Core Constituencies

At PAN, we know that accountability to those most harmed by chemical-intensive farming — farmworkers, family farmers, rural communities, Indigenous peoples and children — should be at the center of the work we do.

We strive to be useful partners in a movement that puts these core constituencies first, both because it’s principled to do so, but also because that’s what it will take to win. PAN and our movements are strengthened by sharing leadership with and leveraging power to support frontline communities.

Each team at PAN builds accountability to core constituencies into its planning processes, and works in ways that strengthen both our partnerships and our collaborative work. We have committed as an organization to set the following steps in motion to strengthen and operationalize this accountability:

• Include organization-wide core constituency engagement and accountability in our annual organizational work plans.
• Include input from core constituency partners in annual planning by all teams as part of our ongoing work.
• Make a rigorous effort to hire from our core constituency communities as PAN staff turns over.
• Ensure that all PAN staff are clear on how their work relates to core constituencies. This begins with an orientation that summarizes how centering core constituencies fits in our theory of change.
• As PAN’s organizational policies (personnel, travel, staff search process, etc.) undergo revision, include core constituency accountability in the process.
• Work with the PAN Board to encourage and support recruitment from core constituency communities.

All people have the right to a food system that is safe, healthy, accessible, culturally appropriate, and free of the harms of chemical-intensive agriculture. We support everyone’s right to name and counter systemic oppression in our food system. We commit to working with those communities most impacted to support food and farming policies and practices that are healthy, regenerative and just.