Black Lives Matter at CitySprouts
To the CitySprouts Community,
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are among the core principles that define CitySprouts’ work with children and youth. The statement below was created through a collaborative effort among CitySprouts staff members. The statement is honest, impactful, and inspiring. We share it with you and hope you too will be inspired to reflect and take action.
Sincerely,
CitySprouts Board of Directors
CitySprouts is a diverse community united around public education, gardens and connecting children to the natural world. As people all over the country and the world respond to police violence, we recognize that Black and brown people in our community have long lived with a very different reality than white people. We stand against the systemic racism that leads to disproportionate violence, gross inequities in criminal justice, and mass incarceration that impacts the lives of Black and brown children and their families. In our own work, we see this most clearly in the education system, which systemically offers less opportunities and less resources to Black and brown children.
CitySprouts as an organization works to level the learning field to make science and nature accessible for all children, and we recognize that this is not enough. CitySprouts will continue to work together internally to uphold our vision of equity and continue to better support our Black and brown community partners, and the youth that we serve. We know there is more to be done, both as individuals and as a community and we encourage our community to seek out additional resources and readings on this subject.
We do not and will not ever view ourselves as experts in racial justice. However, we would be missing a tremendous opportunity to bring you into our learning process if we did not point you towards resources and institutions that can help our white community members learn about systemic racism and its impacts on education. Please note that this list is not exhaustive; it is merely a starting place to launch you into more deep learning.
We also recommend this article on the intertwined history of CSAs and Black history and hope you join us in learning more from a community of Black and brown farmers and gardeners.
CitySprouts’ board and staff support and honor the leadership of Black and brown farmers and gardeners now and through this country’s history and add our voice to the call for justice.
We stand with them and unequivocally join in the declaration that
Black Lives Matter.