Issue Area Circles

We invite you to deepen your engagement in local social issues alongside a vibrant community of values-driven individuals. Our program is designed to help you learn how to approach complex challenges and move towards constructive action while applying a social justice, systemic, and racial justice lens to difficult issues.


Through this program, you’ll learn to identify and participate in multiple approaches to take concrete action—both individually and collectively. Most importantly, you'll be part of building a lasting community of informed, action-oriented partners for social justice.

How it Works

Issue Area Circle are open to Full Circle Fund members. Membership is open to everybody, and we strive to create a diverse and inclusive community and offer scholarships for applicants. To learn more about member benefits check out our membership page.

  • Each circle will be comprised of 5-6 members and 1-2 circle chairs, and will focus on one of four issue areas:

    • Housing

    • Economic Inequality

    • Education

    • Climate Change & Justice

    Your circle will be the primary group of folks you collaborate, learn, and take action with during the member cohort cycle.

  • Over the course of 4 months you’ll attend 8 in-person sessions that will be facilitated either by Full Circle Fund staff or your circle chair using the curriculum and agendas we’ve designed. There will be 1-2 hours of pre-work required between sessions.

    Sessions Overview:

    • Sessions 1-3: Kickoff with your cohort! Work with your circle to identify a problem you want to explore further and begin creating a map of the causes, stakeholders, relationships, and power structures (racism, sexism, etc) that impact it.

    • Sessions 4 - 6: Learn all about collective action - an action taken together by a group of people working towards a shared goal. Put it into practice with your circle and finally, design a collective action plan focused on your issue area.

    • Session 7: Present your collective action plan to the rest of the cohort for feedback and complete it before the closing session.

    • Session 8: Celebrate all of your hard work and make a plan for staying involved after the cohort wraps.

  • This is a 4-month program and you can expect to spend ~8-10 hours a month. An example of what a week in this program might look like:

    • 1.5 hours: Pre-Work for session

    • 1.5 hours: Session