I'm Savanna Lyons, a researcher, community organizer, nonprofit leader and coach based in southern Appalachia. I've led organizations focused on social change, civic engagement, advocacy and community development for over 15 years. Locally I've organized dozens of grassroots campaigns around health equity and economic justice, built youth organizing programs, organized a statewide sustainable food coalition, run workforce development programs in food and green energy, and directed two successful statewide advocacy nonprofits. Nationally I've organized large-scale relational GOTV campaigns. Currently I help lead the national association of worker-owned cooperatives and democratic workplaces.

I am also working on a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. My research is advised by Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess. Learn more about her amazing work here.

What drew me to this work

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that trust is everything. Over the years, trying to help people take action together has sometimes left me with more questions than answers. There's nothing more heartbreaking that building an amazing community coalition and having it all fall apart when one trusted leader moves away. Or living in a limited resource community where no one trusts each other enough to unite their causes, because everyone is so scared of losing what they have. Or watching a well-funded organization fail to carry out their mission because they don't trust the community and the community doesn't trust them. If you're someone who has done community organizing, community development, civic engagement, or coalition-building work, I'm willing to bet that you have experienced these things too.

Meanwhile, studies show that Americans are growing less and less trusting of each other. Some political scientists, like Robert Putnam, think that waning trust has a lot to do with widening political divides in the U.S. and our inability to reach agreement on everything from policy to social issues. Of course, there are other factors involved too, like widening inequality. But if we can't come together across differences, how will we be able to change that?

Is there a way to think differently, to act differently, to meet each other differently, to fight the rising tide of mistrust? Can these practices be learned? When I had the chance to go back to school to study adult learning, that's what I wanted to find out. I wanted to know how people learn to trust, to distrust, and to build trust with each other. That's how I came to the idea of studying people who are very good at building trust across differences, and how they learned to do what they do.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts, stories, dreams, questions, critiques and ideas, about trust. I hope you'll join me on this journey!

Below are photos from some projects I've helped organize in the past few years:

1. Lobbying with diabetics and their friends & families to cap insulin drug prices

2. Student solidarity action in support of teachers and public schools

3. Door-to-door canvassing to talk to neighbors about their experiences with healthcare

4. Biannual Worker Cooperative Conference bringing together 600+ members of worker-owned cooperatives and democratic workplaces