Vision
We envision a world where everyone working alongside people who have been impacted by systems in change efforts have shifted fully from performative inclusion, minimizing harm and extractive strategies to safety-building relationships, relational justice, mutual accountability and power-generating strategies that invest in whole people and mutual growth.
Mission
We equip people who have been impacted by public systems, and the organizations working alongside them in their systems change efforts, with the guidance, tools and reflective practices necessary to ensure dignity, agency and emotional safety for all.
History
Established in 2020 as an informal group of people impacted by systems who came together, joined by their shared frustration over bearing witness to countless instances of harm as they were engaged in opportunities for systems change. Free Agents, instead, are deeply committed to a transformational, rather than transactional, model of working alongside one another.
These principles drive all of our work:
Building relationships that are socially just, healing and growth-fostering.
Prioritizing personal, familial, cultural and community needs.
Learning and growth as both processes and outcomes.
Engagement occurs between multidimensional, holistic and developing beings.
Inviting and valuing conflict, disagreement and multiplicity of experience.
Working together at a pace that respects each other as holistic human beings with full lives.
Meet the Collective
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Anthony Stover
LEAD STEWARD
I decided to become a steward of Free Agents because the traditional methods of systems reform often overlook the most vital component of progress: the full humanity of those most affected by it. My journey as an author, national trainer, and facilitator has shown me that true transformation is impossible without a radical shift in how we position ourselves in relation to one another.
Being a Free Agent means advocating for a seat at the table where everyone is recognized as an equal. For too long, engagement has been transactional—extracting stories for the sake of reform without offering real partnership, emotional safety, or mutual accountability. I believe that if we want to effect real change, we have to really change how we view and approach our work with those impacted by the change. It is not enough to invite people into the room; we must dismantle the hierarchies that prevent us from seeing each other as whole, evolving, and powerful agents of our own futures.
Free Agents represents a path toward relational justice. It is a commitment to ensuring that the needs and well-being of the individual are never sacrificed for the logistical goals of an institution. We are here to co-create a culture where professional collaboration and personal empowerment go hand in hand, ensuring that every interaction heals rather than harms.
Additional Projects:
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Dianna Walters-Hartley
LEAD STEWARD
I decided to become a steward of the Free Agents because I believe that how we do our work is more important than the products we create together. I care a great deal about people with lived experience and those who aspire to transform the systems providing valuable services to us. I know we can find ways to name uncomfortable truths, more deeply understand the true costs of lived experience engagement and continue along our learning journey as a field in ways that honor and respect everyone involved. For me, the Free Agents members and those who have supported our community continue to be a tremendous source of respite, love and hope that we can create the world we want to live in.
Additional Projects:
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Gina Miranda Samuels, PhD, MSW
LEAD STEWARD
Free Agents is the work I choose because our work should not extract the best parts of us. When people with lived experience come together to improve the very systems meant to support our lives, that work should be rooted in dignity, care, and collective power—not conditional partnerships that take more than they give. This work is healing because it allows us to transform what we have survived into knowledge, solidarity, and change. Free Agents is a community of people I deeply respect who challenge one another to work from our most healed selves and to offer the best of what we have in service of something larger than any one of us.
Additional Projects:
Contact us
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