Welcome BPF's Newest Hire!
Today we want to celebrate and welcome our new Co-Director of Programming & Partnerships, Kate Johnson!
Early this summer we announced an open hire for a full-time co-director of programming & partnerships role. We were floored to receive over a hundred applicants with an array of brilliance reflecting the jewel of our mahasangha. Through this hire, we had an opportunity to further refine our process and practices to align with our values. Thank you all who responded to the call to conspire together and please stay close as we find ways to weave together.
Dear friends of BPF,
It makes me smile to think of you reading this newsletter – checking in to see what’s up with Buddhist Peace Fellowship, still in its soft re-emergence after a couple years of big transition, deep reflection, and behind-the-scenes structure, policy, and culture work.
I’ve had the honor of practicing with some of you in BPF’s earlier incarnations, when I helped design online programs, organize Dharma and Direct Action trainings, and facilitate Block, Build, Be retreats as part-time staff.
I love that you are still here, reading, wondering, and waiting to see what will happen next. That’s certainly where I was a couple of months ago when I saw the announcement that BPF was hiring a Co-Director of Programs and Partnerships, to join its two existing co-directors – in caring for the organization and, along with the board, shaping this next phase of BPF’s journey.
I feel so lucky that I get to serve Buddhist Peace Fellowship in this way – and by extension the movements it resources and amplifies.
I’m stepping into this new role with experience, excitement, and humility. I came to Buddhism in my early 20’s, disillusioned from my involvement with activist communities, and I encountered BPF in my mid 30’s, disenchanted from experiences in Buddhist sanghas. It quickly became a most beloved home, and a place where I learned to trust in the power of community again. The people I worked with closely – Dawn Haney, Katie Loncke, LiZhen Wang and Chika Okoye -- remain some of my most influential teachers in the realm of spirituality and politics.
So, yes, it feels good, and wild, and like a huge deal to enter into this co-directorship. As I’ve immersed myself in the results of the community listening survey, the turning wheel archives (now digitized and soon to be shared!), conversations with board members and teachers and my rad new colleagues, one thing has become abundantly clear: in its 40+ year history, BPF’s programs have always reflected the individual and collective brilliance of its co-directors and core staff. As we slowly (and potentially awkwardly!) return to public offerings, this new team will certainly slide, stumble, and sashay our way into our own unique contributions to this movement towards collective liberation – with reverence for those who have come before us. We thank you for being here for the ride. It is our deep intention to be of benefit to your activism and your practice, to your mind and heart and all your relationships.
We care so much about BPF’s legacy – the beauty and strengths we can build on, and the mistakes we might yet acknowledge and make right.
We are so tenderly hopeful about its future, and honored we get to help shape it – hopefully, alongside many of you.
With heart warm and hands ready,
Kate Johnson
Co-Director, Programs and Partnerships
