By Magdalena and Wed
We began our internship at WATER, the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, in Silver Spring, Maryland, in October 2024, traveling all the way from Germany.
WATER is a non-profit educational center and public charity in Silver Spring that focuses on feminist work in religion. As an alliance, WATER has built a growing network of scholars, ministers, and activists around the world who are committed to engaging theological training and scholarship in the service of social change. We offer free digital programs in which we promote and teach about empowerment, justice, peace, and systemic change.
As interns, we engage in various tasks from fundraising to planning programs, initiating independent projects, and reviewing books. Mostly, we assist with writing and editing projects such as WATERtalks, WATERrituals, WATERmeditations, WATERteas, WATERcast, and the WATERwheel newsletters, journal, web articles, books, and presentations. We are responsible for maintaining our website and all our social media platforms.
Since working for WATER these last 6 months, we have gained new experiences, sharpened our skills, and expanded our knowledge to further create meaningful social change in the future.
As a Mary’s Pence Grantee, WATER was invited to attend the Mary’s Pence Grantee Gathering in the Fall of 2024 in Minnesota. The Gathering brought together a diverse group of nonprofit organizations, each doing incredible work to uplift and empower communities across the U.S. Fortunately, Mary’s Pence made this experience possible for both of us and welcomed us warmly. One of the organizations that we connected to at this event was the National Equal Justice Association (NEJA). They invited us to participate in their Leadership Training in March 2025. We accepted with pleasure.
NEJA is an all-volunteer non-profit working with grassroots people and locally based self-help organizations to combat patterns of injustice. During the Grantee Gathering, we became curious about the different types of organizing that can help nonprofits grow and expand. We were especially interested in how NEJA’s methods could be adapted to enhance the community organizing at WATER. With this in mind, we hopped on a flight to San Francisco to participate in NEJA’s Leadership Training, excited to bring back useful tools and knowledge for our work at WATER and our activism back home in Germany.
During an intensive and immersive five-day training, we deepened our understanding of NEJA’s mission, history, and ways of organizing. We learned about their campaign to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Their approach to organizing is personal and intended to reach low-income workers and small businesses. For example, during San Francisco State University outreach sessions, we observed how to pitch a campaign to students and faculty. We observed how to address people’s different needs and concerns and effectively maintain meaningful contact with the people we engage with. This is crucial in sustaining long-term relationships and support for causes.
We were also introduced to new canvassing techniques, including poster canvassing at local businesses. This experience taught us the importance of outreach, respecting people’s time, space, and resources. The “arms-length” approach—engaging people without being overly intrusive—was a valuable lesson, especially for us as we seek to build respectful, collaborative relationships with the communities with which we work.
During our evening sessions, we gained insight into Strata and Systemic organizing, which focuses on connecting different layers of community involvement and understanding how to reach out to young people effectively. We discovered how to share knowledge with the next generations to continue the battle for social and equal justice. Ultimately, this taught us how to connect with and uplift local communities.
One of the most memorable days included a hike on San Bruno Mountain, where we participated in a volunteer activity and a press conference to protect the Guadalupe Quarry from industrial building projects and reclaim it for the community. This concrete opportunity to support communities and small organizations in their fight for equal justice gave us new ideas on how to support local projects.
On our last day in San Francisco, we had the chance to explore the city and have dinner with our friends from EIRENE, the German peace group of which we are a part. They work at a shelter in Fremont, California. This was a great finale to our stay in San Francisco.
All in all, this was a valuable training with many learning possibilities and volunteer opportunities. We are grateful to have met so many great volunteers from NEJA. We are in contact with some of them now and have invited them to DC to get a grasp of the work that we do at WATER. We wish NEJA well on their dedicated work.
Special thanks to Mary’s Pence for facilitating this collaboration and to NEJA for offering this learning experience!
We are excited to implement parts of what we have learned about community organizing in WATER’s future work!