Our Values – California FarmLink

Overview

These are the values and principles that guide our work.

Equitable access for people of color, women, immigrants, and beginners to establish themselves in California agriculture.
Creativity and innovation, with tools and strategies that support and connect farmers and ranchers with land, financing, and assistance.
Partnership and commitment focused on building long-term relationships with farmers, ranchers, landowners, and other partners.
Environmental stewardship and resilient working landscapes that provide the basis for sustainable and organic agriculture.
Fairness, accountability, and transparency when connecting people with land and financing.
Learning from diverse communities of farmers, ranchers, and fishers who inform, teach, and inspire us to improve our work.

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DEI Principles

We aim to work collectively to build a food system that provides equal opportunity to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, Immigrants, LGBTQIA people and all groups who have experienced discrimination in its many forms.

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Principle 1 of 12

California FarmLink is committed to challenging and working to dismantle racist and other systemically oppressive cultures in the United States that operate within our organization and throughout our services. We acknowledge and commit to addressing legacies of racial, gender, and other inequities by intentionally “being the change we want to see in society” as anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive individuals, as an organization, and in our field of service.

Principle 2 of 12

California FarmLink establishes its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through organizationally created and adopted mission, vision and values.

Principle 3 of 12

The board of directors and executive director, or a deputized DEI Officer, keep the organization accountable for living these DEI principles and practices by periodically checking and monitoring their implementation and the organization’s culture.

Principle 4 of 12

As a nonprofit organization providing capital and business development services, we are an evolving institution that strives to maintain honesty, integrity, and humility in our work with all stakeholders. We acknowledge that collaboration, teamwork, and community input and influence are key to fulfilling our mission.

Principle 5 of 12

Our work builds on those who have come before us in fighting for economic and racial justice. We commit to partnering and collaborating with local, state, and federal networks and to participating in inclusive alliances that most equitably impact the farming communities we serve.

Principle 6 of 12

FarmLink is committed to intentionally and actively engaging external stakeholders, clients, and end-users, who are often unintentionally excluded from key functions such as governance and planning. It is our express intention to continue to work on better reflecting the demographic communities we serve.

Principle 7 of 12

Internally, we strive to maintain a positive, productive, inclusive, transparent, and supportive work environment. As an organization, we strive to adhere to and practice these and all other DEI principles and values outlined in organizational documents.

Principle 8 of 12

As a way of reflecting on effective DEI practices and to continuously improve where necessary, we use monitoring and evaluation systems at all levels of our organization to hold ourselves accountable to our diverse farming communities, our staff and board members, our supporters, and our partners.

Principle 9 of 12

We ensure that all fundraising and philanthropic activities, communications, and investment initiatives reflect, are responsive to, and engage the rapidly changing and increasingly diverse farmer population in California.

Principle 10 of 12

To lift the needs and voices of farmers and ranchers of color in California, we use inclusive and equitable language in all written, electronic, visual, and verbal communications.

Principle 11 of 12

We adopt a nondiscrimination statement and implement it in the administration of all programs and policies. In full compliance with local, state, and federal law, we see nondiscrimination statement requirements as the “floor,” not the “ceiling.” For us, we work continuously to become the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization we can be.

Principle 12 of 12

We intend to be an accessible organization and workplace and make every effort to accommodate the needs of all end-users and stakeholders. We aim to provide the best in-person, virtual, and remote services to meet their needs.

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Anti-Discrimination Statement

In accordance with federal law and U.S. Department of the Treasury policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Submit a complaint of discrimination, by mail to U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20220, (202) 622-1160 (phone), (202) 622-0367 (fax), or email crcomplaints@treasury.gov

California FarmLink does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring of staff, employee performance reviews, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of client services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors and vendors.

Our work demands a deep commitment to justice, diversity, equity and inclusion. We recognize the stark, painful reality that the coronavirus pandemic, for example, has impacted Black and Latine* people at disproportionate rates across the country, and that unemployment and economic harm has disproportionately affected communities of color. We recognize how much work needs to be done, both within and beyond California FarmLink, to create a society that is grounded in racial equity and social justice.

We are responding to this call to action by reflecting on how we can improve our work to challenge systems of oppression, white supremacy, and all pernicious forms of systemic racism. We are challenging ourselves to build an equitable, supportive and inclusive organization. We will ensure that this commitment is clear throughout California FarmLink’s organizational structure, policies and practices.

* California FarmLink has chosen to use “Latine” (pronounced la·ˈti·ne) as a gender-neutral form of the words Latina or Latino.

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