Crag’s Equity Statement
Adopted May 16, 2018 | Updated January 2022
We are all interconnected with the land, water and air. But not all people have equal voice in decision-making that affects our environment and our communities. We are working within and against systems of oppression rooted in settler colonialism, patriarchy, corporate dominance, and explicit and implicit systemic racism and discrimination, leading to unequal access to social, political and economic power. Crag balances the scales of justice by supporting communities to achieve their goals for a healthy environment. To realize our mission, we must help to elevate the voices of historically excluded communities by sharing tools to influence decisions affecting their lives and making environmental laws work for everyone. Implementing equity, diversity and inclusion principles will allow us to achieve the greatest impact, create space for new leaders, improve our own thinking and approach to our work, confront injustice and cultivate a culture of compassion at Crag. We are responsible for using power and position as leaders in our community, working in allyship, and remaining focused on the needs of our clients.
Crag’s Commitments to Equity and Justice Work
1. We will prioritize time and resources to practice equity and inclusion within our organization and with our clients, our supporters, and our community.
2. We will recruit, train, and mentor diverse staff, board members, interns and volunteers.
3. On a personal level and interpersonal level, we will practice humility and step back, listen, and help to elevate and center historically excluded voices. We recognize this work is ongoing, we will make mistakes and learn from them.
4. We will challenge dominant narratives in environmentalism and conservation work about community values, the relationships of people to the land, how ecosystems function, and the role of law as a mechanism of justice.
5. We will remain client-focused with the goal of elevating our clients’ voices and priorities, in service of the public interest and in alignment with our mission.
6. We will implement community-centric fundraising by sharing power and resources, ending transactional practices, and making events and communications accessible.
Crag staff worked collectively to draft this statement over the course of multiple collaborative, guided brainstorming sessions. We challenged ourselves to be brave in naming injustice, privilege, and racism in our statement and solidified our group understanding of the EDI themes we identified in an effort to more meaningfully integrate these into our work. We consider this an ongoing process. Since the initial drafting and adoption, we have revisited the statement and reviewed our work to identify alignments and opportunities for further growth. If you would like additional information about how we developed our statement and how we keep our work centered in these values, you can read more here.