For Grove House participants, anyone who resonates. Any young adult (21-32, with some leeway at the edges) who resonates with this work.

For Fellows, this is slightly more specific:

The Grove House Fellow thinks deeply, and is also deeply empathetic. The Grove House Fellow may hold complex views, and can understand nuance. The Grove House Fellow has typically pursued a 4-year degree of some kind, or its equivalent in rigorous artistic, creative, or related pursuits. If your path has been nontraditional, just demonstrate the other key areas and you’ll be fine.

Not at all! You can believe in something, but not know what it is. You can believe in nothing, but feel connected to this. You can be logic-first or heart-first or somewhere in between or none of the above. It’s all welcome.

Read this: defining spiritual

Study, connect, contribute. 

The day-to-day looks like: group and individual discussions, nature walks and museum tours, and some interactive lessons on a range of topics relevant to Grove House.

Other times it looks like: analog parties (digital-free gatherings at different venues), creative summits, films or plays, bookstores, games, restaurants, and more.

For virtual, it's short and relevant. For in-person, a full schedule is shared with participants at the outset. The Founding Fellows (what you’d submit an expression of interest for) are the first participants, and get invited to help organize future gatherings consistent with their skills and interests.

No, and you never have to share them at all. You can share some things with some people, and not with others. You can choose to just connect with the founder, team, or vice versa.

You can’t force depth, and Grove House doesn’t do that. Grove House just gives you space to. You decide when and how to be open to it.

“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.”—Lemony Snicket

The things that matter most tend to be things you aren’t ready for going in. You become ready for them. As you do them. Uncertainty and all, learning and doing and trying and failing and trying again.

You don’t have to be ready. You just have to be open.

A change space is different from a safe space, or a “brave” space.

Safe space: intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations. Safe spaces are about protection.

Brave space: intended to encourage challenging conversations over pure comfort. Brave spaces are about engagement.

Change space: intended to give rise to new perspectives, realizations, and realities through deep understanding, active consideration, emotional processing, rigorous discussion, and intentional application. A change space is about transformation.

Grove House is a change space.

Yes, but not in the traditional sense. Our activism is lived activism. It’s about learning, choosing, practicing, and how that then affects the impact you have in the world.

Sometimes, we do strategically organize behind-the-scenes to support or advance projects and outcomes consistent with what Grove House is about. When we do engage in this work, it is highly selective, and always a little different from the dominant narratives - focused on building forward, rather than fighting back, and ensuring our members are able to engage safely and ideally derive some benefit (experience, income opportunity, etc.) from doing so.

Issues we work on may include, but are not limited to: Nature Access & Environmental Health, Racial Repair & Justice, and Women’s Rights & Reproductive Justice.

In addition to its own work in these areas, Grove House may establish partnerships with organizations engaged in this work, and occasionally offer its members professional, academic, or similar opportunities to work at, learn from, or otherwise support these organizations.

Your presence. Your questions. Your authenticity. Your respect of others, and the space. 

Beyond that, there are three agreements all participants, fellows, and members agree to by joining anything related to Grove House:

1. Confidentiality - this is paramount. Everything that happens at Grove House, including things other members share, or even who members are, is strictly confidential. 

2. Non-Solicitation - Grove House is not a place for selling anything or getting clients. While Grove House Fellows are welcome (and encouraged) to network and support each other, under no circumstances is any member allowed to use Grove House as a way to solicit money, or sell or advertise services or products of any kind, to other Grove House members.

3. Respect - Grove House members agree to treat each other, the team, and the space with care and consideration. Grove House is a not a safe space, or a brave space. Grove house is a change space.

There is a monthly virtual meeting and a seasonal in-person meeting. While your participation is encouraged (that’s how we build community), there is no attendance requirement to maintain membership. 

On the contrary - there are continued opportunities to stay involved or get more out of it. But none of it is expected. Grove House is entirely voluntary - meaning you invest as much or as little time as you fit. 

The first group of participants, who will have the opportunity to help organize future cohorts, and from whom future potential members of the team would be invited.

Absolutely. What you say here, stays here. What you do here, stays here. The fact that you are here, stays here. This is the number one agreement all participants agree to, to protect the privacy of all members, and the genuineness of the space.

No - in fact, no one’s name or likeness is actively publicized, unless they are on the organizing team and explicitly want to be recognized, or consent to being in a group picture.

No. Grove House is not for profit. 

Grove House may have a number of business or nonprofit affiliates, but these relationships exist to provide our members with professional opportunities and exclusive benefits, as well as to help advance our broader goals. 

In other words - you might get a job, or a discount, or a friend, as part of your membership. But you won’t get a bill.

No, no, and no. Grove House is something new. It is fully independent, and doesn’t belong to anything else.

You can read a note from the founder here and learn about the duo leading the first cohort here.

Grove House operates on a “Contribute-what-you-can” model. This intentionally is different from “Pay-what-you-can”, because you can contribute things besides money. You can contribute presence - showing up is the most valuable contribution. You can contribute time. You can contribute energy. You can contribute art. You can contribute kindness. You can contribute good vibes. Literally - what you can contribute. Sometimes that’s money. Other times, it’s other things. 

We mean what we say here.

If financial investment is something you can afford, it goes a looooong way towards supporting the initiative. Thank you.

There is no expected amount, but here’s a reference: 

• A small museum or art gallery typically has a $20-$30 entry ticket fee

• Membership in a small, non-profit advocacy network typically ranges from $500 - $5,000 per year, depending on ability to pay

If you would like to provide a larger gift, you can sponsor specific events, retreats, or the initiative itself more broadly. While we are not currently a registered non-profit entity and cannot provide tax exemption on donations, your early support enables us to pursue this classification and provide tax exemption in the future.

For those who cannot contribute financially, no one is going to make you feel like you should, or even mention it (non-solicitation is one of our few agreements and all our agreements apply to everyone - see “What is expected of participants?”). Again, contribute-what-you-can, not what you can’t.

Submit an expression of interest here. More on that below.

A good letter gives a small sense of who you are right now, at this point in time. Almost like a snapshot or written portrait. A good letter is honest, and thorough, and addresses each item of the prompt - but it doesn’t need to read beautifully or be polished.

You’ll notice in the upload that it accepts non-text files - like video or audio or even powerpoint. This is intentional: your letter doesn’t even have to be a written letter. It can be a stream of consciousness audio, a video, a powerpoint, a work of art. It just has to answer all the questions in a clear/direct enough way.

You should feel as much freedom to express yourself with this letter as you need. All forms of letter will be assessed equally - there are no extra points for having done a video or having stuck to a letter. Just do what’s right for you. Let yourself have fun with it.