Sharing our Values

Liminal Collaboration has always had a vision to work with community groups and leaders who recognize (or are open to learning) that community change is possible, yet it cannot happen from one individual or even one organization. This inherently means that solving a complex problem requires people that look at, think about, and engage with a problem differently.   

While we all have different lived experiences, it’s human nature to gravitate to those who act like, look like, or experience things similar to us. It’s comforting and helps us all feel like our world makes sense.  

But, our organization knows that we need to work on initiatives with those who approach things differently. We lean into the tension – and humility – of recognizing that others’ ideas might be better than ours, even if we show up thinking (consciously or unconsciously) that we know what should happen. And those ideas might come from people we don’t see eye to eye with. And that’s okay. For all the polarization we see, we are hopeful and optimistic that there are always fundamental truths at the core of (re)starting conversations and putting ideas into action that can help resolve big problems.  

With all of this in mind, we developed our equity statement. This isn’t just an exercise for us, or something we can pat ourselves on the back about, but it is truly a way to hold ourselves accountable, internally and with those we work with. This is what you can and should expect when you work with us.
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Liminal Collaboration Equity Statement

Liminal Collaboration believes deeply that everyone is a learner, and everyone is a teacher. Including racially and culturally diverse experts with lived and learned experiences to solve problems is vital to making the greatest community impact. Liminal Collaboration practices what we preach, and we are committed to building teams with those who reflect the populations affected by the very systems we know need changing.  

Liminal Collaboration is in a constant state of learning, striving for equitable decision-making, and working against cultural norms that intentionally or unintentionally undermine one’s personhood. We emphasize power sharing by applying adult learning techniques and peer-to-peer supports to lift up the diverse and collective wisdom of groups. We will strive to always include diverse voices, specifically from marginalized populations, which includes those in deeply rural settings, BIPOC, people with language barriers, older adults, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and low-income families.

If these values are upheld throughout the process and in all areas of an initiative, we believe it is more likely to be effective and sustainable; Liminal Collaboration and the community will learn more; and local capacity will deepen in expected and unexpected ways. 

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We would love to hear from you and humbly ask what we can do to make it better. What’s missing that we need to make sure we put into practice? If you were to boil this down to 1-2 sentences, what would it say? In fact, please share you own equity statements with us, and how it was created!