Recently, the members of Truckee River CoHousing decided to review our values in light of the 2020 uprising around race, health, and community. We asked ourselves: given what we are experiencing now, how accurately do our values reflect our commitments and beliefs?
Our review resulted in an important change to the way we speak about and take action on our values regarding diversity. Our original statement — “We are inclusive, welcoming a diversity of ages, backgrounds, financial situations and viewpoints” — didn’t feel strong enough to our review team. We have updated it to two statements that we feel better capture our desire to cultivate a diverse community and to become local leaders on issues of race and diversity:
We cultivate a community where people of all ages, ethnicities, abilities, classes, genders, and sexual orientations can feel welcome and connected.
and
We actively work to dismantle barriers to a just and inclusive society.
Here are some ways we are living those values right now:
- In July, we joined with companies large and small in pulling paid advertisements from Facebook as a way to protest their insufficient response to hate speech.
- We are researching how we can influence our local school system to provide better education for our children on issues of race and racism.
- Our newly formed anti-racism team has created an educational curriculum to better equip us to do the hard work of dismantling both internal and external obstacles to a just society.
We look forward to building a reputation born of action as local leaders on diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, particularly relating to housing and our community in Truckee.
If you’d like to join us in our learning, please check out the resources our member Daria Miyeko Marinelli shared in this article on What Happens After the Vigil.