Our Revolution Medford Community Agreement

Last updated November 2020

Our Revolution Medford nurtures spaces where a person’s identities are honored and affirmed, where people can grow and be challenged, and where we hold each other accountable to strive to be our best whole selves. We’re building a community that brings people together so that they can overcome feelings of isolation or distrust and organize with others who share the same worldview. We are visionary, not reactionary. We organize for hope, not in response to fear. We strive to build, connect, and sustain a kind of organizing that is not limited by the boundaries of race, class, culture, gender and sexuality; an organizing that amplifies hopes and dreams of transformation to a better world.

In order to cultivate this spirit and maintain trust, Our Revolution Medford members agree to the uphold the following behaviors:

  1. We will assume best intentions and be accountable to what we say and share. We understand that good intentions don’t negate harm we may have caused, nor does it absolve us of responsibility.
  2. We will make room for mistakes. We will call in fellow members with respect and kindness; we will give space to those who have been harmed. We believe that social and racial justice is a lifelong journey and people are constantly growing and evolving. We will listen and learn, but not hold marginalized groups responsible for that education.
  3. We will respect people’s privacy. We will not share information privileged to members outside of OR spaces. Communications shared in the Slack or on our discussion group will stay within the OR community unless otherwise specified or permission granted.
  4. We will be mindful and respectful of common triggers  (e.g. drugs, alcohol, gambling, dieting, sexual assault, etc.) We will use a content warning in communications and nest the content in a comment where possible.
  5. We understand that harassment of any kind will not be tolerated in OR virtual or physical spaces.
    1. Prohibited harassment includes:
      • Posting sexualizing or objectifying comments under someone’s photos or in anyone’s private messages, or making such comments in person.
      • Offensive behaviors/comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, or religion. 
      • Unwelcome behaviors/comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices.
      • Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent.
      • Repeatedly disrespecting a person’s pronouns.
    2. If I am being harassed, feel uncomfortable, or am alerted to such behavior in public or in private, I will alert the moderators and admin team.
  6. We will work together to develop a detailed, aggressive local policy platform centered on working people, and will band together to support state-level legislation that enables us to pass local policies that address a changing Medford. We agree to avoid, to the best of our ability, supporting local, state, or national candidates or issue campaigns that would counter the ever-evolving platform. See the current iteration of the Medford People’s Platform.
  7. In order to maintain a safe space for all members, we agree that law enforcement officers and people with close family members who are law enforcement officers must disclose this information to the membership team prior to joining our virtual and physical spaces.
    • To see how we manage sensitive data, see here.

Violating these community agreements in any OR space – a meeting or event, Slack, email list, etc. – may result in removal from the OR Medford community.
We relied heavily on Southerners on New Ground’s Essential Concepts and Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville’s Code of Conduct in drafting this agreement.