The founders of the Feminist Research Institute created a brilliant vision with immense possibility. We are making good on their vision. We have something solid we can stand on that shows people what we are about. 

We have a robust training program, the Asking Different Questions program, where we train researchers to understand how histories of oppression are still impacting research today. That's not something many people know, and it's a real challenge. Once people know this, there are more possibilities. 

We have the Environmental Justice Leaders program where we pair people working on the frontlines with researchers to conduct research that helps to further community goals. That's given us some hands-on experience with the many challenges of community-university relations. We’ve made mistakes, but being willing to face these and talk about them is such an opportunity and has helped to make the programs something special. We've also been involved with and funded some amazing researchers over the years. 

What do we want to build on this solid foundation with our amazing friends and collaborators? We've grown a community and now we can dream together. This is the background for the new Strategic Plan, which will guide FRI in the next five years.

Overall, FRI’s new strategic plan has four main goals:

1. Expand the work we're doing with Asking Different Questions. Reach out to new fields and new audiences.
2. Continue to do community driven research and engage other projects that work to transform research culture into something more humanizing. We are well-positioned to help with radical cross disciplinary collaborations--not two adjacent disciplines, but vastly different fields. We know how to translate research and how to facilitate discussions across difference, including between researchers and community members who really need us to understand their needs and their solutions.
3. Return to our roots and support feminist research, especially in the humanities, humanistic social sciences, and arts. This means building appreciation for this work, seeking financial support, building community, and facilitating intellectual exchange.
4. Communicate effectively about our work. This starts with publishing research open access. We can't keep the amazing work that's happening here behind pay walls. Going further, we plan to translate our research and its importance through short videos and policy briefs. Alondra Nelson challenges us to get our research out to elected officials, government agencies, and policy influencers. Our voice is needed. 

When we made this plan, we didn't account for the future we are now facing. Our job is to continue pushing for systemic change, while also helping people to ensure their survival. Areas such as reproductive justice, abortion access, trans rights, migration, and economic justice need to be at the forefront. We need to work with our partners inside and outside academia to prevent harm. If systems are making people vulnerable, we show up to support and protect them under their direction. In other words, I don't get to decide what someone else needs. I show up in full integrity and humility to ask them how I can be of service. This leaves autonomy in their hands, where it belongs. 

You are invited to join us in the ambition to aid those who face attack while also addressing the systems that deem them attackable. To reshape systems of knowledge production from a system of elitism fueled by histories of oppression into a network of generative meaning based in relationality and attentive to positionality. In other words, a world where lived experience matters, where stories are valid data, and shared reality shapes analysis rather than numbers. If this, along with our values and mission resonate with you, please join the FRI Affiliates network. As an affiliate, you will be among the first we listen to and reach out to when forming new projects. Faculty and community affiliates are welcome. 

Read the the full Strategic Plan here. This will be a living document, and we look forward to your feedback and contributions.