OUR VALUES.
SOCIAL JUSTICE - PATIENCE - ACTIVE PARTICIPATION
Vision
Eradicate food insecurity and foster a Cabarete where no one goes hungry; where the historically excluded are nourished with a variety of food options that honor their nutritional needs and respect their cultural background.
Through ancestral knowledge and new technologies, Cabarete Sostenible leads with the vision of a world that has dismantled, healed from and regenerated from the harm caused by industrial agriculture and systemic oppression.
Mission
Provide food relief to the neediest families and develop food sovereignty through civic regenerative agro-forestry and the creation of social enterprises.
Cabarete Sostenible is a platform for community-led sustainability and redistributes access to economic opportunities by bringing the power of the food systems back to local hands.
Philosophy
Our philosophy is to both feed a family with fish for a day, and provide them the tools to fish for a lifetime.
Patience
At Cabarete Sostenible, we are careful about what is labeled or dismissed as “culture” that could actually be conditioned habits meant to sustain systems of inequality. Our communities are hungry for more than what they are taught. We will strive to create an enriching environment for innovation. We will work to dismantle outdated belief systems. We understand that this work takes time, takes empathy, dedication to unlearning and profound care for each member of our community. We will move with patience and understanding.
Active Participation
We are not saviors; we are active participants in our progress and collective improvement. Meaningful engagement is achieved with boots on the ground, listening to the needs of the people we are trying to help. We will not impose our desired solutions and we will remain open to the actual needs, wants and wisdom of our community.
Social Justice
We seek to create long overdue racial and social equity by returning to ancestral practices that were violently interrupted through an extreme capitalist system. Cabarete Sostenible leads with an anti-racist and decolonial perspective. The economic system and the food system of the Dominican Republic and Haiti was carried out through the extraction of natural resources, the violent elimination of indigenous people, and the work of enslaved Afro-descendants. This is a legacy of which traits remain and we experience the impact today - specifically towards Afro-descendants.
This legacy is now being pursued and perpetuated by certain parts of the international tourism industry, which keeps extracting (human, natural, economic) resources for the benefit of foreign families/groups in Spain, The US and elsewhere. When decisions occur that have a damaging impact on the environment, that damage affects Afro-descendant populations more, at the same time, priority is given to foreign economic comfort and business interests, which never reaches vulnerable communities. We do this work with that awareness and knowing that we cannot cover up the reality of this history but that we can have an impact in changing how things work today.
We promise to never:
• Engage in poverty porn; we must not forget the dignity of those we are helping by showcasing their poverty or lack of access.
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• Make decisions without the input of those directly impacted by or involved.
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We may not always get it right, but please hold us accountable.