Meet The BTS Center

As an institution with deep roots in Northern New England, whose offices sit on land long stewarded by the Wabanaki people, The BTS Center is committed to working toward greater justice, equity, diversity, and belonging in its staff, board, programming, and operations. This is a dynamic process undertaken by a human community, and so we commit ourselves to the process of becoming an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organization, knowing that this work will shift and change as we continue to move through it.

Over the past several years, we have undertaken a journey to examine our complicity in white supremacist systems and to view our work through an antiracist, decolonial lens. Continually, and in imperfect ways, we strive to embrace justice, equity, diversity and belonging:

Justice: Following on the work of Rev. Leo Woodberry and other Black clergy of the Justice First movement, we aim to center justice in our work. Justice requires us to acknowledge underlying and intersecting oppressions in our work toward equity, diversity, and belonging, while also centering the knowledge and leadership of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Equity: We recognize that historical and systemic injustices have privileged some groups over others. We commit to the work of identifying and redressing these injustices in our own organization in order to continually expand access to opportunities and resources.

Diversity: We value the differences that exist between any and all individuals, including differences in race, culture, class, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical and mental ability, and religious belief. We celebrate and seek to honor diverse identities, perspectives, and life experiences.

Belonging: We seek to embrace postures and practices that foster a deep sense of belonging. For us, belonging goes a step further than inclusion, compelling us to create spaces, practices, and policies which are rooted in mutuality, where all participants can feel a deep sense of welcome, kinship, and community.

In our pursuit of The BTS Center’s vision of human hearts renewed, justice established, and creation restored, we commit to fostering a culture that respects and upholds the dignity and contributions of each individual and actively seeks diverse perspectives. We commit to this work of justice, equity, diversity, and belonging across the breadth and depth of our work: in organizational culture and human resources, in organizational leadership and governance, in the use of our resources and finances, in our programs and services, in the online and in-person spaces we tend, and in our policies and procedures as an organization.

The BTS Center affirms the sacred worth of every person, and we seek to create spaces and programs in which people of all identities and backgrounds can feel welcome, heard, celebrated, and supported. We welcome people of every age, ability and disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, culture and ethnicity, socioeconomic situation, family configuration, health status, and immigration status. Our understanding of kinship extends to all beings, human and other-than-human, and as we aim for a generous, inclusive, and expansive community, we seek to honor the wisdom and worth of all living beings and of Earth.

There are differing opinions about the practice of offering Land Acknowledgements, especially when they are performative, so we begin with clarity that for leaders of The BTS Center, a Land Acknowledgment is just one expression of our broader intention to acknowledge, to be in right relationship with our Indigenous neighbors, and to repair.

We aim to approach all of our work with a posture of honesty and reflection, acknowledging that so much of our collective history and prosperity are built on a foundation of colonialism, genocide, and slavery.

Much of The BTS Center’s work takes place on the unceded lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the people of the Dawnland — the Maliseet, Miqmaq, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy tribes — who have stewarded this tract of earth, its forests, its rivers and lakes, the stretch of ocean that we call Casco Bay and its islands for thousands of years — perhaps 12,000 or 15,000 years.

We often pause to acknowledge the repeated and ongoing violations of sovereignty, territory, and water perpetrated by settlers of European descent, ancestors to many of us, that have impacted the original inhabitants of the lands where we have settled for 400 years.

We mourn the impacts of our collective greed and the greed of those who have come before.

May we, in the work of The BTS Center and in our own lives, support our Indigenous siblings in their efforts for land and water protection and restoration, and for cultural healing and recovery.