I support movement workers and organizations building a just transition.
I help cultivate more democratic collective process, shared power, and community safety through facilitation and digital security support.
About Me
My name is Janine Ko (they/them). I have been facilitating in movement spaces for the last 6 years, with deep experience in cooperatives and small non-profit organizations. I work in cooperation with a network of aligned facilitators through Goldenrod Facilitation Collective. I trained formally in abolitionist digital security practices with Palante Technology Cooperative, where I was a worker-owner for 3+ years.
I am also a young farmer based currently growing Cantonese vegetables and cut flowers in Beverly, MA.
Some seeds I can help tend:
Group & Meeting Facilitation
Whether it’s an annual staff retreat or a strategic planning process, I strive to create spaces that are participatory, accessible, and playful, while attending to power dynamics that often keep participants from showing up fully.
Anti-Oppression Training
I offer group trainings and one-on-one coaching to give workers the skills to identify and disrupt white supremacy and other systems of oppression, and root more deeply in their stated political commitments.
Digital Security Strategy
The internet is a tool for movement building. I can meet you where you’re at, whether that’s assessment of your org’s needs and challenges or implementation of better digital security practices and tools.
Facilitation
I approach facilitation as a way of watering our relationships with each other, and pollinating work of movement building! I think deeply about group dynamics, and I aim to co-create participatory, democratic, and joyful spaces for collective process. My approach is grounded in an intersectional power analysis, and I bring a warm, attentive style tailored to the needs of each group.
Retreat & meeting facilitation
I tailor agendas to the goals of each group in order to create spaces that invite full participation. This can look like a day-long staff retreat, a weekend of work planning, or a series of conversations designed to address specific challenges in the work.
Anti-oppression training
I design and facilitate spaces for workers at all levels to more deeply integrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive principles into their work. Participants leave with a clear understanding of white supremacy and other systems of oppression, as well as tools to disrupt and shift interpersonal and structural power dynamics.
Strategic planning
I help organizations chart roadmaps to guide their work for years to come. Usually this entails listening and information gathering sessions, robust discussion and visioning to create strategic priorities, followed by detailed work-planning.
Digital Security
I support movement workers and organizations striving to keep each other safe in digital space. I help seed digital security knowledge, strategy, and culture for movements growing more just and visionary futures.
My approach is guided by three core beliefs:
- Relationships keep us safe, not tools. Technology alone will not bring about liberation, but it can be a useful and necessary tool. I am guided and moved by abolitionist practices of mutual aid and community security in developing a culture where everyone has what they need to keep themselves and each other safe.
- Cooperation over competition. I believe that there is enough for all of us to thrive. This is why I orient towards a culture of abundance in sharing and open sourcing digital security strategy and knowledge where possible. I am also happy to work with collaborators, and make referrals where my expertise is limited.
- Harm reduction is my goal. Innovated by drug users in the US, this term describes a set of strategies to navigate different kinds of risk by sharing knowledge and information, working within our resource limitations, and grounding in shared political analysis. I encourage folks to learn more about the history and work of organizations like the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
Interested in working together?
I would love to hear from you!