Gatherings Reports
Inspired by The Gatherings screenplay, we have started the journey of bringing CCDF Gatherings to life. Here are some of the results!
Brooklyn, New York
January 23rd & 24th, 2026
Summary
Day One: The First Gathering Begins
Friday evening, January 23, 2026 — Brooklyn Army Terminal
Twelve participants, including three facilitators, gathered to explore a single question: “How might we begin to improve the quality of life for everyone in the neighborhood where we live?”
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The evening began with a shared meal and moved into the first round of the Co-Creating Desired Futures Deep Dive— a process where people speak one at a time, different perspectives are welcomed, and the facilitator reflects back what’s heard, recording it on chart paper.
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What emerged was a rich conversation about possibility and limitation: What can a small groupactually accomplish? Some saw clear limits; others pointed to history — small groups that sparked movements, ideas that spread far beyond their origins. The tension between wanting support and wanting collective action surfaced early, along with curiosity about what makes a Gathering different from other kinds of groups.
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Participants offered honest feedback: some appreciated being heard and the balance of voices; others felt the conversation was ’meta’ — like having a meeting about having a meeting. Many expressed a hunger for direction, for knowing where the train was going.
The evening closed with a question that would carry into Day Two: What is THIS Gathering about? And what might it become?
Day Two: Deepening and Discovery
Saturday, January 24, 2026 — Brooklyn Army Terminal
The group reconvened smaller — some from Friday evening couldn’t continue — and began with a two round check-in circle. Then a participant asked for a third round. In that unexpected opening, something shifted: someone who had passed twice before chose to speak, pouring out what they had been holding. This person’s courage deepened the room, and others followed with their own truths.
After reviewing Friday’s harvest and making corrections together, participants journaled on two questions: What would you like to walk away with by the end of the day? and What do you want to talk about, to arrive at that outcome? The answers revealed the room’s full range of longing: concrete hope, a committed group, protection for the undocumented, seeing one substantive conversation that moved through polarization,a way to break free from the steamroller of daily news. One voice named what many felt:
wanting everyone to feel heard about the things most important to them.
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Then the Deep Dive unfolded. Various initiatives and project ideas emerged: designing a support group format for finding hope in hard times; clarifying the structure and purpose of CCDF Gatherings; and — perhaps most striking — exploring “love strategies” for organizing. Love up Trump. Love up the ICE agents. Not naive sentimentality, but fierce questions: How do we see those we oppose as human? How do we deliver the medicine of love?
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Concerns were held alongside possibilities. Doubts were not suppressed but harvested: Some people would consider these solutions naive. Education can be used for good or bad. Larger questions crystallized: What configuration of a Gathering achieves change? How do we find ways to talk about those we fear with compassion?
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The day closed with three rounds of single words — tired, hopeful, annoyed, brighter, done, kindness, forgiveness, mad, justice, completion, grateful, thank you — the full spectrum of what it means to do this work together.
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One participant’s words from earlier in the day echoed as people prepared to return to their homes: “I am not leaving empty-handed.”
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​Links to the Harvests
Brooklyn Army Terminal
Friday evening, January 23, 2026 (awaiting permission from participants)
Saturday January 24, 2026 (awaiting permission from participants)
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Outcomes/Projects
1. Pamphlet: How to nourish ourselves in current times
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2. Protesting with love
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