Uplifting Our Community
We work against settler colonialism, a system that continues to actively sever Native peoples relationships to their territory. We are an Urban Unangan/Unangas led organization, residing on coast salish lands. We recognize that our work as an Urban Native organization, we must do our part to address and challenge anti-blackness, and uphold our trust responsibility to local tribes as defined in the Point Elliot Treaty.
We know that The Common acre is a non- profit organization, and that nonprofits are capable of perpetuating white supremacy culture. We incorporate discussion about the characteristics of white supremacy culture during our strategic planning meetings with our Board of Directors, and utilize this article to review our policies and procedures, and in order to build equitable practices.
Reciprocity
We believe in building reciprocal relationships with people and the land. Many conservation and restoration organizations in the environmental sector center the health of plants and animal ecosystems above the health of people, in particular people of color.
We reverse this, and center the voices, leadership and knowledge of BIPOC land workers in our work.
Land and Regenerative Economies
We agree with one of the values of many tribes in the US settler nation state, that what is good for the land and animals is good for the people. The communities we work in have experienced redlining and consistent divestment, resulting in fewer economic opportunities, less green space/ a drastically higher heat index, greater health disparities, and an overall disconnection from the land.