Intro
Greenest City is working to practice anti-oppression and anti-racist action across all aspects of the organization. Part of doing this work is transparency around our commitments and actions in order to invite feedback on how we can do this work better. Below we share an overview of our orientation to this work. This is a living document. As we learn and grow, we will revise and evolve this webpage.
We are a small food and environment organization with 4 full-time staff, 6 young people who joined us this summer for jobs, and a board of directors of 10 people. The Parkdale community is a richly diverse community with 30% of people identifying as having a low-income, and 48% of people identifying as a visible minority, 3% have identified themselves as Indigenous.
We recognize that Greenest City, and the food and environment movements of which we are part, are structured by racism, colonization and other intersecting systems of oppression. To that end, we note that our board and staff are composed of Black, Indigenous and other racialized people, and that the organization and board are both led by white women. We take seriously our role to act as accomplices in understanding and dismantling these unjust systems. This includes recognizing and interrupting our complicity within them. We also recognize that we will make mistakes as we go, and we pledge to act to the best of our ability to understand and address the situation when we do. We are engaged in learning about how to practice anti-racist action through our work in the Parkdale community and beyond. This includes ensuring the leadership of people with lived experience of oppression, such as people with low-income, and/or who are racialized. To bring these commitments to life, Greenest City has prioritized hiring and having in leadership or decision-making positions: local residents, and people from groups that have historically been pushed to the margins because of race, ethnicity, gender, income, immigration status and/or ability. Centring these forms of expertise and experience is helping us to grow and learn as an organization.
Turning Words into Action
Strategic commitment:
We adopted Righting Relations as one of six key organizational values (2020)
Hiring
Hire staff who represent our goals; e.g., in 2020 we have 8 staff who are racialized, 2 who are Indigenous, 2 who identify as Black, and 5 staff who are local residents
Prioritize experience over education in our job postings (2017)
Send job postings to partners and organizations who work with people who are equity-seeking (2017)
Decision-making
Our Board has changed over the past four years, e.g., from 2 local residents to 75% local residents; from 1board member who identified as racialized to 4 board members who identify as racialized; from holding board meetings downtown to meeting in Parkdale. (2020)
We have a Steering Committee comprised of community members for the Community Garden (2006)
Joce Two-Crows, GC’s Indigenous Program Coordinator, created a GC Indigenous Guides advisory council (2020)
Staff and Board Training and Support
We created an anti-harassment and anti-racism policy for all Greenest City staff in conjunction with a lawyer from another community-based organization, and made education around this policy part of our onboarding process for all staff. (thank you to Jumblies/Maybelle Arts) (2019, 2020)
We are too small to have a Human Resources individual on staff and so we consult with a human resources consultant who identifies as racialized (2018)
Staff are provided with resources, and given time to participate in trainings and events centred around anti-Black racism, Indigenous learning, anti-oppression,
We implemented Anti-Harassment training (2019)
Staff and Board will be required to report on anti-racism, anti-oppression, and Indigenous-centred learning that they are participating in or have participated in (2020)
White leaders in the organization are supported to deepen learning regarding complicity in white supremacy and how to take accountable anti-racist action (2019)
Pay and Benefits
Greenest City conducted an organizational scan of five organizations, at the recommendation of a racialized employee, to determine if our compensation was on par. It was not, and therefore Greenest City increased staff wages (2020)
We reduced our hours to 35hrs/week and include lunch as part of paid hours (2006)
We offer a health benefit allowance to compensate for our inability to offer organizational benefits (2019)
Programming
We do not conduct means testing of program participants (e.g., we do not ask people to identify their income to qualify for programs)
We invite people to self-identify as they wish during our programs
We seek to partner with organizations that are led by Black, Indigenous or other racialized people
We offer programs that are universally accessed (such as the Good Food Market)
In our community gardens, we prioritize plots for people who do not have access to land
Most of our programs are free, or have reduced costs, or spaces held for community members
We partner with organizations who work with people who are equity seeking to support our ability to reach community members in need; e.g., when identifying people for the Good Food Box as part of our COVID-19 response, we worked with Sistering, The Dale, and Four Winds to enhance our reach
We personally invite, call and email people who are part of our programs for check-ins
We offer translation when there are decision-making opportunities (e.g., our Annual General Meetings included Tibetan interpretation in 2019, and Tibeten and Mandarin interpretation in 2020)
We have developed a new policy for removal of program participants in instances of bad behavior, which we communicate with all youth, parents and adults in Greenest City programs prior to their participation in programming. (2019)
Supporting community members and emerging organizations that are led by people who face barriers
We support community gardens and members with conflict resolution process that are transparent and have an anti-racism/equity lens (2020)
We have stewarded and supported small organizations that do not have charitable status, or are volunteer run, with trusteeships, space, infrastructure support and shared expertise; e.g., Ojibiikaan, West Lodge Community Garden, Creative Reuse, Zero Waste TO. We are grateful for the wonderful and important expertise these organizations bring to Greenest City and to our community
Compensating community members for sharing their expertise
We prioritize paying honoraria, including for video making, speaking at events, playing music, food making, sharing knowledge, child care, and photography. (ongoing)
2021 Commitments
Make staff and board anti-racism training mandatory. We will do this by partnering with other small nonprofits so we can participate in deeper in-depth training.
Develop and implement training, policies and procedures on Greenest City’s commitment to Righting Relations with people who are Indigenous. This will be developed in consultation and with accountability to the Greenest City Indigenous Guides.
Identify a Board liaison for human resource concerns, and clearly communicate this role and pathway to staff so they know who to go to if there is an unresolved issue.
Determine and prioritize Climate Justice priorities that reflect what Black, Indigenous and other racialized leaders across Toronto and beyond are taking action on
Create the Milky Way Community Council
Prioritize people with lived experience of oppression when filling board vacancies