Vision
We envision a world where communities have the power to define, create, and sustain equitable, thriving futures for young people.
Mission
Our mission is to conduct and actively translate our research with communities to support the building of thriving futures. We work toward that goal by acknowledging that our work is to support the communities we connect with; these communities do not exist to support our work.
Lab Code of Conduct
We strive to build an environment where all feel safe to discuss the effect of systemic oppressions and inequities (along lines of race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability) on our organization and our lives. Every person should acknowledge that systemic oppression and inequities, including systemic racism, are real, apparent, and a national public health crisis. Building this environment requires identifying, discussing, and challenging how race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability affect our institution, its systems, and its people through regular anti-oppression dialogues and discussions.
We as a research office commit to continually learning about and engaging with issues of oppression through professional development and community involvement.
We seek to translate these learned values into active efforts to dismantle oppressive systems by prioritizing the voices of those most directly impacted. Throughout this process, we commit to do the following:
- Prioritize community voices, including youth voices, in decision-making processes
- Build and maintain strong reciprocal relationships
- Center community engagement at every stage of the research process
- Connect with communities with honesty, empathy, and transparency
- Recognize that relationships with community members and the well-being of communities should take precedence over individual projects, deadlines, or tasks.
- Approach decisions with intentional action for impact toward health equity and social justice
- Recognize the ways power and hierarchy manifest in academic and institutional histories
- Come to this work as individuals, but execute this work as a team
- Assume good intentions, but recognize and address the impact of harm
- Normalize a culture of accountability moving toward collective growth. This accountability model encourages us all to be in relationship with each other and work toward social justice and health equity.