AORTA is a worker-owned cooperative devoted to strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy. We work as consultants and facilitators to expand the capacity of cooperative, collective, and community based projects through education, training, and planning. We base our work on an intersectional approach to liberation because we believe that true change requires uprooting all systems of oppression.
For more on our framework, check out our Theory of Change.
We recognize that our process is political. We strive to enact and model our principles and vision through our processes.
We both benefit from and are harmed by systemic oppression. We will be forgiving of each other and create space for honest, deep engagement and communication, both within AORTA and within broader movements.
We value intimacy, depth, and trust in our work together and intentionally keep AORTA small as one way of enacting this value.
The work is not the workshop. Social justice work and movement building is life work and it is hard work. It requires many actions and strategies.
In our workshops, we strive for participants to experience personal transformation, yet to advance powerful movement building we anchor our approach in systemic, cultural, and organizational transformation.
We stand in solidarity with all struggles that uphold collective liberation and cooperation. Our lives and our work are dedicated to struggles and movements that build power and are rooted in racial, gender, economic, environmental, and disability justice; trans and queer liberation; anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism.
We believe that individuals and organizations can be transformed. Changes that happen quickly risk being superficial or temporary. Significant change often comes slowly and always requires effort.
We assume our own power and maintain our humility. We honor the contributions of future generations along with those of our elders, political ancestors, and contemporaries.
Our movements need as many leaders as possible. We prioritize leadership development of young people and communities who are and have been most directly affected by oppression and colonization.
Systems of oppression that target our communities are constantly changing shape, strategy and tactic. Concurrently, our collective capacity for understanding this systemic harm is also always changing. To address both conditions, we maintain a commitment to constantly challenging and building our political analysis and approach in a spirit of emergence and responsiveness.
As advocates of healing and disability justice, economic justice, and feminism, we believe that running a cooperative business demands that we center care for self, others, and community. Running a business and working collaboratively are challenging and rewarding; we will make extraordinary efforts to support mental, emotional, and physical health and well-being by encouraging each other to create and practice realistic workloads in order to sustain long-term involvement.