Resources
Our Values and Principles Anchor Us
How the Values and Principles Were Developed
The NOVA Values and Principles were developed through a collective process grounded in courageous collaboration.
The NOVA Steering Committee created an initial draft informed by movement practice, ecosystem mapping, and lived experience across the Black reproductive health, rights, and justice ecosystem.
That draft was then brought into community through a series of co-development sessions that we referred to as Our Values and Principles Anchor Us. Practitioners and leaders engaged with the draft, surfaced tensions, offered grounded feedback, and helped shape what would eventually become our north-star values and principles.
This process was intentional. We believe that any collective strategy must be anchored in shared values and principles. Creating space for community authorship ensured that this foundation reflects the leadership, work, and vision of the ecosystem.
The final Values and Principles will be shared ahead of the Summit and brought into the room at NOVA, where they will be affirmed collectively and serve as a grounding reference for how we move together.
Alignment Not Agreement
One of the most important guiding tenets of NOVA is our understanding and practice of alignment not agreement.
Drawing on our years of experience in the Black Repro ecosystem, and more closely through this NOVA partnership, the Steering Committee has developed a strong understanding of the distinction between alignment and agreement, when each is needed, and how this clarity has supported our ability to collaborate, navigate differences, and move the work forward.
Let’s face it. Some of the collaborations we’ve been part of have ended because they relied on an unspoken expectation of agreement rather than alignment, and on sameness rather than a diversity of thought. When agreement is valued above all else, it becomes difficult to disagree, to innovate, and to be creative. NOVA intends to disrupt this.
We believe that in order to build a strong ecosystem, this tenet must be both understood and practiced, especially to disrupt some of the learned tendencies that have been ingrained in our movements.
A learned tendency is a way of being or a practice that becomes normalized in how we respond, work, and collaborate with one another. In many movement spaces, we learn early on that agreeability is necessary to maintain relationships, connection, and collaboration. When agreement becomes the standard, rather than one of many ways of working together, it creates an impossible expectation to sustain and flattens the range of approaches, ideas, and leadership.
Agreement is defined as a harmony of opinion, or being on one accord. It often requires everyone to be on the same page. Agreement relies on sameness and is often rooted in shared understanding, where I agree with you because I see it the same way you do.
Alignment refers to being in relationship with one another, not necessarily in the same place but moving in a shared direction. It’s more about being parallel or staggered than perfectly in harmony. Alignment allows for difference without requiring sameness, while still advancing a shared goal. It often sounds like “ I can move forward with this not because I see it exactly as you do, but because I agree enough not to block and am willing to move ahead.”
NOVA asks the question: What would it mean for our ecosystem to adopt the position, “I can move forward with this not because I share your exact understanding, but because I agree enough not to block and am willing to move ahead”? We believe this approach creates opportunities to decentralize power and leadership, and to engage conflict more productively, ultimately strengthening alignment across the ecosystem.
We also believe there are times when agreement is essential, and it’s important to be clear when something requires full agreement rather than alignment. For members of the Steering Committee, this has meant engaging in deep conversation about who the Summit is for, the politics and values that ground us, and how we will work together. In these moments, being on the same page is critical because these are substantive decisions with significant implications.
While we recognize the important role agreement can play, we also acknowledge the stagnation and limitations it can create when it becomes the default. NOVA intends to build alignment across our ecosystem and to support leaders, practitioners, and organizations in practicing sustainable alignment.