Big news: Seed Groups and Topic Groups are open to Regenerate Cascadia members now. If there’s a place you want to organize around, or a practice you want to find other people for, you can start one this week.
A Seed Group is the simplest way to start organizing where you live. One person can start one, and there’s no money to manage. You tell us about your place in a short application, and our Community Steward helps you get set up. A Topic Group works the same way, except it gathers people around a practice that runs across landscapes (water, food, energy, education or finance, say) instead of around one place, and you can pick a topic from the list or propose a new one.
Every group gets a dedicated space in the Cascadian Community of Practice on Mighty Network, a page and tag on regeneratecascadia.org so its posts and events show up under its own name, an @regeneratecascadia.org email address, a shared Canva account, and help from our Community Steward getting set up and spreading the word about events.
We built this because a Landscape Group is a lot to take on at the start. It takes a team and a steady rhythm, and it has to be able to hold funds, which not every place is ready for on day one. A lot of good things here began with a few neighbors and a first meeting, and Seed Groups and Topic Groups give that first step a home. When a Seed Group has three or more people who meet regularly and are ready to hold funds, it can apply to become a Landscape Group under the Department of Bioregion’s 501(c)(3). Nothing requires that step.
The first public gathering for these groups is the 2027 Cascadia Kickoff Jam on Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific, on Zoom. The second half is breakout rooms for passions and projects, topics and landscapes, which is exactly where a new group can find its first few people. Come with an idea, or come to hear everybody else’s.
To start a group, join as a member (or sign in) and use the button on the Seed Groups or Topic Groups page. If you’d like to talk first, write to landscapes@regeneratecascadia.org and we’ll help you begin. We can’t wait to see what you plant!
Featured image: rows of lettuce on an Oregon farm. Photo: HessCreek / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
