For the last five years, PLAN’s Board has been primarily made up of individuals who have expertise in nonprofit startup and management. As the organization moves out of its start-up phase, and into national prominence, we must develop a Board that can properly advise the organization on the strategic management of our various projects and operations, in alignment with our organizational values.  To begin the process of this necessary development, we created three advisory councils as of January 2018. The councils will provide direction to the current Board on what the focus and makeup of the Board should be in the next 3-5 years, and how that direction will be established.

The three advisory councils are:

1. 1. Current students and recent alumni
   2. Staff and administrators from campuses we work closely with
   3. Movement leaders and staff from partner organizations

When it comes to people’s experiences and job qualifications, a ‘level playing field’ does not exist because of structural injustices that form our society. We believe that employment equity is a necessary practice to challenge these injustices. To this end, we intentionally prioritize hiring staff and interns that have various lived experiences and skills for communicating and engaging with communities. PLAN believes that employment equity is a proactive measure to recruit people from groups who have been historically marginalized by our society. A non-comprehensive list of these groups includes folx who identify as: womyn or femmes, indigenous folx, people of color, queer people, non-binary and transgender people, single parents, working class people, religious minorities, immigrants, and people with disabilities.* We strive to recruit and retain team members that are from communities most impacted by environmental, social, and economic injustice. We will annually assess our team to ensure that we have representation that will push us to execute our mission and vision as an organization. To address these concerns, we implement this Hiring Policy.

In March 2018, PLAN’s Board of Directors unanimously approved changes to the organizations By-Laws to establish a system of Co-Directorship. This system ensures that executive leadership lies in the hands of two individuals, in contrast with the traditional hierarchical executive model. The Co-Directors are required to come to consensus over final decisions related to staffing and budget, whereas all other decisions within the organization follow the process described below.

It is imperative that all PLAN staff are included in all major organizational decisions, as horizontally as possible, especially those that affect our collective work. At a staff retreat in January 2018, the PLAN staff implemented a new system for internal decision making, as follows.

1. 1. 1. Organizational decision-making practices are divided into three categories:
         1. Decisions that require full team decision-making through a consensus-based model.
         2. Decisions that require full team discussion, brainstorming, and input – but ultimately can be passed off to the third category.
         3. Decisions that can be made by a small team, with an update on the final decision to the full team.
      2. This process will be reviewed as a team at every staff retreat. At any time, staff members may propose new decisions to be reviewed as a team and be categorized accordingly.

In accordance to our Safer Space Policy and Community Agreement, we ensure that our staff remain committed to the following:**

1. 1. 1. Reaffirming our commitment to this statement at least twice a year and during the onboarding process for all interns and staff.
      2. Ensuring that all staff and interns are educated about the impacts of the non-profit industrial complex and the dominant narrative and culture of patriarchal white supremacy during their onboarding process.
      3. Presenting themselves in a way that is true to the mission and values of the organization, as outlined in this mandate, without ever requiring dress codes or hair styles that reinforce culturally oppressive systems.
      4. Creating a culture of nurturance and appreciation of ourselves and each other; where we appreciate and affirm each other and our hard work, recognize that everyone makes mistakes, and separate the person from the mistake when offering feedback.
      5. Valuing the quality of our work and relationships over the quantity.
      6. Developing and committing to realistic expectations, timelines, and goals.
      7. Building transparent systems of decision making and power sharing, where most decisions are made collectively and horizontally (as noted above in 2b).
      8. Committing to introductions at the start of every meeting that invite individuals to share their name and pronouns, and saving space for emotional and personal check-ins.
      9. Ensuring that all conversations are well-facilitated with a designated facilitator, note-taker, and timekeeper. Trained mediators may be brought in for special circumstances, especially those that involve conflict. This applies to everything from internal meetings to major events.
      10. Preserving a culture of consent holistic safety, and well-being; should our Safer Space or sexual harassment policies be violated by anyone, we will support the survivors needs and wants and make sure appropriate measures are taken. Should any of our full time or contracted staff violate these policies, disciplinary steps as outlined in our Employee Handbook will be taken.
      11. Committing to a diversified teamwork system where we support and value each other through sharing goals, information, responsibilities and tasks.
      12. Ensuring that process goals are included in planning – not just what we want to accomplish but how we want to accomplish it.
      13. As an organization we strive to build environments that allow all of our staff to thrive. To do this we have developed the following support systems and plan to build this list as need and organizational capacities arise. These benefits are available to all full time salaried staff members. For non-salaried staff a conversation can be had with supervisors about benefits. PLAN also remains responsive to additional needs expressed by our team, and develops new policies as needed.
          1. Living wage (determined by location)
          2. 200 hours of PTO – with overtime hours banked for future use
          3. Technology stipend
          4. Cell phone plan
          5. Health insurance stipend
          6. Extended leaves of absence (both paid and unpaid)
          7. Flexible work schedules
          8. Per-diem for work-related travel
          9. Monthly travel stipend for use of public transit

The goal of this fund is to broaden our work, continue to formalize and strengthen our solidarity within the movement, and to further develop young people’s leadership skills through a Zero Waste lens.

Since our founding we have provided a significant percent of our services to students and campuses at discount rates or for free. While we have never turned away a campus or student for lack of funds, we are making a renewed commitment to reaching students, campuses, and communities that we are not currently connected to. The equitable access fund will reach out to and prioritize students at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) as well as students of color at predominantly white institutions, taking into consideration all who ask for support.

