A philosophy of growth, sustainability, and resilience
A common conversation among our staff and board is about how we manage growth as an organization. We grow food and we grow healthy kids, but when it comes to growing as an organization, the lessons we learn from our work tune us closely to natural cycles and the recognition that growth is not all we’re here for.
To get philosophical for a moment, we see that our precarious world is built largely on the myth of endless growth. Ultimately, when growth is the primary concern, culture ends up driven by productivity, money, and extraction.
On the other hand, the institutions that make up the fabric of our society - schools, churches, libraries, and other types of “third places” where we convene, connect, and collaborate - are built on an entirely different set of values; a prioritization of wellbeing and stewardship that has staying power.
These institutions, embattled though they may be at times, answer to a different social contract: they provide something the community finds important, and ask for reasonable means to exist in exchange.
Success, to us, is not seeing our programs grow every year; it’s seeing our programs evolve every year, seeing our impact deepen every year, seeing new and more powerful opportunities to connect our community each year. Along the way, our budget and reach may grow, but not from the single-minded pursuit of scale and income. It will be the result of a careful balance of give and take. Growth is about finding new ways to fulfill our purpose.
To be “on brand,” there’s a very convenient plant metaphor here: you only grow upward if your roots spread too.
What does this look like in practice?
We prioritize collaboration and partnership over going it alone.
We define bold goals in response to the needs of our community, and pursue them open-mindedly.
We celebrate our roots, from building meaningful relationships with indigenous tribes to relishing our place here in San Mateo county and the Coastside.
We treasure our people. We know that we will never pay the highest salaries, but we can be a phenomenal place to work. This means paying a living wage, providing comprehensive benefits, and recognizing the same cycles that exist in nature exist in our team: providing ample time off, recognizing natural flows in work schedules, and showing only respect for the full individual.
We won’t race to the bottom. So much of our economy and our world is driven by being cheaper or more scalable. But that’s not sustainable, for us or our planet. Instead, we will race to the top. We will strive to be a resource that people want, even need, and contributes to improving life in a meaningful way for people we can see and embrace.
The land we steward, the food we grow, and the programs we run are all opportunities to add to the resilience of the place we live. We believe that by stewarding our growth in this way, our organization, our people, our programs, and our community will be stronger for it.
