Center diversity, inclusion, and equity

Civic leadership is inextricably tied to diversity, inclusion, and equity. We cannot understand the impact of our actions on others unless we represent, hear, and value everyone’s experiences, especially the most marginalized. We seek to center diversity, inclusion, and equity is everything we do (e.g., team, program, partners).

• Deep commitment to members’ growth: Our ****members’ growth is our mission. We strive to support their growth as value-centered civic leaders in everything we do.
• Facilitators, not teachers: We do not teach people how to become civic leaders. We create the conditions for people to learn from their community and about themselves.
• Proximity: Proximity fosters human connection and mutual understanding. We need to be proximate to those we seek to serve.

Grace and growth mindset

We are all imperfect, navigating our own journeys. We give each other the space and grace to grow.

• Integrity: We take responsibility for the impact of our actions on others.
• Humility: No one has the universal truth. We recognize how much we need to learn and seek to learn from and collaborate with others.
• Awareness: We strive to be aware of, check our assumptions of others, and challenge our own pre-existing biases.
• Emergence: Our work will need to be refined over time. We recognize the need to create space for new ideas and even serendipity.
• Test and learn: Our work, and this field, is still nascent. We know we will need to experiment with different approaches as we refine our programs.

Prevent harm, advance justice

Our work involves those oppressed and traumatized, often by existing power structures. We seek to prevent and mitigate harm to our members and partners while promoting justice in every decision we make.

• Transparency & collaboration: We believe transparency (e.g., an open-source approach) will help others keep us accountable to our values and inspire collaboration with others.
• Model the change we hope to see in others in our team: Just as we support our members’ on their journeys, we seek to support each other as team members: to grow as civic leaders; to center diversity, inclusion, and equity; to align passions and strengths with responsibilities; to live a full life outside of work; to earn a fair, competitive salary.
• Hope & purpose: We recognize that the world faces urgent, existential challenges. We believe GenUnity is an essential piece in moving us closer to a freer, fairer world – inspiring us with optimism and purpose.
• Balance breadth & depth: We are conscious of the temptation to scale quickly and seek to balance the need to broaden our impact with the discipline to ensure we are delivering the impact we hope to see for each individual.
• Balance structure & adaptability: We structure our work to promote ownership and effectiveness but are amenable to changes in any part of the organization to better deliver on our mission.