The following tenets represent our core beliefs as an organization about major aspects of our society. They serve to outline our mission of advancing social and economic justice for the Athens, Georgia community.
Civic Engagement
We fight for a democracy where everyone has access to high quality information about their political system and opportunities to turn that information into meaningful participation. We work directly to educate people about politics, policy, and the ways those things affect them. We strive to speak truth to power and hold those in power accountable to the people on whose behalf they’re supposed to serve.
Access to the Means for a Better Life
For as long as people must work for others in order to survive, we fight for workers’ rights to a living wage and excellent benefits. We fight for the redistribution of wealth and resources to combat poverty, lack of access, and inequalities of power. We strive towards a society that guarantees access to water, food, housing, healthcare, education, leisure, mobility, connectivity, and a say in the decisions that affect our lives. Our society has the means to provide these things to every human being, and doing so will enable all people the basic material well-being to be able to fully thrive.
Accessible Housing
We work towards a society in which every person has access to high-quality, affordable housing. We fight the displacement of established communities.
Accessible Transportation
We work to ensure that every Athenian has access to affordable and effective transportation choices. We believe in a dynamic public transit system and extensive infrastructure that serves the needs of automobile drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.
Accessible Healthcare
We work to ensure that every person has access to high quality healthcare for their entire lifetime. This includes physical and mental health services and both preventative and sick care.
Opposing White Supremacy, Patriarchy, and all Institutions of Unjust Power
We work to actively and intentionally dismantle systems of oppression and inequality such as white supremacy, patriarchy, and class disparities. We work to resist and reform institutions that exercise unjust power.
Restructuring the Criminal Justice System
We fight against mass incarceration and work to eliminate racial bias and disparities in the criminal justice system. We struggle to stop deportations, oppose privatized prisons and detention centers. We envision a justice system that is restorative and honors the dignity of each individual.
A Culture of Consent
We work to build a culture of consent where individuals have full control over their own bodies. We reject a patriarchal system that objectifies and sexualizes all bodies and that condones or ignores sexual assault.
Empowering Marginalized Communities
We work to build social, political, and economic power for historically and currently marginalized groups, specifically people of color and of minority racial and ethnic groups, women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, people of low-income, in addition to every other oppressed and disadvantaged group. We work to ensure that all people have equal access to power and resources.
A Reimagined Education System
We work to promote a broad, comprehensive, and accessible approach to education that develops critical consciousness, embraces diversity, and moves beyond the misguided prioritization of workforce training above holistic human development.
Environmental Sustainability
We are committed to the struggle to mitigate the effects of climate change, halt the destruction of our natural environment, and nurture all sentient life.
Developing a Caring Community
We work to make Athens a community where people know, trust, and work with one another across the lines that currently divide us. We strive to build a society where we care for one another, where that care underlies the structuring of our institutions and organizations, and where that care is the fundamental basis for public policy.
Democratization
We work to build political and decision-making power for ordinary people and crush the disastrous and disproportionate power of the wealthy and corporations. We oppose the influence of money in our politics.