Creating a Community Space That Is Drug and Alcohol-Free, Embracing, and Healing

• Preserve a 24-hour drug and alcohol free environment.
• Establish a culture of safety for everyone in the community, especially the traditionally marginalized.
• Maintain a physical space that conveys beauty, dignity, and respect.
• Employ an inclusive definition of recovery that is person-centered and broadly embraces both chemical dependency and mental health challenges.
• Create a culture of reconciliation and healthy leave-taking that honors good-byes
  • Maintain an open door policy that actively engages in a plan for repair.
  • Acknowledge the tensions that arise between the needs of the individual and the community as a whole, and commit to addressing these conflicts with balanced compassion.
  • Honestly acknowledge when an individual’s needs will be best met elsewhere.

Nurturing Structures of Loving Accountability Called Recovery Circles

• Establish accountability to Recovery Circle attendance as central to Membership.
• Clearly define peer support as:
  • An opportunity to know and be known by others in recovery.
  • An opportunity to practice accountability.
  • The sharing of experience, resources, and feedback when appropriate.
• Establish Recovery Circles as a place for peer support that is distinct from 12-step meetings or treatment.
• Respect the privacy of Members, but acknowledge that facilitators may share concerns with staff.
• Provide the necessary leadership, facilitator training, and space requirements for Recovery Circles.
• Prepare for naturally occurring conflict by modelling a commitment to conflict resolution.
• Create an atmosphere of shared learning that values both the one who speaks and the one who listens.

​Empowering Every Member to be a Contributor

• Create a culture of shared, appropriate responsibility for:
  • an atmosphere of safety.
  • The well-being of others and the community as a whole
  • Daily operations and life-together.
• Create a culture in which everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student.
• Create a culture of on-going growth and emphasize the safety to view mistakes as opportunities for learning.
• Honor self-determination, respect all gifts brought to the community, and provide opportunities for individuals to dream about how they would like to contribute.
• Provide training supports for those seeking to participate more actively in the community.

​Raising Up Member Leaders

• Invest actively in the personal growth and development of everyone in the community
  • Members, Staff, Community Volunteers.
  • Supporting everyone’s investment in the vision of the community.
• Seek opportunities to publicly affirm both small and large acts of kindness, service, leadership, and growth.
• Provide regular training and on-going support for Member leaders.
• Create pathways for growth and increasing leadership responsibility.
• Actively seek to remove barriers to growth and leadership.

Ensuring Responsible Stewardship

• Honor the Donor Bill of Rights, established by the Association of Fundraising. Professionals(https://www.aps.org/about/support/upload/bill-rights.pdf)
• Adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. (www.accountingfoundation.org)
• Maintain appropriate levels of insurance.
• Establish a donor giving policy that is in line with Recovery Café Network’s mission.
• Follow Equal Employment Opportunity laws. (www.eeoc.gov/employers)
• Establish program monitoring and evaluation structures to measure outcomes; promote accountability within your organization and RCN and to funders; and provide feedback for improvement.
• Commit to providing prompt, clear, and respectful internal and external communications.
• Build relationships to further support cooperation and healing in the larger community context.
• Communicate clearly the intent, scope, and limitations of your vision to Stand in the gap
  • Especially regarding your relationship to treatment programs.

​Working to End Systemic Racism and Socioeconomic Inequality so Every Person Can Thrive

• Offer opportunities for diversity, equity and inclusion training to Member Leaders, Volunteers, Staff and Board Members.
• Acknowledge holidays of all beliefs and backgrounds represented in the community.
  • Provide listening and learning opportunities for members of all beliefs and backgrounds to understand personal, historical, and contemporary importance of each holiday.
• Include anti-racism in all orientations and trainings for Members, volunteers, staff and board.
• Develop programs and resources with primary languages other than English, that reflect the communities around the cafe.
  • Evaluate programming and resources to identify potential barriers to and opportunities for access.
  • Invest in staff, volunteers, and partnerships to create meaningful access to recovery support and opportunity for authentic connection with every member.
• Seek to use BIPOC-owned businesses, vendors, consultants, financial institutions when possible.
• Commit to maintaining a board and staff that represents the Recovery Cafe and broader community.