Interactive Workshop Series
ExaminetheSystem.ChallengetheStructure.
A rigorous, facilitated learning experience for those who want to understand — and ultimately transform — the structures that produce inequality and exclusion.
The Premise
"Systems of power are not accidents. They are designed, maintained, and — when enough people understand how they work — they can be transformed."
The Abolitionist Challenge is not a lecture series. It is a structured inquiry — a set of tools, frameworks, and facilitated conversations designed to help participants move from observation to analysis to action.
Workshop Sessions
Sessions are offered individually or as a complete series. All workshops are facilitated live with structured discussion.
Foundations of Abolition
Trace the historical and theoretical roots of abolitionist thought — from chattel slavery to the carceral state. Understand the intellectual lineage that shapes contemporary movements.
Mapping Power & Exclusion
Develop frameworks for identifying how institutions reproduce inequality. Participants produce a structural analysis of a system of their choosing.
Transformative Justice in Practice
Move from critique to construction. Examine real-world models of community accountability, harm reduction, and restorative practice.
The Full Challenge Series
All seven workshop sessions, facilitated discussion groups, and access to the complete resource library. The complete learning arc.
Our Methodology
Not a lecture. A structured inquiry.
Each workshop session combines primary source readings, facilitated discussion, and structured analytical exercises. Participants leave with frameworks they can apply — not just language they can repeat.
The curriculum draws on abolitionist theory, critical legal studies, political economy, and community organizing practice. It is designed for people who want to understand systems deeply enough to change them.
Examine
Develop the analytical tools to identify how systems of power operate and reproduce themselves.
Understand
Trace the historical and theoretical roots of contemporary structures of exclusion.
Challenge
Engage with abolitionist and transformative justice frameworks for systemic change.
Transform
Apply your analysis to real contexts — your community, your institution, your work.
Participant Accounts
"The most rigorous and honest examination of systemic power I have encountered outside of a graduate seminar — and more practically useful than most."
Community Organizer, Chicago
Series Participant, 2024
"This workshop gave me the vocabulary and the framework to articulate what I had been observing for years. It changed how I do my work."
Public Defender, New Orleans
Foundations Participant, 2024
"Intellectually serious, politically grounded, and practically oriented. Rare to find all three in the same room."
Educator & Curriculum Designer
Series Participant, 2023
Begin the Work
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Sessions are limited in size to ensure substantive facilitated discussion. Individual workshops and the full series are available. Sliding scale pricing available upon request.