Anti-Oppression Statement

Groundwork is an organization devoted to asking hard questions, interrogating dominant culture and learning new ways to live. We believe these ideas apply not only to land, the environment and food systems, but also to the way we relate to each other. We are committed to unlearning oppressive behaviors and creating programs that are safe and inclusive for people of all identities and backgrounds. Our goal is to create a community and curriculum that diligently examines our participation in systems of oppression and takes active steps to build a more just and equitable way of life.

Expectations & Agreements

We expect all people participating in Groundwork programs (including fellows, interns, staff, and directors) to:

• Demonstrate self-awareness and situational awareness, acknowledging the space we occupy in relation to others.
• Engage others with warmth and curiosity.
• Strive to create safe, inclusive, and compassionate spaces for each other, acknowledging that succeeding at this requires deeply understanding people with different backgrounds and experiences.
• Understand that everyone has different levels of knowledge and comfort with these ideas
• Find compassionate ways of holding high standards, insisting that everybody in our organization be committed to a process of learning and growth.
• Be willing to engage with critical feedback when it is offered.
• Ask for help if conflicts arise that cannot be resolved within two days. Be willing to engage in our conflict resolution process of “Beginning Anew” (inspired by Plum Village).

Transphobic, abelist, racist, anti-Black, homophobic, and xenophobic words and actions are not acceptable and will be challenged. Groundwork is committed to the following. The statements below are a foundation and are not exhaustive.

Citizenship

Students will not have their citizenship or documentation status disclosed to anyone outside of the organization.

Religion

We respect and support religious and spiritual belief, practice, and expression in all forms. We welcome interfaith dialogue that seeks to build understanding across difference, and we approach religious and spiritual belief with kindness and without assumption.

Sexuality

We support the rights of people of any and all sexual orientations to engage in the relationships they choose.

Gender

We believe in multiple genders and gender expressions. Fellows, interns, staff, and directors will be referred to by their chosen names and pronouns.

Ability

We strive to accommodate people of all physical and intellectual abilities. If you are differently-abled, all efforts will be made to ensure you can safely and comfortably participate in our program. Please reach out to us to let us know about any specific needs or requests you might have.

Race

We strive to critically analyze how whiteness and racism play out in our community. Fellows, interns, staff, and directors are expected to examine and acknowledge their complicity in racism, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness.

Land

We acknowledge that Groundwork operates on indigenous lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples. Groundwork has access to public and private land as the result of complex histories of displacement, violence, cultural genocide, deception, dehumanization, and closed-mindedness. We acknowledge that the impacts of those actions and mindsets are still present with us today, and we strive to keep them in mind as we work for a more just and livable future. We are committed to engaging with the complex realities of settler colonialism in general and the Western United States in particular.

With our Earth in trouble, we believe that confronting the roots of inequity, injustice, and exploitative and extractive treatment of people is a key component of our path forward. As an organization, a large portion of our leadership and the people we reach are of tremendous privilege (particularly white, university-educated people with economic means). Much of this work needs to be done by the white, wealthy, and powerful—that’s where the majority of our world’s destructive actions come from. We work to address those cultures and their roots and our work asks that these people fundamentally shift their ways of being. We’re not perfect—we’re on that path too, trying our best to live up to the ideals we talk about. We reject perfectionism, and believe that working for a better future is never going to be a straightforward path. We hope that comes through in our work. We are open to your suggestions and feedback.

Reading List

• “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh
• Ain’t I a Woman? by bell hooks
• Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black, Feminist Critique of Anti-discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Anti-Racist Politics by Kimberly Crenshaw
• “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (published in The Atlantic magazine, June 2014)
• How to They/Them by Stuart Getty
• White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua
• Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano