VALUES OF THE CLERMONT FOUNDATION
 

 
Values (defined as “What guides our work?”)
   - Care
            That we care about the natural and built environment, take good care of it, and take care in how we think about, plan for, and use it.
   - Sustainability
            That the ways we use this natural and built environment can be sustained long-term both financially and environmentally.
   - Incrementalism
            That the projects and programs to achieve our goals will be implemented step by step over time, as experience and resources allow.
   - Inclusion
            That we will respect the wholeness of the site and its history, and the community of which it is a part.  That we recognize that Clermont Farm is a complex “cultural landscape” (of a specific type designated as a Historic Vernacular Landscape) and a sustainable element of our community.  It is a natural landscape which Native Americans, European Americans, and African Americans added to and structured for their purposes, and whose cultural imprints, still in the ground and the buildings, clear or faint, have made something new of the natural landscape.  Like historic buildings and districts, these special places reveal aspects of our country's origins and development through their form, features, and use. Cultural landscapes also reveal much about our evolving relationship with the natural world.

Respect for the wholeness of this cultural landscape includes the idea that none of the contributions made by different peoples and participants in Clermont’s history will be privileged, and none will be excluded.  Clermont will, based on this value, continue to invite and nurture community.