Our Values
We Believe...
- That community power building is foundational to advancing the public’s health.
- In learning from and centering communities most impacted by structural inequities.
- In centering relationships — that are transformative and not transactional — with each other, with our partners, and with communities.
- That public health’s role is to support and advocate for people and communities and not to perpetuate harm.
- In repairing the harms of structural injustice and systemic racism which impact all aspects of our lives.
- In advancing an affirmative vision rooted in equity, justice, and liberation – where every person has the opportunity and resources to achieve their full health potential.
Our Operating Principles
This is how we do our work, our commitments, and why we exist
- Center relationships and an ecosystem mindset: We aim to build an ecosystem that intentionally shifts away from individual, organizational “empire-building” thinking and competitive practices, and instead toward collaborative, mutual relationships of trust, accountability, and reciprocity with one another, and with CPBOs.
- Be accountable to CPBOs: We are accountable to community power-building movements and organizations — meaning the issues and campaigns we support will be guided by our partnerships and relationships with CPBOs. We will center and augment their voices and experiences in the work we support.
- Seek structural change: Our advocacy is focused on transforming the material conditions and power relationships that drive health, be they political, social, environmental, and/or economic.
- Lead from our strengths: Not all members must do all things — we will lean into our individual strengths and assets, knowing that sometimes we will each support more or less. ‘Support’ is not exclusively about public endorsement, but about providing advocacy labor in some way.
- Share resources: We will share our information, expertise, and networks with one another, and with partners, to achieve our purpose.
- Continuous learning: Use data and evaluation to assess and guide Coalition efforts, to ensure we’re doing what we say we want to do, and members are getting what they want out of the Coalition.
- Use democratic and participatory decision making methods: As much as possible, the Coalition’s Steering Committee will use consensus-based and democratic decision-making.