"A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats"
Core Values
CORE VALUES
Address the unique holistic education challenges of underserved youth in the southeastern region of the United States (and beyond), by building collaborative impact groups that offer participants one – a menu of educational and occupational experiences and exposures and two – help participants create and implement personal “Break-Through Generational Vision Strategies.”
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Core Values
Love
Southern States Scholars is committed to the most fundamental of all values: “LOVE” that actively promotes equity and social justice. The tenants of that love include sacrifice, perseverance, character, hope in our daily hard work on behalf of “self and others”.
Mutuality: Collective Impact
We co-create systems and infrastructure for greater collective impact on large scale societal problems and model shared responsibility for our mutual success. We seek perfection of character with integrity and sincerity while nurturing creativity and innovation through ongoing learning and respect for different life narratives and experiences.
Educate: 24/7/365
We promote education through experience and exposure in life, work and play 24/7/365. The tenants of that education include: Reading, Writing, STEM, Respect, and Responsibility and a Moral Compass. We embrace diversity of learning styles and guide our public squares with respect to diverse life experiences.
Human Dignity
We respect the absolute value and worth of each person and take responsibility for ourselves and share responsibility for the well-being of others.
Social Justice
We pursue inclusive, collaborative co-creation of social systems and infrastructure to promote:
- Strength and asset based narratives for underserved (Black, Latino, Women, Native American, Poor) populations
- Fair and equitable distribution of power and resources
- Transparent decision making processes
- Meaningful opportunities for people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives
- Fair balance of the protection of rights for individuals with the rights of groups
- Deepened cultural competence and the capacity to understand diverse people and groups and
- Empowered marginalized groups and communities to speak and act on their own behalf.
- We demonstrate respect for all living things and act as stewards of the resources to which we have access and over which we have influence.
- We practice mindful consumption, using the fewest resources possible to accomplish our work.
- We protect, conserve, reuse, and recycle resources.
- We consider the long, as well as short-term implications of their actions for our shared natural environment.
- We create, preserve and enhance outdoor space.