As an organization that is committed to building grassroots power at the core of our work, it is critical that we continuously re-examine the ways that we are meeting our mission, and look closely at what we are doing, who is included in the work, and whose voices are left out of the conversation.
We have recognized that Community Farm Alliance has a lot of work to do in order to continue to bridge the urban-rural divide, resonate with people of color, and support disadvantaged populations. Therefore, Community Farm Alliance has pledged to move beyond words and commit to an intentional, proactive strategy that addresses issues of equity and diversity within our organizational culture and the system and institutions we seek to influence. The journey is moving CFA forward on the Pathway to Change and towards our long-term priority of ensuring that “Kentucky has an organized and diverse family farm, food, and fiber coalition that effectively influences and creates political, social, and economic change.”
With this understanding, CFA commits to take steps that:
- allow us to regularly evaluate and address equity concerns within our organizational culture and structures
- will help educate us as individuals to better recognize the systems of power and oppression that are at play in our work, both historically and in the present
- ensure that the voices of historically marginalized and socially disadvantaged populations and affected communities are always elicited, heard, and brought to the forefront of our conversations
- embrace equity and justice on a broader level by acknowledging the specific barriers that accompany classism, racism, sexism, geography, xenophobia, ableism, etc. in Kentucky
- prioritize strategic collaborative partnerships with organizations that are addressing issues of equity both within and outside of our sector
- will help us to determine measures of success for this work, including setting up a system of accountability and periodic re-evaluation of our progress and goals
Click to read CFA’s full Commitment to Equity statement
