Values
The values that drive our work, both internally in how we interact one with another and externally in how we conduct our activities and projects
Abolitionism
We seek to move beyond a punitive justice system that not only fails to solve social problems, but has perpetuated unequal and racist power relations from the start of American slavery and colonialism to this day. We are committed to achieving safety and justice by abolishing police, prisons, surveillance technology, and other carceral institutions.
Transformative justice
Transformative Justice is a community response to violence, harm, and abuse centered on four goals:
The safety, healing, and agency of those who have been harmed;
Individual accountability from those who have caused harm to foster healing and change;
An individual and collective sense of duty to take an active role in preventing harm; and
Transformation of the community by changing the conditions that have led to the injustice.
Dignity and Humility
We respect each individual’s inherent worth. We take a harm reduction approach and believe that all people have the right to care, support, and compassion, free from judgment. We embrace and celebrate cultural diversity as a source of strength toward individual and community well-being, in a lifelong process of mutual learning.
Resilience
We foster our community's capacity to respond and recover from crises by leveraging local resources, strengthening local knowledge, cultivating sustainable infrastructure, and nourishing trusting relationships, particularly of marginalized communities within and beyond Koreatown.
Prefigurative politics
We cannot build a better world if we don’t start learning and practicing what such a world would be. In our work and daily lives, we apply the principles, values, and behaviors that we wish to see in the world. We develop a culture of kindness, solidarity, and mutual aid here and now, not in some distant future.
Intersectionality:
We create spaces and support networks that are inclusive, affirming, just, and that undermine the marginalization and re-traumatization of those most vulnerable. We do that by continuously seeking to understand how systems in our society marginalize people of different identities and how this is compounded when these identities overlap and intersect. We understand that people are disadvantaged on the basis of identities like their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, faith, age, ability, immigration status and other identities.
Equity:
We work to ensure that everyone has access to the opportunities and resources they need at the interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal levels. Our success as a community depends on our ability to share power and leadership, use our privilege to challenge systems of oppression, and keep each other accountable. We are actively anti-racist and seek to eliminate long-standing disparities that disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Anti-racism
Within our own organization and the broader society, we examine and advocate for systemic policies and practices that eliminate long standing disparities and inequities that disproportionately affect Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of Color.
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