The Movement Pantry framework and tool was originally developed in 2020 by Deepa Iyer at Building Movement Project and Trish Tchume, a social and racial justice advocate.

Reflect back on the first few months of the pandemic in 2020. Many of us responded by stocking up on nonperishable foods we thought we might need to see us through the coming weeks (and months). At home, we put away those staple items that would last a long time but continued to build our meals around the fresh food in the fridge. Then, every few weeks, we felt the need to return to the store and get more items for the week ahead. Meanwhile, the pantry we had already stocked stayed full – and sometimes, forgotten.

In movement spaces, we do something similar. We operate from a place of scarcity and smallness that can lead to competition, gatekeeping, hoarding, and defensiveness. We often feel the urgency to invent new frameworks and analyses and to innovate solutions and narratives, particularly in times of crisis. We tend to scold our collective selves for not being prepared enough or organized enough. We ignore or dismiss the lessons we have learned, the relationships we have fostered, and the readiness of the general public to the narratives and ideas we have been building over time.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 uprisings for racial justice, the most recent global movements in solidarity with Palestine, and the 2024 election cycle are testing us in ways we could never have imagined. Many of us are naturally seeking out fresh ideas and tools to respond to these unprecedented times. Meanwhile, many of the relationships, institutions, tools, and bold ideas that we have cultivated over the past several years or even decades – our movement pantry, if you will – are revealing their hardiness and their versatility.

Your movement pantry might be the place to start to gather the ingredients and staples you stored away for a time like this. You might discover that its shelves contain the building blocks for your sustenance – not just in this moment, but for the long run. Find the framework and tool here.

In this Instagram Live, hear from Deepa Iyer and Trish Tchume, the creators of the Movement Pantry framework, about how they came up with it, how they use it, and how it can be coupled with the Social Change Map.