Beyond Comfort: Grassroots Mobilization, Dignity, and the Courage to Listen
Presented by Montessori for Social Justice
Sunday, February 14, 2027
2:30-4:30 pm
A Two-Hour Interactive Workshop on Local Organizing, Community Engagement, and Transformative Action Through a Montessori Fourth Plane Lens
Join us for a powerful two-hour interactive workshop exploring grassroots, local, and community-based organizing through the lenses of dignity, equity, belonging, and transformative engagement. Grounded in Montessori fourth plane pedagogy and the concept of the prepared adult, this session invites participants to examine how authentic community mobilization begins with presence, listening, humility, and relationship-centered action.
Together, we will explore what it means to practice dignity in action — creating spaces where individuals and communities feel valued, heard, respected, and meaningfully included — while also embracing the discomfort that often accompanies meaningful dialogue, trust-building, and social change.
Through reflective discussion, collaborative activities, and community-centered exploration, participants will consider how to engage constructively in spaces both aligned and unaligned with their perspectives, recognizing that sustainable grassroots transformation requires courage, accountability, and deep investment in local communities.
Ideal for educators, organizers, nonprofit leaders, Montessori practitioners, advocates, civic leaders, and community members committed to equitable, human-centered engagement and collective well-being.
*This session is not part of the official conference but you can add this workshop on for no charge.
Regina Dyson
Regina Dyson is a lifelong organizer, educator, and advocate whose 35-year journey has been rooted in community, justice, and access to quality education and human development. She discovered Montessori in 1992 at an Afro-centered school in Atlanta, an experience that shaped her commitment to creating learning environments where freedom, dignity, and belonging are central.
Over the years, Regina has worn many hats in the education and Montessori landscape - Executive Director, HOS, classroom assistant, after school coordinator, summer camp co-director, consultant, and developmental coach - each role deepening her expertise in organizational transition, program design, parent partnership, and community building. Since 2023, she serves as Board Chair and President of Montessori for Social Justice and works closely with schools and organizations as instructional and admin coach, with an emphasis on program development, capacity-building, and equitable practices.
Passionate about justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (JEDIB), Regina works to advance intergenerational coalition building, restorative justice, adolescent leadership, cooperative enterprise, and environmental stewardship - always centering the power of education to transform lives and communities.
Regina possesses a comprehensive background encompassing Communication, Organizational Development, Human Resources, and Project Management, with extensive experience primarily within the non-profit sector, alongside consulting and coaching engagements with professionals, creatives, and startups. She is also a parent of three, ages 31, 25 and 20, and now GiGi to a grandson!