Our Values

Save the Harbor is committed to making Boston Harbor, the Islands, our beaches, and our programs inclusive, equitable, diverse, and accessible for everyone and anyone, knowing that racism and oppressive systems have prevented that from becoming a reality.  

All of us at Save the Harbor recognize that to achieve our mission of sharing the harbor with everyone, we must dismantle the systems and privileges that benefit some groups and individuals and disadvantage others based on their race, income, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and physical or mental disability. 

Racism in all its forms is harmful, dehumanizing, and antithetical to our mission. Save the Harbor is committed to anti-racism within an intersectional framework that also addresses sexism, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression. 

To work toward our mission, Save the Harbor will:  

• Elevate and amplify the voices of people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and folks from marginalized groups.  

• Maintain and develop partnerships with organizations led by and/or serving people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and folks from marginalized groups in both our youth and beach programs. 

• Hire people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, and folks from marginalized groups and create a workplace that is intentionally equitable, diverse, inclusive, and just.  

• Institutionalize equitable practices on all levels of our work through our Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion board committee.  

• Be consistent and explicit in addressing racial injustices and violent acts that have happened and continue to occur on our region’s beaches. 

• Continue to work toward making the beaches, Harbor Islands, and Boston Harbor more accessible to people with disabilities. 

• Examine our strengths, weaknesses, values, and implicit biases to provide the community with equitable and accessible programs and resources. These values will serve as a checklist for all we do and guide all our work. 

We are constantly reminded that there is always more we can do to address the racism and inequity within the communities we serve and in the national effort to dismantle systemic racism. We will hold ourselves accountable and continue to develop new ways to incorporate this anti-racist, intersectional framework into our organizational structure. We are committed to transformative growth and perpetual development.