Community-based work must be rooted in relationships of trust and respect. 

Community-based work requires a safe, comfortable environment to express ideas and share experiences. 

Community-based work requires listening, flexibility, agility and patience. 

It is democratic in nature – not top-down, and not a funnel for input. 

Community ownership of their stories enables communities to hold and use them towards their own self-determined purposes. 

Opportunities to learn abound in community-based work. 

Community empowerment results from bringing together diverse people within communities who might not otherwise connect and collaborate together, increased community pride through increased visibility, development of professional skills and resources within the community from grant writing to educating to publishing and more. 

Community-based work draws together communities and creates deep engagement and connections within as well as to the broader public. 

Community-based work creates a safe place to speak your story and your truth. 

People get involved in heart-felt work, doing something that they believe in.