Our Ecosystem
Seeds in Common was born of the collective desire to care for seeds in a way that generates justice for land, water, seeds, and people. We know that these elements cannot be separated; in order for any one element to be well, the rest must also be well. With the seeds at the center, we are working towards a thriving future.
Mission: We are dedicated to supporting current and aspiring seed keepers and food growers in their commitments to nourish healthy communities, to care for land and water, and to grow seed diversity.
Vision: We envision a healthy world rooted in community care for life, land, water, people and seeds.
PARADIGM SHIFT
Our organization's ecosystem is guided by and made up of the elements defined in these documents. This is a result of our ongoing Paradigm Shift process that was initiated by an internal and external call to our organization to advance in ways that aligned with the global movement for justice. Over the course of 2 years we have intentionally organized with facilitators, community leaders, and elders to address these calls and collectively build process to dismantle systems of oppression and the institutional and organizational behaviors that perpetuate them. We acknowledge our Paradigm Shift as an ongoing and iterative process with feedback mechanisms, accountability policies, equitable agreements, and reciprocal relationships built into its structure to ensure that we are responsive to the needs of our ecosystem.
WHERE WE SERVE
We recognize borders as colonial tools used to divide and control people, land, and water. We are committed to serving without adherence to such frameworks around regionality while recognizing that we are connected through the climactic and community conditions where we live and grow food.
We are rooted in the so-called Southwest US, an area connected by shared history, interwoven ecologies, and persistent drought conditions.
We define our region of service by the Colorado and Rio Grande watersheds, and we serve wherever we have strong and authentic relationships.
WHO WE SERVE
We serve all current and aspiring food growers & seed keepers who are nurturing a just and thriving future.
We prioritize leadership from and resource redistribution to communities who have been forcibly marginalized through the extraction of human, ecological, financial, and cultural wealth. We are committed to maintaining accessible resources, to being rooted in relationship, and to being responsive to the communities we serve as they define it.
