Everyday Earth Justice: Our 2018-2019 goals and master plan

Let's start with some housekeeping.

A month or two ago, I posted that our board is working on new mission and vision statements. We got far enough along that the board was looking at a draft. However, after talking over that draft the board decided to put it on the back burner for now. 

Why?

Well, it's almost spring...and we've got a garden to grow and friends and neighbors to bless, serve, and teach. That's a lot of work for a little organization like Voices for Earth Justice! For now, we are choosing to work with our friends rather than talk about words. 

That brings me to the point of this post: The work we're going to do with our friends and why that work matters now.

One thing I'll share with you from the mission and vision draft we put on hold is this little mantra: Everyday Earth Justice.

That little mantra will guide me as I guide Voices for Earth Justice. 

What does it mean?

I take Everyday Earth Justice to mean making Earth justice part of our everyday lives. As habitual a practice as brushing our teeth. It means doing Earth justice wherever we are, with whatever we have, and whomever we're with. It means changing our lives just a little more each day to be a little more just.  

Truth: Ordinary people changing their everyday lives make a far greater difference than the biggest organizations with the biggest budgets and biggest programs. 

So, when I think about Voices for Earth Justice, I don't think about how to make it bigger; I think about how we can help more ordinary people make more small changes that add up to a bigger difference in their lives and in our world. 

Are you with me? 

So, the question is: How will Voices for Earth Justice help ordinary people practice Everyday Earth Justice?

Simple: We ourselves have to do Earth justice wherever we are, with whatever we have, and whomever we're with. 

Let's look at each of those things:

Wherever we are: Voices for Earth Justice has been in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood for almost seven years. 

Whatever we have: Since 2011, we've cared for and cultivated Hope House & Gardens at the corner of Greydale and Puritan streets in Brightmoor. 

Whomever we're with: We have a small, but passionate core group of donors, friends, neighbors, and volunteers. 

So, then, Voices for Earth Justice will do Everyday Earth Justice by helping our donors, friends, neighbors, and volunteers celebrate, discover, and practice Everyday Earth Justice together at Hope House & Gardens in Brightmoor. 

How will we know we're doing this well?

To answer that question, I believe we need to find answers to five other questions:

1. How much food can we grow in our gardens using Everyday Earth Justice gardening methods? 
2. How many neighbors can our garden feed?
3. How many neighbors will work alongside us to care for the garden and learn about Everyday Earth Justice?
4. How many neighbors use Hope House & Gardens to create and host their own Everyday Earth Justice activities and programs?
5. How many people in Brightmoor and beyond can learn and practice Everyday Earth Justice at Hope House & Gardens?  

We don't yet have answers to the first two questions. This month, we hired L'Oreal Hawkes-Williams to be our garden program leader. Part of her job will be to help us answer Questions 1 and 2 so we can set some goals for 2018 and 2019. 

As for Questions 3, 4, and 5, we set this goal: By June 30, 2019, 2,019 people will come to Hope House & Gardens to celebrate, discover, and practice Everyday Earth Justice. At least half (1,010) will be our Brightmoor neighbors.

So, in summary, we are setting two "mission goals" we want to accomplish by the end of Summer 2019:

1. Using Everyday Earth Justice methods, our garden will produce [TBD pounds of food] that will feed [TBD] households in Brightmoor. 
2. By June 30, 2019, 2,019 people will come to Hope House & Gardens to celebrate, discover, and practice Everyday Earth Justice. At least half (1,010) will be our Brightmoor neighbors. 

Here's our plan to accomplish these goals:

• Completed: Hire L'Oreal Hawkes-Williams to create and lead our garden program.
• Completed: Form a partnership with Christ the King Service Corps to place a full-time neighborhood relations and program leader at Hope House & Gardens.
• In process: Make Hope House & Gardens available free of charge to neighbors and neighborhood organizations for their own Everyday Earth Justice activities.
• In process: Build partnerships with companies, foundations, houses of worship, nonprofits, and schools that want to send groups of their people to Hope House & Gardens to learn and practice Everyday Earth Justice. 
• In process: Build a 12-person board of directors that reflects the mission, neighborhood, and stakeholders Voices for Earth Justice serves.
• Starting soon: From a partnership with University of Michigan to find new ways for Voices for Earth Justice to demonstrate and teach Everyday Earth Justice in Brightmoor and communities like it.
• Starting soon: Raise $90,000 through June 30, 2019, to fund improvements to Hope House & Gardens and Everyday Earth Justice personnel and programs.  

What do you think? Are you with us?

If so, you have an important role to play in all of this. You can join us in practicing and supporting Everyday Earth Justice. 

Here are three ways you can help today:

1. Make a one-time gift or pledge to give every month through June 2019. You know we're a little organization that does work much bigger than our size. Every dollar you give makes a very big difference. And we need 90,000 of them between now and June 30, 2019! Click here to make a gift or monthly pledge.
2. Sign up to be a Hope House & Gardens volunteer. You can be one of 2,019 who will celebrate, discover, and practice Everyday Earth Justice at Hope House & Gardens in 2018 and 2019. We especially need people who are willing to be garden crew and hospitality leaders for our guests and volunteers. Click here to be a volunteer.
3. Nominate someone for our board of directors. Who do you know who embodies Everyday Earth Justice and has the character, humility, network, personal story, skills, and vision to help lead Voices for Earth Justice into the future? Click here to nominate someone. 

Helping 2,019 people--half of them Brightmoor neighbors--celebrate, discover, and practice Everyday Earth Justice at Hope House & Gardens is what we are all about in 2018 and 2019. Are you all about Everyday Earth Justice, too?   

Join us! We are eager to bless and serve you as you work alongside us.

Grace and peace,

BT Irwin, executive director