New Reports: Stories and Resources of Relationship-Based Reparations
We are excited to share two remarkable reports from Headwater People that document real stories of people stepping into the messy, beautiful work of relationship-based reparations.
The first report, “Growing Repair: Planting Seeds of Love,” documents the journeys of the Sisterhood and Ripples—two cohorts where white women with wealth and Black women engaged in relational reparations, combining financial redistribution with deep relationship-building. (Our executive director, June Wilson, is in the Sisterhood!) The report shares the genesis of the cohorts and features personal stories of some of their participants to paint a vivid picture of how this experience has transformed their lives and perspectives.
The second report, “Weaving Reparative Futures: The Power of Returning Resources to Black and Indigenous Women,” tells the story of Threshold Philanthropy’s Liberated Leadership Cohort. Facilitated by Compton Fellow CC Gardner Gleser (also a Sisterhood member), this initiative returned significant financial resources to Black and Indigenous women leaders with no strings attached, creating space for these women to breathe, dream, and lead on their own terms.
Both reports highlight a crucial insight: true repair work happens through relationships, not just transactions. Through intimate storytelling, they reveal how participants experienced profound healing and connection while navigating tensions, miscommunications, and complex emotions around money and race.
The reports demonstrate that relational reparations is not a replacement for structural reforms, but it is “the mental, emotional, ancestral, and spiritual work required to prepare the soil so that systemic reparations can grow and flourish in the future.” In doing so, they offer a roadmap for individuals and organizations seeking authentic paths toward repair and reconciliation.
Growing Repair: Planting Seeds of Love
Thankful for the voices and stories shared in The Sisterhood and Ripples
Read the ReportOur Story: Weaving Reparative Futures
The Power of Returning Resources to Black and Indigenous Women
Read the Report