Monday marked fifty days since the current Administration took office. Over the last fifty days, we have tried to make meaning of the extensive list of executive orders and policies challenging the core values of our work and assess their impact on our communities and the organizations that serve them. Since Day 1, these efforts have perpetuated confusion and trepidation with the intention to dilute the movements we have built and divert our attention away from the collective progress we have made.
Now, more than ever, we must ground ourselves in our mission and commit ourselves to unchanged purpose, despite the efforts to direct our attention away from our work. In moments of hopelessness, we offer this reflection: this week marks the fifth anniversary since shelter-in-place orders began in the US, under the same leadership we have today, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this leadership deployed similar, opportunistic tactics then to scapegoat communities and deepen the impacts of a global health crisis, our resilience and perseverance triumphed as we adapted, mobilized, and manifested new and creative solutions to continue to move our work forward.
Over the coming weeks, National CAPACD will offer a weekly update on progress we have made on each of the strategic priorities we committed to three years ago, and share the work we have planned over the coming year to continue to move these priorities forward. We offer these updates as a reminder to ourselves and our coalition, partners, and allies that despite adversity and challenge, which may compel us to be cautious or reactionary, staying the course is a powerful strategy to help move our communities beyond this moment.
One of our strategic priorities is to embody our values in our workplace. To that end, our organization underwent a collaborative and extensive process last year with all staff to determine and define our bedrock values. To embody our values in our workplace, we understood that we must first be aligned on what those values are. We are proud to share our Bedrock Values.
Community Power - We believe that communities should have the power to influence the decisions and drive the solutions that impact their lives.
Culture - We honor people’s lived experiences and places of belonging. We embrace our communities’ cultural roots and shift dominant cultural approaches so that we may live and work authentically.
Solidarity - We are interconnected across identities, cultures, places, abilities, and generations, and through the common structural challenges that we experience. Thus, we must work in collaboration with other communities to bring everyone along in our vision for social and economic justice.
Learning - As individuals and as an organization, we value experimentation, play, learning, solutions, reflection, and growth. We act with humility and respect, knowing that we all can give to and learn from each other.
Equity - We are committed to creating systems, organizations, and societies that are fair and just. Recognizing that disadvantages and barriers exist for underserved communities, we work to allocate resources and ensure equal access and opportunities for all. The ultimate goal of equity is to work towards a world where everyone has the chance to achieve their full potential and thrive.
Diversity - We are committed to the inclusion of all people, welcoming and valuing differences in race, ethnicity, faith, gender, ability, class, sexual orientation, immigration status, and other characteristics that make us who we are. We are stronger when we uplift and nurture the richness of our diverse identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
Our bedrock values are the foundation of our work, and will remain so despite efforts to challenge these values. In announcing our bedrock values, we hope to offer courage to those navigating their own uncertainties. And by launching this series with our bedrock values, we commit to centering these values in our reflections moving forward.
