Land Together’s mission is to cultivate justice and belonging by nurturing deep connections to nature, self, and community for people impacted by mass incarceration.
Mass incarceration is an environmental justice issue.
The majority of incarcerated people come from low-income communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices. Inside of prisons, incarcerated people face daily environmental hazards and risks including overcrowding, water and soil contamination, aging infrastructure, inadequate cooling and heating, exposure to toxic waste, lack of climate change preparation, and more. Additionally, the carceral system weaponizes disconnection, erasing identity, severing ties to nature, and breaking community bonds—often the very same fractures that lead to incarceration. Despite being disproportionately impacted, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people have been systematically excluded from decision-making about the policies and practices that directly affect their lives.
Our solution
Land Together cultivates collective spaces inside of prisons, and in our reentry communities, that restore the connections that incarceration strips away. Utilizing an intersectional lens and a healing-centered approach, we care for the whole person by nurturing both the 'inner garden' (personal, social-emotional, and leadership development) and 'outer garden’ (hands-on landscape design and permaculture training). Recognizing that challenges and systemic barriers persist after release, our ecosystems of care extend beyond incarceration, ensuring long-term reentry support for lasting change. We also utilize diverse strategies, including participant-led advocacy, research, storytelling, community education, and coalition-building, to influence systemic policy, practice and culture change.
Our Values
All human beings possess intrinsic dignity and humanity.
Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, understanding, and care. We value everyone’s contributions and take time to understand and incorporate diverse perspectives. We foster a culture of kindness, inclusiveness, and safety.
Access to nature is a human right.
We break down access barriers to nature inside and outside of prisons because of the countless physical and psychological benefits of connecting to nature, and because we believe that universal and equitable access to nature is fundamental to our humanity and to the future of life on Earth.
Lived experience is a form of expertise
People who have lived through an experience bring unique insights and understanding that is crucial for designing effective solutions to societal problems. We empower our participants to play leadership roles in our programs and advocacy, and we prioritize hiring previously incarcerated and system-impacted individuals.
There is no justice without restorative justice.
RJ practices help us build a better world through proactive healing, genuine understanding and accountability, and community restoration. RJ transcends traditional punitive measures, aiming for a deeper, more profound impact.
All things are inherently interconnected.
A core problem underlying many of the challenges we face today is disconnection. We nurture connections to self, nature, and community to support personal well-being and the well-being of the world.
All humans need to feel like they belong in order to thrive.
In our in-prison and reentry programs, we cultivate community and a sense of belonging by establishing and nurturing connections rooted in trust, interdependence, shared values, and collective goals.
We can go further together than apart.
Through strategic collaboration, prioritizing open and authentic communication, and building caring and supportive communities, we can achieve something bigger than we could alone.
There is no justice without racial justice.
Racial inequity underpins all forms of systemic injustice in this country, and we are committed to incorporating a racial justice analysis into our programs and services, as well as our environmental justice, food justice, and criminal justice system reform advocacy efforts.