How do you write a mission statement that says everything you need it to say—without saying too much?
When we set out to define the Embodied Futures Collective (EFC)’s mission, we knew one thing for sure: we couldn’t be everything.
BFP had tried—not out of aimless ambition, but out of what felt like necessity. As an organization run entirely by multiply marginalized youth, we lived with a daily urgency that those with privilege often only experience during heightened political crises. Everything felt necessary to tackle because everything was, in fact, tied to our survival.
But trying to do everything took its toll. Our old mission statement reflected this:
Our mission is to globally expand peer-led political education, support, and imagination for marginalized youth.
It was beautiful, ambitious. But it stretched us thin. It framed our Liberation Library—the resource hub we were most known for—as just one of many things we did. And that wasn’t sustainable.
So, the first step was to refocus. What was the one thing we wanted to build our organization around? The answer was clear: the Liberation Library, of course. Our 3,000+ free resources!
From there, we asked: what makes this library different?
We wanted to emphasize that it wasn’t just an archive of resources—it was a radical, living, breathing body of knowledge rooted in lived experience, history, and critical thought.
And so, after rounds of edits, word-swaps, and deep discussions, we landed on this:
Our mission is to intentionally cultivate an accessible, global library rooted in revolutionary, decolonial, and embodied wisdoms.
We loved it. It felt true. But then came the question of accessibility.
My father—who has guided me through every business interaction since BFP began—gave his assessment immediately: "These big words are going to turn people away."
And he wasn’t wrong. Decolonial. Embodied wisdoms. They are words that hold depth, but for those unfamiliar, they can also feel intimidating. But as one of our youth put it: "I like that mission statement—it’s vague enough to leave room for a lot of practices & intentions."
So, our Collective sat with two new tensions:
Accessibility vs. Intentionality. How do we make the statement easy to understand without watering it down?
Rigidity vs. Openness. How do we define our work clearly while still leaving space for growth?
For now, we have chosen to keep the words as they are. We want to test this version first—to challenge our youth to rise to it, rather than assume from the start that it is too difficult. But we are not leaving them to figure it out alone. Instead, we have committed to making these words lived. Everyone in EFC is prepared to explain what these words mean—to ensure that when people ask, we don’t just define them, we embody them.
If, as we grow, we find that the language truly becomes a barrier, we are open to evolving it while staying true to our core intentions. But for now, we are choosing depth with guidance over simplification.
Decolonial. Embodied. Wisdoms. These words are layered, intentional, and sometimes, intimidating. But they are also necessary.
Decolonial is what B.A. beautifully described as:
that which seeks to challenge and reject colonial ontologies and epistemologies; holding at its core the intention to restore and reshape knowledge, culture, interpersonal dynamics, and social structures of colonized people beyond the act of contrasting coloniality.
Embodied is what P.N. carefully called:
a state of wholeness, an integration of bodymind, spirit, and inherited relationships. I also consider it as what Robin Wall Kimmerer describes as naturalization.
Wisdoms is what P.H. poetically characterized as:
culminations of information and interpretation, belief and ignorance, hope and rationality and emotionality, circumstances and contexts and cultures.
It is knowledge shaped by experience and history, layered with complexity, and deeply felt. A term that acknowledges not just what we learn, but how we come to understand.
This is the mission we carry forward. A statement that is both rooted and expansive, precise yet full of possibility. It is a reflection of who we are and what we are building—a library of futures, embodied.
What do you think? How do you balance accessibility and depth in your work?
-- Reaux (she/they), Founding Executive Director
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