Believing that Earth is Home to All
Welcome to CREA
CREA wants to spread our message of hope and compassion. We believe that a single action can make a difference in the community, and that collective action can greatly impact the world. Through advocacy and outreach activities, our team works tirelessly each day to contribute their part to the greater good.
Approach
At CREA, the foundational point for reflection and analysis is the dignity of all human beings. The lenses through which CREA evaluates social and public policies are the social and economic rights and responsibilities essential to that dignity. CREA works to develop ideas, programs and tools to assist in the restoration or enhancement of those rights. The work of CREA includes examining the interaction of domestic and international systems and structures
Education
CREA provides educational opportunities in formal educational settings, popular education programs, informal gatherings, and publications. CREA also offers internship opportunities for students seeking to broaden their understanding of human rights, labor rights, and the systems that affect them.
Reflection
Opportunities to reflect on who we are, what we want our lives to be like, and how we interact with others are often welcome in our busy lives. CREA provides retreats, conferences and days of reflection to assist individuals and groups in the integration of faith, the development of personal spirituality and work for economic and social justice.
Systemic Analysis
CREA provides education in the practice of systemic analysis through programs and materials. This type of analysis examines the interaction and effects of social, cultural, economic, educational, political and religious systems on our lives as individuals and communities.
CREA has developed a series of constructs to assist in this analysis. These constructs provide an objective framework from which to conduct the analysis. They can also be utilized in everyday life.
Corporate Responsibility
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Economic Social Enviromental
In CREA’s CSR work we engage corporations on a spectrum of issues to bring about positive change in corporate policies, practices and programs. CREA works with other stakeholders in long-term collaborative projects both internationally and in the US. CREA works with corporations to assist in the building of responsible supply chain systems.
Sustainable Living Wage/Income
CREA’s Purchasing Power Index (PPI) is a process used to determine the real purchasing power earned by workers. The PPI is based on the actual wages/income earned by the workers and the real costs in local currency of the items that workers require for themselves and for their families.
In the age of the globalization of the economy, the PPI provides a clear and unbiased assessment of the need for sustainable living wages/income for all workers as well as the income levels that are required to achieve financial sustainability.
Copies of PPI studies are available from CREA.
Human Rights and Labor Rights
CREA’s human rights work focuses on the economic components of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Using our Purchasing Power Index and our work on Sustainable Living Wage/Income, and our focus on supply chains in manufacturing, agriculture and mining, we are able to illustrate the economic and social effects of globalization and industrialization on the lives of workers throughout the world and hopefully bring about positive change.
Sustainable Communities
Amid all the talk of economic, social and environmental sustainability, the challenge of sustainable communities is a local and global challenge. The community is the real stake that requires increased focus and work at all levels of engagement. Stakeholders in the community need to be developed, strengthened, and connected with others facing parallel issues.
Aggravated by on-going climate change, the need for greater focus on sustainable communities and the needed associated decisions should be obvious to all.
CREA’s focus on Sustainable Communities,
interfaces with other components of our work
Fair Trade - Peace Trade
Building on our Fair Trade work, CREA is working specifically with cooperatives that offer peaceful ways for men and women to support themselves.
Sustaining workers, sustaining families, and sustaining communities are all part of the Fair Trade - Peace Trade model and of our work for sustainability.
Program Areas
Corporate Responsibility
Corporate responsibility (CR) is about the impact an organisation makes on society, the environment and the economy. Having an effective CR programme contributes positively to all stakeholders as well as adding value for the organisation itself, and ensures it operates in a sustainable way
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Sustainable Living Wage & Income
A living wage or living income is one that gives people enough to provide for their family's basic needs for food, water, clothing, housing, education, transportation and healthcare. It also allows for some discretionary income and includes enough provision to cover unexpected events. The concept of a living wage applies to hired workers (eg in factories) or merchandisers who help sell products. A living income is applied in the context of any income earner, such as self-employed farmers.
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Sustainable Communities
Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all.
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Fair Trade-Peace Trade
Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in growing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and environmental standards.
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Systemic Analysis
Systemic analysis is a comprehensive method of analysis evaluation and consulting which includes the complexity and dynamics of current situations, crises and challenges and serves for the decision support of high-level personnel and decision-makers acting in global organisations, missions or risk scenarios.
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Supply Chains
Supply chain is the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product. A supply chain encompasses everything from the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer through to its eventual delivery to the end user.
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Climate Change
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
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Laudato Si', Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment.
