Who We Are
Community Resilience Trust (CRT) is a collaborative initiated by Austin community leaders Rubén Cantú and Janis Bookout in March of 2020. CRT is a collective of people from diverse backgrounds working together to think, plan, and act strategically and in cooperation to ensure that the Austin/Central Texas response to COVID-19 is equitable, effective, and sustainable. CRT aims to build trust and partnership among a variety of people, organizations, businesses, and community-based groups, creating a foundation for a connected and resilient community that puts equity first.
Our Purpose
Our Objectives
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Collectively identify who and what is missing from Austin’s and Central Texas’ responses to COVID-19.
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Create and support cross-sector projects that address current and emerging needs to ensure an equitable response to COVID-19.
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Work collaboratively to ensure that community engagement occurs through an inclusive lens.
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Advocate for the needs of communities underserved and marginalized by systems to city and county representatives.
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Create and distribute communication that is culturally appropriate, relevant, locally applicable, and actionable.
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Apply our COVID-19 response work towards the long-term goal of building a just and equitable Austin and Central Texas.
Our Values and Practices
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Action
CRT is committed to deliberate action that makes time for the voices of our communities of interest and prioritizes action based on the urgency raised in the community.
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Amplification
CRT aims to amplify grassroots-led and community-led efforts, providing support to existing endeavors that honor existing community leadership.
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Collaboration
CRT values projects and processes based on broad cross-sector collaborations.
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Community
CRT prioritizes the perspectives, needs, and group intelligence of those who self-identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, multiracial, indigenous, undocumented, non-citizens, formerly involved in the justice system, lower income, people without homes, living with a disability, and LGBTQIA+
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Equity
CRT envisions equity as the society-wide, long-term transformation required to dismantle the legacy of individual and systemic racism and discrimination.
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Healing
CRT values a healing-centered approach that promotes individual and collective healing and reflection.
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Integrity
CRT will always evaluate our own practices, impact, and results with the same rigor and lenses we apply to outside organizations.
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Mutual Support
CRT is committed to assisting each other individually and organizationally for mutual growth and benefit.
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Systems Thinking
CRT approaches problems and solutions with an appreciation of the full micro- to macro- landscape surrounding the issue in question.
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Transparency
CRT is committed to transparency of our practices and results so that we can hold ourselves accountable to the communities we represent.
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Transformative Practices
CRT seeks to transform institutional racist and inequitable structures by modeling this transformation within our own collective.