The Coco Canary Newsletter
September 2026
Summary:
Read some exciting updates about current and past projects, upcoming workshops (including the new Arts-Based Evaluation Methods: Collage workshop), and, as always, a social justice grounding & calls to action.
A Social Justice Grounding & Calls to Action
News
- Fourteen activists plead not guilty in anti-ICE case (MSR)
- ‘My family needs justice’: Relatives of Corey Ruiz speak out for first time since police shooting (WPR)
All Eyes On
- Palestine (Gaza Strip): “Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory continue to face violence and restrictions with little to no protection. Displacement remains widespread and growing, with more families losing their properties and shelters each day, while humanitarian efforts continue to be constrained.” (OCHA). Also, here is a data snapshot of reported Palestinian and Israeli fatalities and injuries, food security, and more in Gaza.
- Palestine (West Bank): “In the West Bank, settler violence continues at high levels, resulting in Palestinian casualties, damage to property and livelihood assets, and disruptions to access, including to water and other essential infrastructure.” (OCHA). Also, here is a data snapshot of reported Palestinian and Israeli fatalities and injuries, displacement, and more in the West Bank.
- Ukraine: “Russia and Ukraine paused strikes on each other’s capitals over the weekend to allow United States President Donald Trump’s envoys to visit Moscow and make their first trip to Kyiv since the war began, as Washington attempts to revive talks that have been stalled since February. The trip by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner comes after a Russian air campaign battered Kyiv for 10 consecutive days, killing at least 53 people. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war will likely continue into winter, with no breakthrough announced after the talks.” (Al Jazeera).
- Congo: “The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has topped prior surges – becoming the worst the country has experienced – as new data confirms there are now over 6,000 confirmed cases and nearly 3,000 deaths. There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which is rapidly spreading across the country” (Al Jazeera).
- Nepal: “The confirmed death toll from Nepal’s catastrophic floods has surged to 903, with more than 4,200 still missing as rescue crews and humanitarian workers battle blocked highways to reach the hardest-hit areas” (UN News).
Calls to Action
- Palestine/Israel:
- Donate to and follow Standing Together: I’ve been following this org for many years, and they are doing great work. They are a Jewish-Arab grassroots org that is pushing for peace and independence for Israelis and Palestinians, full equality for everyone in this land, and true social, economic, and environmental justice.
- Donate to and follow B’Tselem: Another org I have been following for many years. They are one of the few Israeli orgs on the ground documenting the atrocities the Israeli government has done to Palestinians (and leftist Israelis trying to fight back)!
- Nepal
- Donate to Nepal Red Cross Society: They are on the ground supporting families impacted by the flood.
- USA
- Protect Pipestone from Magellan Corp. Join Virtual Teach-In: Organized by NDN Collective Protect.
A page from a draft Tree Palette that was developed by Molly O’Connor and Jessica Werner.
Business Updates
1. The Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE) Foresting Seattle Neighborhood Team (Seattle, WA)
For those new to my newsletter, I am in an arts-based methods & urban forestry advisory role for this project. The leads on this project are Sully Moreno from Culture Shift Consulting and Jessica Werner from Moon Snail Consulting. The goal of this project is to develop a Tree Action Plan (TAP) for Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID), which, for this project, is a strategic report with recommendations on how to address gaps in CID’s urban tree canopy.
*EXCITING UPDATE ALERT*: OSE wants to work with us again for Phase 2 (we went through another RFP process, which we won)! Phase 2 will be very similar to Phase 1, except we will be creating a TAP for the Beacon Hill neighborhood.
See below for what we have been up to since the last newsletter:
- Tree Palette: We have been developing a tree palette, which is a visual packet that includes tree images, species descriptions, and other information that urban forestry professionals and community members can use to determine which tree species to plant. What makes this tree palette special is that the trees on it were picked by a taskforce of community members who live and/or work in the CID. The image above is a draft we used for an in-person meeting. The final version will have fewer columns and increased font size for accessibility.
- Report Draft and Design: Over the last few months, we’ve been writing, rewriting, and designing the report. My tasks were to draft the urban forestry sections and to design the report. I actually really enjoy making reports look nice. I’m pretty proud of this one, and I’ll be excited to share it with you all once it’s public!
2. Community Engagement Plan Development with the Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County (Seattle, WA)
Sully Moreno from Culture Shift Consulting and I have worked with the Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County (HAZ Waste) on an audience research study since July 2024. Our end goal is to co-develop and implement a community engagement plan with community members and HAZ Waste staff. Since my last newsletter, we have been in the report writing phase!
Something I liked about our writing process is that we engaged with the taskforce members. Specifically, we asked taskforce members if they wanted to review and offer feedback on the report (paid for their time, of course!), and most said yes. We shared a truncated version (mostly the Engagement Strategy section), since the full report was 35 pages, and offered a few avenues for responding: (1) edit directly in the document; (2) respond to a form that had big-picture questions; (3) attend open office hours; (4) or schedule a phone call.
