Signpost
Sessions
The best community learning starts by noticing what's actually happening before trying to change it.
Apply for Spring 2026A six-month community learning series
The Signpost Sessions are InitiatED's primary community learning structure — a six-month series organized around historical and contemporary figures who modeled literacy as liberation. Each "signpost" anchors a module of collective inquiry.
This is not a course. There are no grades, no certificates, no right answers. It is a structured space for practitioners — educators, organizers, neighbors, advocates — to witness together before acting together.
The arc
SEE
Weeks 1–8 · Jan–FebCollect lived experiences of burden, burnout, and structural struggle across contexts and regions.
Not a complaint dump. Witnessing with equanimity — holding both the struggle and the possibility. We see before we act.
SENSE
Weeks 9–16 · Mar–AprBuild shared frameworks for understanding and responding to what was witnessed.
Making meaning together from what we've seen. Finding the patterns, naming the forces, building the language to talk about what's happening.
SHOW
Weeks 17–24 · May–JunDevelop capacity for collective action and public-facing work.
The understanding we've built becomes something we can share, teach, and act on. Not performance — demonstration. The work shown to the world.
Small drops.
Steady practice.
The Signpost Sessions are designed for people with full lives. No week requires more than you can give. Engagement is layered — a Signal message if that's all you have, a deeper blog post if you want it, a Thursday call if you can make it.
An image, quote, or provocation in Signal. Something to sit with.
A question or resource that deepens Tuesday's drop.
Optional. Recorded. Come when you can.
A question to carry into the weekend.
Published to the site and cross-posted. The thread that connects us.
Design principles
Start with witnessing,
not solutions
Resist the urge to fix before you see. The most powerful thing we can do first is notice — together.
Historical signposts
as anchors
Abstract concepts become real when grounded in real stories. Septima Clark taught us that. So did Freire, SNCC, the Highlander Folk School.
Multiple
entry points
Signal for quick engagement. Blog for depth. Calls for connection. No single way is the right way.
Privacy-first
infrastructure
Signal for conversation. No surveillance of participation. We won't track you to serve you.
Scaffolded
engagement
Don't require everything at once. Trust builds slowly. So does community.
Cooperative
facilitation
No single leader. Rotating facilitation. The community shapes its own direction.
Ready to join?
Connect with us and tell us a little about your work. We'll be in touch about the next cohort.