Dear Coalition for Community Writing Listserv,
I’m writing on behalf of the Community Literacies Collaboratory (CLC) to advertise our virtual 2026 Summer Possibilities Hub, "The Black Gurl Reliable Toolkit."
This seminar invitation to Black girl stakeholders—educators, parents, scholars, caretakers, youthful and seasoned Black girls— is to expand our capacity to honor how Black girls know and grow. Through personal reflection, written and visual texts, and experimental exercises, we will explore reliability as both an ethical stance and a relational practice—a way of being present to Black girls that insists on us all showing up as people (not the roles we play), playful (not taking ourselves too seriously), curious (not pretending to have all the answers), and vulnerable—willing to show up unpolished and name where tenderness lives.
Over eight weeks, we will examine and rehearse Black girlhood as an “us” orientation.
Each week, we’ll gather to feel, analyze, move, discuss, reflect, pause, and shift. Our flow will be cypher/cyclical-like and consist of part reading/discussion salon, part movement meditation, part re‑visioning lab—where everyone enters as both learner and knowledge‑creator. Light homework prompts offer ways to keep the practice alive between meetings.
The hub will be facilitated by Dr. Dominique C. Hill (zo/she). Dr. Hill works at the intersections of art, storytelling, and embodied learning as a transdisciplinary artist and scholar exploring Black girlhood and Blackqueer intimacy through performance, writing, and community engagement, with a focus on vulnerability, identity, and transformation. Zo teaches and collaborates with students and communities while authoring books such as This Unruly Witness: June Jordan’s Legacy (2025) and Black Gurl Reliable (2025), and as a co-visionary of Hill L. Waters (HLW), a Blackqueer feminist collective, helps create spaces for connection and shared knowledge, grounded in somatic and trauma-informed practices that center care, choice, and participation.
The hub will take place July 20 – September 14 on Mondays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm CST/ 7:30 – 9:30 pm EST. The CLC provides reading materials free of charge to all participants. Seats are limited, so by registering, you’re committing to participate in all eight Hub sessions.
To register, please fill out the following form. Deadline to register is May 15.
with thanks,
Jackie Chicalese
Assistant to the CLC