PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights)

Our Guiding Principles

To achieve PODER’s vision and fulfill our mission we have laid out the following guiding principles that inform our strategic goals and core strategies in carrying out our work.

• El Cambio es Possible/Change is Possible – We believe that everyday people can bring about the change necessary to end oppression and exploitation.
• Otro mundo es posible/Another World is Possible – We believe we can begin imagining and modeling a just transition to a transformed thriving world of community stewardship of community assets, solidarity economics, and self-governance rooted in Latinx ancestral land-based cultures and wisdom.
• Familia y Comunidad/Family and Community — Our organizing and advocacy work is centered on familia whereby we take care of one another as we cultivate the people power to challenge past injustices, collectively change our comunidad for the better, and create the conditions where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
• Transformación Personal y Social/Personal and Social Transformation — Families, adults, and youth can collectively build the political power and cultural change needed to bring about justice-centered personal and societal transformation.
• Comunidades Saludables/Healthy Communities — We value the right and knowledge of everyday people to create and put into practice community-based solutions for healthy neighborhoods, cities, and society.
• Regeneración Cultural/Cultural Regeneration — Our work is rooted in reclaiming and regenerating cultural practices which rely on traditional wisdom with new thinking and technology.
• Tejiendo un Movimiento para Cambio Transformacional/Weaving a Movement for Transformational Change — We link with local, national and international organizations and movements to forge cultural transformation, systemic change, genuine democratic practice, fulfillment of all people’s fundamental human rights, and environmental & economic justice.
• La Armonía con nuestra Madre Tierra/Harmony with Our Mother Earth — We recognize and honor our interconnectedness with each other and seek to live in harmony with nuestra madre tierra.