The Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s founding commitment is to Beloved Community, the practical ideal to which Dr. King referred in his remarks after the U.S. Supreme Court decision to desegregate public transportation:

The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community.  It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends. It is this type of understanding that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age.

We extend this principle to all Northside neighbors, understood broadly to include all who serve, worship, play, work, and live in Northside and Pine Knolls, whether in the past, present, or future, and all who identify with the generations of struggle and triumph that define Northside, who have depended on the labor and goodwill of Northside residents, and who recognize and witness to the abundance of Northside community.

We pursue our neighbors’ visions of equity, vitality, and diversity and work together to achieve community justice through education, advocacy, and celebration.  Our wellspring of vision, values, and action are the oral histories we have been privileged to hear and to hold in the Jackson Center Oral History Trust.

To support the work of community self-determination, partnership and collaboration at every level, and sustainable, creative placemaking, we follow the highest possible standards of professional and ethical conduct.

  1.  We steward community and fiscal resources carefully and transparently.
  2.  We exercise integrity in all of our actions and transactions.
  3.  We are responsible for our decisions and their consequences.
  4.  We treat all individuals with dignity, fairness, and respect.
  5.  We are accountable for our commitments to the Center and to our community.
  6.  As participants in a historically Black community, we are committed to addressing inequities in all of our interactions.
  7.  We avoid conflicts of interests and disclose them when they occur.  These may include situations in which:
    • our personal or financial benefits exceed or compete with those due the Jackson Center and the communities it serves
    • involvement in other organizations or partner agencies that are at odds with or compromise the mission of the Jackson Center
  8. We address internal differences and disputes with courage, compassion, and clarity, following established protocols, with the aim of building the kind of community in our workplace that we’d like to see in the world.
  9. We maintain professional discretion in all of our interactions.