We are committed to these core values and guiding principles:

 

This work gets at the roots, is transformative, is a growing movement... not band-aid solutions.

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We are inclusive rather than divisive, focused on building relationships to do better together.

 

We are growing/nurturing/building community into everything we do.

 

There’s not a distinction between the “organization” and the people benefiting, we’re all in it together. We are like organizers and movement-builders, not service-providers.

 

We are intentional about our organizing strategies so that who we are as a group reflects who we are as a neighborhood.​​

 

We exercise simplicity in our use of and need for financial resources.

 

Our work around cooperative land use, shared housing, and growing food recognizes that our neighborhood is on taken ancestral Lenape land. Guided by the history and spirit of its people, we're shifting our relationship to land as a collective source, not a private commodity, a source that can repair and restore. 

 

We respect the role that people play in shaping their own communities, and in addressing the issues that impact them. We especially honor and support the leadership of long-time residents, BIPOC, and others whose ancestors were oppressed and whose power is lessened by systemic injustice.     

 

​We are grassroots and decentralized, shifting culture through “small” efforts. We believe in critical connections over critical mass.

 

​We all deserve to have our basic needs met, to thrive, and to have joy! 

 

​We operate on the people power of our group, and to sustain that power requires rest, care, and a guiding love ethic. 

 

​Everyone has something to offer, everyone has something to gain. Professional “expertise” is no requirement for contributing to / participating in this group! Come with what you have. 

 

​Mutual aid and small self-help groups are our answer to larger problems. We know “the system” won’t protect or save us. 

 

​Collectively we have abundance.   

 

​We like this concept of “emergent strategy” and its principles from Afro-futurism writer and activist,

adrienne maree brown: