Community fosters belonging, resiliency, stability, and strength. We are committed to creating a caring, trauma-informed, professional community at Clayton and we are committed to being a positive member of the many communities we partner with and serve. Community means living the seven Sanctuary commitments: nonviolence, emotional intelligence, social learning, democracy, open communication, social responsibility, and growth and change.

Collaboration builds trust and relationships and brings new ideas, skills, and knowledge to help us do better work. We are committed to approaching our work as one team across Clayton. Collaboration means working across teams and departments and with our external partners.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging leads us to reflect the communities we serve and bring the widest variety of ideas and innovation to our work. We are committed to building and sustaining an organization centered on diversity, equity, and belonging. Diversity means building a team that is reflective of the world around us, in all aspects of our personal and professional backgrounds. Equity means recognizing that we need to provide different resources to meet different needs and circumstances that are often the result of systemic injustice; it is core to everything we do in service of our children and families and in how we work with each other. Inclusion refers to a community where all members are and feel respected and are able to participate and achieve their potential. A true sense of belonging means that everyone who enters the Clayton campus is valued for who they are and can meaningfully say “I belong here.”

Growth allows us to develop as professionals and to provide the best services we can to the children, families, and educators we serve. We are committed to growing as individuals and as an organization. Growth means we are continually learning how to do our individual and collective work better and we adapt and evolve our programs and practices to reflect new learning and to meet changing needs.

Stewardship enables us to have the greatest impact we can with the resources we have. We are committed to being good stewards of our community and our resources. Stewardship means using our financial resources wisely and responsibly so that we can sustain our work into the future, taking care of our unique and beautiful campus so it can remain a resource for our community, and caring for our community and team and treating each other with respect and responsibility.

Fun reduces stress, keeps us motivated, builds connections, and models for our children the joy that can come with learning and working together. We are committed to having fun! Fun means noticing and sharing things that bring us joy, being creative in our work, making connections with each other, and finding humor and hope in our work.