In the end, we got great feedback (except one was definitely AI-generated, which it is hard to know how much of it is authentic to the community member). Now, our job is to integrate it and then present it to the HAZ Waste staff and leadership. We will have a few taskforce members who will be presenting with us too!
Other Business Updates
Finished the BLUU Housing Initiative Program Evaluation with Ray Martinez!
For 3 months, Ray Martinez from RM Methods and I led a program evaluation for BLUU’s Housing Initiative. Specifically, we developed a logic model and wrote a report capturing insights from the past six years to guide strategic decisions for BLUU’s next seven sites. During the in-person facilitation, we met people who deeply care about building cooperative housing infrastructure in Minnesota. We hope the report serves as a roadmap for developing the next seven sites!
The photo shows the pilot site at 1338 Logan Ave.
Arts-Based Evaluation Methods: Collage Workshop on October 20th in St. Paul, MN
Price: $300 – $500 (2 free tickets available)
Please join Ava Yang-Lewis and me for a fun and engaging 2-hour workshop on October 20th, 2026, 10 am – 12 pm! You will learn about Arts-Based Evaluation and how to plan and implement the arts-based method of collage. This workshop is for anyone who wants to gather meaningful feedback in creative and engaging ways, including people working in evaluation, research, development, leadership roles, and community engagement. It’s especially useful for those looking for new ways to listen, learn, and better understand the experiences and perspectives of the people they work with. Click here to learn more and feel free to contact me with any questions
Our Roles in Community: An Online Workshop Series
Price: $0 – $150
For the first time, we are facilitating our popular Our Roles in Community Workshop virtually! We decided to split the workshop into two Zoom meetings:
- Session One, Past & Present: Thursday, Oct 1st, from 6 pm – 8 pm (CST)
- Session Two, Future: Thursday, Oct 8th, from 6 pm – 8 pm (CST)
You are welcome to attend one or both of the workshop sessions. This workshop is for community-minded people who want a space to come together to strengthen our collective ability to work for social change and fight authoritarianism in sustainable, grounded ways. Click here to learn more!
Research in Action Convening: Community Research for Liberation
I led an impromptu improv game at the Research in Action 2026 Conference. The facilitator asked if anyone in the room had led any fun icebreakers recently, and I raised my hand! In the end, I facilitated the improv game called I Am A Tree. It’s a great option for folks who want to opt in to play a game and for folks who just want to watch, but still be engaged in the circle! The photographer is Roosevelt Mansfield, and he got me right as I was transitioning out of the scene where I was the tree. 😉
Personal Update
Summer Joy With Friends, Family, & Community!
Above are images of what I’ve been up to since my last newsletter, and below are image descriptions from top left to bottom right:
Image 1: Molly holding her 8-month niece, Azalea! And yes, she is a giant 8-month-old. Molly’s twin sister, Colleen, is the mother, and she and her husband flew to Minnesota in August to spend time with family.
Image 2: Molly holding a handwoven red willow basket full of freshly picked serviceberries. Every spring and early summer, I love to go foraging for fruits and mushrooms. I found a LOT of morel mushrooms this year (yum!), but wanted to highlight the bountiful serviceberries my friends and I picked. This outing finally inspired me to read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (only ~2 hours as an audiobook).
Image 3: A photo of the endangered Rusty-Patched Bumblebee that I took. If you didn’t know, I love bumblebees, and whenever I’m walking, I check out bumblebee butts to see if it’s a rusty-patched (you ID bumblebees by the markings and colors on their abdomen). This is the 2nd rusty-patched I found this summer, and I am pretty proud of it. 🙂
Image 4: A photo of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and my husband, Michael, sitting in camping chairs looking at Lake Superior (gitchigami). Mike and I have an annual tradition of going to Grand Marais in northern Minnesota and camping off Lake Superior. This year, we brought the in-laws, and it was a good time (especially jumping into the cold water)!
Image 5: Molly with her sister, Meghan, and dear friend, Jillian, presenting to a room of people at their event, Thank You Places: Adult Theatre Camp (TYP)! TYP is a weeklong theatre camp for adults where, by the end of the week, they perform original shows for their family and friends. This camp was Meghan and Jillian’s brainchild, but I ended up co-producing it with my new art LLC (Coco Canary Creative), and I even got to premiere my first-ever play!
Image 6: Molly looking at a sunset in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Over Labor Day Weekend, I went to the BWCAW with my sister, Colleen, and my friend, Jillian. We lucked out with great weather, and the water was warm enough to swim in (well, at least for me! No one else got into the water).
Image 7: Michael, Jillian, and I posing in a modern dance style. We all take adult modern dance together, and this is us posing after our class recital and performance.
Let’s Stay Connected!
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In community,
Molly O’Connor (she/her/hers)
Founder, Principal Consultant, Arts-Based Evaluator, and Community-Based Participatory Researcher
email: moconnor@cococanary.com
website: cococanary.com
