Date: Friday, March 5, 2027 

Time: 12:00PM-4:00PM CT

Instructors: Danielle Ayers and Vahisha Hasan

This interactive and practical workshop will explore how womanist thought offers a transformative framework for building political power, cultivating leaders, and organizing for social change for communal flourishing. Drawing from the work of womanist scholars and Black women freedom fighters such as Katie Cannon, Delores S. Williams, Kelly Brown Douglas, Yolanda Pierce, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ida Bell Wells- Barnett, Anna Julia Cooper, Paulie Murray, and others, participants will examine how womanist wisdom, community care, and collective liberation shape effective organizing.

Sacred womanist organizing asks: Who is being left behind? Whose bodies bear the brunt of public polices and laws? How do we build sustainable movements? How do we cultivate leadership that is accountable, innovative, and collaborative? Participants will explore the relationship between faith, justice, and political power, while learning practical strategies for organizing that centers the voices and experiences of those most impacted by injustice.

Grounded in the rich traditions of Black women who have organized families, churches, neighborhoods, and movements for generations, this workshop challenges participants to see organizing not simply as a political strategy, but as a spiritual practice.

Participants will:

• Understand the core principles of womanist thought and their relevance to community organizing and advocacy.

• Explore how race, gender, and class shape organizing strategies.

• Learn how relationship-building and storytelling strengthen movements.

• Examine historical and contemporary examples of womanist leadership in action.

• Develop practical tools for organizing that build both power and beloved community.

Danielle Ayers

Rev. Dr. Danielle Ayers, a scholarvisit, policy and program strategist, national consultant, international justice advocate, author, content creator, and ordained clergy, holds a significant role as the Pastor of Justice at Friendship-West (Dallas, TX), a position of leadership and influence in the community, pastored by Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III.

Rev. Ayers leads the church’s public policy efforts, legislative agendas, and justice initiatives. Through spiritual formation, Christian education, and various trainings, she prepares the congregation and community to mobilize and organize around critical issues of economi, food, gender, and environmental justice. Ayers also gives leadership to FW’s Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program legal clinic, racial justice work, various civic engagement initiatives, and the immigration/southern Texas border crisis. Ayers provides advocacy and organizing training, preparing the congregation to live their faith in public life to address systemic and systematic racism in institutions and social structures. She is also the host and content creator of Fannie Lou’s Classroom, a podcast dedicated to facilitating conversations at the intersection of race, theology, and the public life.

Additionally, Ayers specializes in developing comprehensive justice initiatives to foster inclusivity and equity. Her approach is deeply rooted in understanding the unique needs of each community, ensuring that initiatives are both impactful and sustainable. By leveraging her extensive experience in advocacy and activism, she helps churches and organizations navigate the complexities of social justice work effectively.

As a consultant, Rev. Ayers plays a crucial role in facilitating sessions at churches nationwide, offering practical tools to decolonize state-side and international mission trips and construct justice ministries. She also conducts racial justice workshops and leads cohorts in creating and implementing actions that transform relationships across racial lines that lead to spiritual and social change. Additionally, she offers strategic planning for faith-based organizations and churches, helping them to align their missions with justice-oriented goals.

As the Pastor of Justice, Ayers builds strong coalitions and develops partnerships with like-minded individuals and organizations seeking a just and equitable society. Rev. Ayers serves as the Co-convener of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc., and a delegate to the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race. Ayers also serves as a board member on the following boards: Southern Sector Rising and the Faith Cooperative Federal Credit Union, and former board member of Texas Impact, Faith In Texas and President Jimmy Carter’s New Baptist Covenant.

Rev. Ayers’s dedication to justice work is unwavering. She imparts theoretical and practical teachings that empower individuals to take actionable steps to engage on with political systems, from municipalities to the federal government. Her holistic approach ensures that these efforts are not only spiritually enriching but also socially transformative. Her courage, commitment, and consistent work for justice have been recognized through several awards and accolades.

Rev. Ayers holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from The University of Memphis, Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, and a Doctrate of Ministey from Southern Methodist University Perkins School of Theology where she was a Baugh Scholar. As is also a former Better Together Fellow at the King Center in Atlanta, GA. Rev. Ayers is the co-author of To Serve This Present Age: Social Justice Ministries in the Black Church and Reimainhing the Bible Belt. She has written peer reviewed papers:America, Your Prescription is Ready, and It Starts in the Mind: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Call to Move from Transactional Conformist to Transformed Nonconformist. Ayers is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

 

Vahisha Hasan

Vahisha Hasan is a social impact strategist and wellness practitioner moving at the intersections of faith, social justice, and mental health. She is a powerful public speaker, transformative facilitator, trainer, and writer with a deeply prophetic voice and imagination for how movement and faith communities can be an active part of healing and collective liberation.

Vahisha's passion is providing supportive tools for wellness for those who labor in freedom and liberation. She is the Steward of Care for Wildseed Society - offering Revolutionary After Care for those who labor on behalf of freedom and worker owner in our WildSeed Wellness Cooperative, a core team member of Christians for a Free Palestine - coordinating the Spiritual and Community Care team, and she is board chair of Transform Network - a progressive Christian organization that resources on the ground social impact efforts.

She also serves as an associate minister at Christ Missionary Baptist Church, under Rev. Dr. Gina Stewart, Senior Pastor, where Vahisha was licensed and ordained June 23, 2019.

Vahisha holds a dual Master’s of Divinity and Master’s of Mental Health Counseling with an Education Specialist Certification from Gardner-Webb University and a bachelor’s degree in Communications with a concentration in Interpersonal Organization from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

In addition to penning book reviews, journal articles, online publications, and writing an Applied Psychology bachelor’s curriculum, she has curated and co-edited three editions of Resipiscence: A Lenten Devotional for Dismantling White Supremacy, 2018-2020 with Rev. Nichola Torbett. Her 4th book was published in 2023, curated and co-edited with Rev. Anne Dunlap, Building Up A New World: Congregational Organizing for Transformative Impact and was the 2025 church wide read for the United Church of Christ.

Vahisha is deeply grateful for her wife, Ash Love, our cat Pancake, and is her best self in community; biological, chosen, and movement family. You can find her moving to the end of her own rainbow in the US South and on the internet as @vahishahasan.