We intend for the Equitable Access Fund to be a form of redistribution of wealth, building  towards reparations.*** This fund works in tandem with all of our programming to ensure that campuses and individuals who can pay a full price are encouraged to do so and increase their payment to contribute to the fund. This fund will be available to students of color and MSI’s for a variety of uses:  

1. 1. 1. Free or reduced rates for campus membership fees, online workshops, and leadership trainings;
      2. Free or reduced rates for travel and tickets to our annual Students for Zero Waste Conference, particularly for individuals with limited financial capacity to attend on their own;
      3. Free or reduced rates to our on-campus events, workshops, trainings, and tour stops.
      4. With the growth of this fund we would like to pursue the following forms of support:
         1. Seed funding for student run, on campus projects
         2. Funding and travel support for students to attend conferences led by PLAN movement partners

In the summer of 2018, we will develop a plan to recognize and build intentional relationships with students and staff at MSI’s with the goal of creating spaces more accessible and equitable through the Equitable Access Fund.

In the United States, more than 20% of all college students attend an MSI. These institutions “…emerged in response to a history of inequity, lack of minority people’s access to majority institutions, and significant demographic changes in the country. Now an integral part of American higher education, MSIs—specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) — have carved out a unique niche in the nation: serving the needs of low-income and underrepresented students of color.”****

At all trainings, workshops, and events facilitated by PLAN, we will:

1. 1. 1. Open all major events, such as our conference and tour stops, by making it clear that all are welcome and distributing our Safer Space Policy and Community Agreement.
      2. Facilitate spaces in which conflict can be addressed appropriately, and where necessary remove detractors when they become disruptive, disrespectful, or in any way violate PLAN’s Safer Space Policy & Community Agreement.
      3. Recognize the stolen land on which we hold our events and intentionally acknowledge the effects of colonization that have harmed indigenous peoples for centuries and continues to harm them today.
      4. Continue to build intentional relationships with Indigenous people, organizations, and companies. This means focusing on building reciprocal relational experiences with Indigenous folx. It’s not enough to just provide a platform for them to be speakers or workshop presenters, we need to also build intentional relationships that carry opportunity for dialogue and meaningful long-lasting, impactful work. Through these relationships, we will continue to explore what the needs of these communities are, and how we can use our positionality to support those needs and build a fully inclusive and thriving movement. This is an area we need to improve on. An example of this work looks like:
         1. Continue to build intentional relationships with Indigenous people, organizations, and companies. Through these relationships, continue to explore what the needs of these communities are, and how we can use our positionality to support those needs and build a fully inclusive and thriving movement. This is an area we need to improve on. An example of this work looks like:
            1. For the last four years, PLAN has been working with members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine, who have been fighting against a “mega-landfill” expansion that encroaches on the sustenance rights they have to the Penobscot River and surrounding areas based on treaty rights dating back to 1833. Every summer, our staff and interns compensate the members of the Tribal Council for their time and services as they spend a few days with us, educating us about the relationship they have with their land, and their efforts to preserve and protect their way of life. For more information, we wrote a blog post about one of these trips in 2015.
      5. Thank everyone who made the event possible, especially the working class folx who provide food and services to the spaces we occupy.
      6. Build in time at major events for attendees to get to know each other in authentic ways in an effort to limit biases and assumptions.
      7. Support affinity spaces for the identities of individuals who have been systematically marginalized.
      8. Provide framework for white people to understand how to combat white supremacy and systemic oppressions.
      9. Provide interpreters at our in-person events when requested, advertising these services in all promotional material.
      10. Ensure that online videos with audio have captions.
      11. Ensure that events provide a diverse representation of staff, speakers, and trainers, and specifically that voices of those who have been systematically marginalized are represented, recognized, and heard.
      12. Offer payment up-front to all speakers and presenters at events for travel and accomodations, with final payment for honorarium being delivered immediately upon completion of services, in person if possible.
      13. Ensure that physical event spaces are ADA compliant and service animal friendly.
      14. Provide childcare services when requested, advertising these services in all promotional material.
      15. Provide spaces that are gender inclusive and neutral, through logistics like bathrooms, language, and nametags.
      16. Honor those fighting on the frontlines against landfill and incineration expansion by ensuring our events and large gatherings make every effort to be zero waste.
      17. Declare solidarity with, collaborate with, and materially & financially support social and environmental justice organizations working to support frontline communities and activists, uplifting their stories and sharing them with students and the public.
      18. Continue our current work towards translating all of our manuals to Spanish and work on future translations as the need arises.
      19. Ensure that food options at events are as accessible as possible. This includes a commitment to providing vegan and vegetarian meals that are familiar, approachable and filling. Individual requests and accommodations will be available for allergies, sensitivities, dietary restrictions and/or dietary preferences.
      20. Make feedback forms readily available online and at in-person at events for anonymous suggestions and criticisms.

We commit to the following for all @PostLandfill online accounts:

1. 1. 1. Follow, recognize, share, tag, and amplify on social media the voices of those who have been systematically marginalized.
      2. Use our platform to share powerful examples of solutions in action, particularly  in regards to the work being done in frontline communities.
      3. Use our platform to create space for recognizing where the Zero Waste Movement is failing, and how that is related to systems of oppression.
      4. Bring attention to examples of systemic oppression, and issues facing frontline communities, what these communities are doing to fight back, and how the Zero Waste Movement can commit to help.