Community and Connection

[Image description: NAAFA Executive Director Tigress Osborn with guest speaker Krista Handfield in front of the Womxn Project ART Lab in Providence RI for our most recent NAAFA Community Connect.]

By Tigress Osborn, Executive Director of NAAFA

If you follow NAAFA through this newsletter or through our social media, it’s no surprise to you that I do a lot of traveling as NAAFA’s executive director. Sometimes I’m the invited expert consulting for an organization on size inclusion. Sometimes I’m leading a workshop or training. Sometimes I’m speaking or presenting at a conference. Wherever I travel, I link up with local fat community, attending existing events, shopping fat businesses, or buying fat positive books at local indie bookstores. Our board members do the same, working tables at local community fairs, attending fat events in their hometowns, and spreading the word about NAAFA and fat rights wherever they go.

During our board search last year, one of our candidates shared with us that the only time fat community gathers where they live is when someone “fat famous” comes to town. This made me think more about how we could use my travel and NAAFA’s name recognition (we’re fat famous, right?) to get fat folks together in places where they are struggling to find fat community. What if NAAFA hosted a series of meet-ups around the country? Fat and fat-positive people could learn more about NAAFA’s role in fat activist history and the work we do today, including the Campaign for Size Freedom. We could create spaces where seasoned fat activists and budding fat liberationists would be able to mix and mingle, to learn from each other, and to dream and plan for how to support each other and how to make local change. 

This is how our new IRL series, NAAFA Community Connects, was born. Each Community Connect features a brief presentation from me, a dialogue with a local fat star about whatever topic makes the most sense given their work, and time to ask questions of us and of each other. We share stories and resources. We take pics and exchange contact info. Hopefully, everyone leaves feeling more connected to NAAFA and more connected to new friends and neighbors. 

Even more importantly, hopefully everyone leaves inspired to make change. That might look like forming a coalition to work on a Size Freedom bill in their area. It might look like plans to volunteer together on a local issue, to work on mutual aid for fat folks in their area, or to attend other events at the venues where we Connect. This is why we are prioritizing hosting our Community Connect events at venues that are already doing good work in their areas, like community centers, art spaces, and public libraries. 

So far this year, we’ve had Community Connect events in Philadelphia, Durham, Austin, and Providence. We’re working on at least four more in 2025 (cities will be announced when the details are finalized), and I’m already thinking about which of you I’ll get to meet at these events next year, too. In the beginning, we’ve focused on places I’ll be going anyway, so we can stretch our resources, especially when we have funding support from outside of our existing budget. 

If you love our virtual events, don’t worry! Our return to in-person events does not mean we’re abandoning our virtual event program. We hosted nine virtual events for Fat Liberation Month, including Fat Fridays Virtual Social Club, which we offer every month. We’ve got more fun and educational fall and winter virtual events coming, too. 

Our aim is to continue to offer all of these events – the IRL ones and the online ones, too– FREE to fat folks and fat-positive friends. Donate to NAAFA today to help ensure that we can continue our essential community building for fat people.

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Other Articles from the September 2025 Newsletter