Mission

Our mission is to cultivate liberatory leaders through accompaniment and experiential learning that supports their reimagination of outdoor experiences.

Vision

We are weaving a community of liberatory leaders who embody their vision of a more loving and just world for past, current, and future generations.

Values Story

It’s took a long time to develop Casa Culebra’s values. It never felt right to just list them, so I began to define them, but that still didn't feel like enough for me to convey what Casa Culebra is and how it moves in praxis. So instead, I offer you a story inspired by the great words of Lilla Watson, “[you] have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Imagine you have been on a long journey, and you’ve been dealing with being hungry, tired, angry, and exhausted, yet have been sparsely given the rest and nourishment that you have needed. You stumble upon a home that seems to have exactly what you are looking for at this moment. It’s inviting you in with excitement and warmth. You step in and you are asked to drop your load, settle in, and that this space is yours to be in for as long as you need. We cook together. An organic way that we learn how to collaborate and be in shared space together. We both have years of learned skills, tools, and methods that are integral to how we each cook. They culminate now, in this moment, to guide us towards our shared vision. You share the dishes that are culturally significant to you, and I bring mine to guide our shared meal. In this kitchen, you have most everything you need. If it’s not, we pivot and creatively find another ingredient to maintain the dish's integrity. Once our meal is done, we nourish ourselves to quench the hunger that you could not settle on your journey.

We head to the living room, which has all kinds of pillows, seats, couches, blankets, and cozy items you can imagine. We rest together. To deeply rest, we establish trust between us, which continues throughout the time we spend together. It is with the understanding that we can not always guarantee safety, but we can do our best because this space is necessary. We share goals for what we can pour into each other and what we hope to receive to fill our cups back up. Yet, we are not bound to those goals; we can shift, transform, and flow at the pace of consent and transparency. We then give and receive the care we need in collaboration. We share the tools and resources we have gained along our mutual journeys, ensuring that the rest we have together honors all parts of ourselves. Because to weave my own needs into yours, the space we create will begin to be safer for all people to share with our wider communities.

Once we have nourished and rested ourselves until our capacities have expanded, we can begin to dream together. I am living in my vision of offering you my home so you can begin living in yours. In your higher capacity, you begin to think more creatively and imagine a world of possibilities and manifestations of our hopes for the world, in defiance of what’s been established and does not serve us. We begin strategizing to make this a reality, drawing on our shared resources, lived experiences, and learnings. The dream is now manifesting into reality, and you share your offering with those you hope to share this with. You now know that a different world is possible because this one offering, which has never been given the trust or permission to exist, now does.

You are now ready to continue on your journey, recovered from the state you first arrived at Casa Culebra in. Even though you may be leaving to continue your hard yet necessary work, my home will always stay open to you as a place to cook, rest, and dream.