MISSION & VISION

Our community faces individual experiences and barriers set in place by systemic oppression. The DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) Committee exists to help Woodstock Farmers Market be an inclusive, anti-racist marketspace. We commit to the ongoing work of learning, listening, and requesting feedback. This work will support WFM in reducing barriers, increasing access, and creating a nourishing space where all members of our community can connect and thrive. 

STANCE ON EQUITY & ANTI-RACIST STATEMENT

Woodstock Farmers Market values the efforts of our DEI Committee to guide us towards being an anti-racist farmers market and an inclusive space for all. We recognize past and present exclusion and underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA2s+, disabled individuals, neurodivergent individuals, immigrants and refugees, youth and the elderly, and low income families and individuals at farmers markets. We learn from these experiences to shape our vision of a thriving, diverse, and just community where market participation is accessible to everyone.

Action Items updated 9/23/2024 

1. Continuing and expanding ongoing programs
   • Drop-in Vendor discount for BIPOC farmers or food producers and new businesses or farms (established within the last 5 years). In an effort to reduce entry barriers, we offer qualified new vendors a 50% discount on up to 5 markets  to try out the market before committing to a full season. 
   • Diversifying Music Performances. Our efforts to support representation through music include raising the pay rate for musicians, restructuring our music application to prioritize BIPOC musicians who play music from within their culture, and intentional outreach to musicians. 
2. Engaging Community Booth to support DEI goals
   • We strive to build and strengthen relationships with BIPOC led organizations representing issues important to our Black, Brown, and AAPI neighbors.
3. Transparency of DEI work on our website
   • Participation and accountability are important parts of this work. We value the feedback of the community and want to share our ongoing DEI work through this dedicated page on our website. Our internal goal is to update this page every 6 months.
4. Modifying name tags to include pronouns
   • We’ve added the option to include pronouns on  volunteer, staff, and board member name tags while at the market.
5. Facilitate more cooking demonstrations
   • We want to encourage outside groups and organizations to demonstrate cooking culturally specific foods in the market, using market products to create recipes from diverse cooking traditions.
   • Additionally, we are promoting the DoubleUp Food Bucks program by prioritizing produce-based recipes.
   • In our 2024 season we hosted a series of educational cooking demonstrations at the market to promote healthy recipes that can be made at home using market ingredients. 
6. Feedback systems
   • We seek opportunities to learn from our community and evolve our practices through vendor and customer surveys. Additionally, we are developing a feedback form on our website to offer our community members an accessible way to share their input.

We recognize that this work is ongoing and can’t be done in isolation. We are grateful for the learning contributions and patience of our community members. 

We believe our community is what makes Woodstock Farmers Market special, and it is our commitment to make WFM a safe and inclusive space to be.