Dear community,

 

I’m Rowa, Platform’s new Managing Director. I have accepted this position after supporting Platform as a program manager for 2 years. I joined Platform while I was deeply entrenched in community work during the pandemic. Like many organizations, we had a lot of challenges sustaining our staff, programming, and work. I am grateful for the role I’ve been able to take in supporting advocacy and education with the Healing Together project and Black Muslimahs. I’ve been thinking about how we can return to meaningfully work with Black, Indigenous and Racialised people, and deepen our work with Queer people and communities. I look forward to reapproaching our principles with intention and responsibility. We have an all new small but amazing team working on getting us back on track after a period of focus on internal operations, reflection, and readjustment! 

 

In the face of growing challenges—freedoms eroding, ongoing violence and injustice—we are more committed than ever to being a mobilizing center for community and civic engagement. 2024 is a critical year. Young women, femmes, gender diverse folks are organizing and are often at the forefront of movements for collective care, well-being and liberation of oppressed peoples and vulnerable communities. We have a commitment to continue creating unconventional opportunities for people excluded from leadership and decision making conversations to build their capacity to influence change for their communities. Our intention is to empower youth  to feel like they have power to mobilize locally, nationally and in solidarity with global struggles for liberation. I hope we can fulfill that commitment with our upcoming projects.

 

I reflect on the strength we’ve found together and the challenges that lie ahead. We remain in solidarity with the plight for freedom, peace and justice around the world, and notably in Palestine. In this critical juncture, the world is increasingly dim, and we decide to face injustice, with love, knowledge and hope. 

 

“I have been thinking about the notion of perfect love as being without fear, and what that means for us…”, bell hooks

 

That is what we are aiming to do – working in solidarity with Black, Indigenous, and racialized young women and gender-diverse individuals towards a world without fear. Towards collective liberation through unique ways of engagement and action. Please look forward to workshops, discussions, events, and more educational initiatives on our platforms. 

 

I wish you a courageous start of 2024, in power and resilience. We look forward to staying in contact with you, and building together.

 

In solidarity,

Rowa

Managing Director, Platform