The Next System Convergences

In 2025, we have gathered together in two Next System Convergences: The first of these took place April 4th and 5th and the second took place on Sept 3rd and 4th. With each Convergence, we have shown something about the breadth and depth of who we are together, and of what we already know. We have also honed our skills and focused our energies for the community building and field building work ahead.

On the first day of each of these two gatherings we held a “Forum on the Next System,” featuring the work of the organizations and communities partnering in this process. Each partner offered one or more sessions about their next system work. A wide range of topics covered have included the, constitutional change, prison and police abolition, ecological economics, the union movement, nonviolent resistance, and much more.

On the second day of each Convergence we held a “Next System Teach-In Organizing Conference” dealing with the practice and the theory of organizing a Next System Teach-In. Sessions at these conferences have discussed important questions like “What is a Teach-In?,” “Your Local Coalition: Building Solidarity,” “How to Organize Wall-to-Wall,” “Diversity in Learning and Participation,” “Fundraising and List-Building,” “Students, Faculty, Staff, Community United,” and, “After Your Teach-In.”