“Imagination in Place”
Mission
The Common Acre restores relationships between people and the land through ecology, agriculture, and art.
We radically reimagine public space to reconnect humans with nature through the medium of food. How should we treat public spaces? At our best, we are like pollinators, living in service of fruiting and flowering things. With a pollinator lens, we consider systems change from root to bloom, and seek to restore a living food system that feeds our minds and nourishes our communities.
For us, and the majority of our wild bees, soil is everything. To quote the first African-American agricultural chemist, George Washington Carver (1938), “wherever the soil is wasted the people are wasted. A poor soil produces only a poor people—poor economically, poor spiritually and intellectually, poor physically.” Soil and pollinators are both critically endangered, and inextricably linked to human food systems. Like Carver, we believe the path to remediation depends on creativity.
We believe urban food systems are key to creating healthy communities. Food is more than what we eat: it’s a medium through which we can connect, both mentally and physically, to our neighbors and our surroundings. Our health comes from the soil, and the pollinators that complete the growing process. We bring people closer to their food and each other through a network of community farms, wild bee habitat projects, and engaging educational and creative programming.
Vision
People living in right relationship with the earth and each other, sustaining a healthy planet and thriving, interdependent communities.
People living in right relationship with the earth and each other, sustaining a healthy planet and thriving, interdependent communities.
Values
- Reciprocity: We’ve received more than we can ever give back. We must move from a transactional system to a caregiving mode for restoration to be successful.
- Surfacing Power: Calling out different levels of privilege and offering our camaraderie in the collective project of bringing all our powers to the surface.
- Listening: Hearing where others are coming from and not needing to fix, interject, or cover over the emotional complexity of their experience.
- Solidarity: We seek to credit Indigenous ways of knowing in our educating and center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color led organizing in the journey to heal with the earth.
- Replicable Impact: Prioritize flexible solutions that any community can easily adapt to pursue sustained and transformative change according to their needs.
- Collaboration: Do better together. Reach across organizational, institutional, and cultural lines for collective good and bigger impact.
What We Do
We work with communities and public agencies to revive land through collaborative restoration. By nurturing a network of urban farms and restoring native plant and pollinator habitat, community members grow their own produce, gain access to training, and activate shared green space; work that, by its nature, strengthens bonds to each other and to the land.
We share what we learn about these lands and from each other through cultural expression, education, and food. Our goal is to promote a shared understanding about the connection between our lives and our natural world which empowers people to participate in meaningful change.
We partner with scientists in innovative field research and deepen understanding of native pollinator ecosystems. We have developed a data-driven, replicable model for increasing habitat and supporting wild bees in urban systems.
We use this data in our work with policy makers, land managers, and communities to make informed decisions about public land use to support a healthy environment through food systems.
We critically assess who holds power in decision-making and actively promote self-determination. Our projects work holistically; in conservation, engagement, and advocacy. We know that sustainability requires environmental and social justice.
We build resilience and sustainability by partnering with residents in the communities most impacted by the very same food insecurity and environmental degradations plaguing pollinator populations.
We work with communities and public agencies to revive land through collaborative restoration. By nurturing a network of urban farms and restoring native plant and pollinator habitat, community members grow their own produce, gain access to training, and activate shared green space; work that, by its nature, strengthens bonds to each other and to the land.
We share what we learn about these lands and from each other through cultural expression, education, and food. Our goal is to promote a shared understanding about the connection between our lives and our natural world which empowers people to participate in meaningful change.
We partner with scientists in innovative field research and deepen understanding of native pollinator ecosystems. We have developed a data-driven, replicable model for increasing habitat and supporting wild bees in urban systems.
We use this data in our work with policy makers, land managers, and communities to make informed decisions about public land use to support a healthy environment through food systems.
We critically assess who holds power in decision-making and actively promote self-determination. Our projects work holistically; in conservation, engagement, and advocacy. We know that sustainability requires environmental and social justice.
We build resilience and sustainability by partnering with residents in the communities most impacted by the very same food insecurity and environmental degradations plaguing pollinator populations.