The Vermont Releaf Collective

Mission

The Vermont Releaf Collective cultivates connection, shares resources, and amplifies the voices of people of color in Vermont within our focus areas of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Foodways. We are a collaborative ecosystem for growing power and community for our members.

Vision

Together we are an ecosystem rich with joy, care, and justice that acknowledges the historical and current harm within land, environment, agriculture and foodways. Vermont can be a place where Black, Indigenous and People of Color experience connection with each other and the natural world; collectively we are creating a dignified future that is an equitable and safe place for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. 

Values

Releaf’s primary motivator and approach is rooted in connection, community, and healing rather than battleground advocacy. We have chosen to focus on the Releaf community first - members’ vision, needs, talents and energy before establishing an external presence or managing relationships with white-led institutions. In the normative mold for nonprofit organizations Mission, Vision and Values often describe quantifiable goals and specific practices. The Vermont Releaf Collective instead aims to be a collaborative, fluid, and intentional organization that focuses first and always on the depth and potential of our internal work.

Our Values center around:

• Collective Care + Liberation - our solidarity, kinship, and accountability are all intertwined, including those of the lands we steward and the beings on them.
• Radical Re-Imagination - our commitment to being open to new possibilities as individuals, a collective, and within our greater society.