SNTL’s Values

Context & Commitments

Our community experiences systematic disparities in access across lines of race, class, gender, and ability. Our current global economic system contributes to these different experiences as well as environmental harm and weakened community bonds. 

Unless we are actively working to address immediate impacts and challenge long-standing power structures, we are upholding systemic oppression. We use these criteria to guide our staffing and membership policies, organizational partnerships, program design, how and where we invest resources, and the culture of our own practice.

The more we share, the more we have.

  • There are enough resources in our community to sustain healthy, happy lives for everyone.

  • It is possible to build a better economy grounded in trust, generosity, and equity.

  • The essential purpose of our space is for our community to collaborate and share with one another.


We are conscious of our impact.

  • Our planet, ecosystem, communities, and people are interconnected and interdependent.

  • Through repair and re-use, we build a more sustainable environmental future.

  • We strive to minimize damage and leave things better than we found them, from individual tools to the environment and land we live on.


We believe everyone is a maker and artist.

  • All methods of learning and all abilities of learners have a right to our space and shared knowledge.

  • Everyone has something valuable to share; you do not need to be a formal expert to contribute.

  • Experimentation, creativity, and failure are essential to learning and making.


We seek shared power and ownership.

  • Consensus, rather than majority rule, results in more accountable decision-making.

  • Governance bodies should reflect the identities and lived experiences of the people whose decisions they impact.

  • Transparent decisions and responsibility result in greater accountability.


People are our greatest resource.

  • We trust people and value relationships over transactions.

  • We prioritize the physical, emotional, and social safety of our community members above all else.

  • We cultivate joy and laughter.



References & Inspiration