learn more or join a Working Group? Reach out here!
Better Buyouts Working Group
We are also hosting a fourth collaborative working group in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, CH Consulting, and The Nature Conservancy. The Better Buyouts Working Group is convening a circle of practitioners with direct professional experience with home buyout programs, a circle of community leaders with lived experience or community organizing experience around home buyouts, and a circle of learners and advisors to produce knowledge products to improve home buyout programs and collectively respond to the rapidly evolving federal political landscape.
Get Involved: Are you a community member or a practitioner looking to share your experiences with home buyouts, learn from others, and collaborate to improve buyout programs? Please fill out this short form, and we will follow up with you!