A regional coalition
for climate resilience and equity
We are a champion for the social and environmental changes we need for healthy lands, people, and communities.
Our member organizations come together across our 10-county region to work for a just and equitable society where we live in relationship with the land that sustains us now and will sustain future generations.
Featured Events
TOGETHER Tuesday:
Equitable Access to the Outdoors
Tuesday, October 17
11:00 am–12:30 pm
Shifting Paradigms:
Making Connections for Urban Biodiversity
Tuesday, October 24
10:00–11:00 am
TOGETHER Tuesday:
Climate Resilient Lands and Waters
Tuesday, November 14
11:00 am–12:30 pm
Our Members
TOGETHER Bay Area is a large and diverse coalition of local Native tribes and tribal organizations, nonprofits, public agencies, and mission-aligned businesses working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our members are on-the-ground implementers with programs and projects that make a tangible impact on the land and in their communities.
What we do
Transforming culture & systems
for a healthier region.
Working towards resilience
We use “resilience” to express our coalition’s goals of a) preventing the loss and/or degradation of land, b) supporting ecological functioning, and c) connecting people to the land. We focus on resilience – an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change (Merriam Webster) – because it is essential in the 21st century.
We include public parks, public lands, working lands like farms and ranches and forests, rural and urban lands, trails, open spaces, preserves, and other similar natural spaces.
We include acquisition, stewardship, maintenance, restoration, preservation, conservation, cultural resources and activities, outdoor recreation, public access to nature, active living as part of public health, and programs that connect people to nature.
Guiding Principles
Everything we do is grounded in these principles:
People have stewarded the land for thousands of years
We acknowledge that these are the ancestral lands of Indigenous People who live here today. We respect that Indigenous People are knowledgeable about land stewardship and have demonstrated tremendous resiliency over the past 400+ years of colonization.
All lands need to be stewarded
In the face of the climate crisis, we need to take care of all lands: public, private, urban, and rural. Our definition of stewardship includes a wide range of activities that prevent destruction of the land, promote ecological function on the land, and connect people to the land. We recognize that there are many ways to have a relationship with the land, and that one way is not absolutely or globally better than another.
All people can be land stewards
Anyone – regardless of race, ethnicity, class, age, gender, or physical ability – can participate in and contribute to the work of stewarding the land upon which human life depends. From community gardens to street trees to major restoration projects, there is a plethora of opportunities for all people to engage and connect to this work.
Together as one region
We believe that building relationships and fostering collaboration from the baylands to the ridgelines are critical to catalyzing change in our region. We are stronger together than we are apart, and we invest in relationships so that we can adapt to change.
Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion
We are committed to creating a more just and equitable world. Our Framework for Justice, Equity, and Belonging guides how the Board, staff, and members of TOGETHER Bay Area participate in the organization’s governance, operations, and programs such that we center equity, work for justice, and ensure that everyone belongs.
Intersectional solutions
We know that the problems we seek to address are multi-disciplinary and intersectional. We cannot look at environmental problems as separate from other issues we face today. We must work across geographies, nonprofits, agencies, and divisions to address the interconnected problems of the 21st century.
Collaboration
We build relationships with people in order to understand our differences, work towards common goals, and support each other when needed. We are open-minded and work towards mutually beneficial solutions.
Accountability and transparency
We will steward this organization’s mission and resources with transparency for our members and funders. The Board and staff will hold themselves accountable to the responsibilities vested in them by the members.
Our History
This coalition stands on the shoulders of the Bay Area Open Space Council. The Council was formed in 1990, helped form the Bay Area Program of the California Coastal Conservancy in 1997, launched the Conservation Lands Network in 2011 and CLN 2.0 in 2019, convened the annual Open Space Conference and dozens of Gatherings, and helped form relationships across the region.