Our purpose is to promote land use that supports human communities and sustains ecosystems in the long term. Our unique leverage point is an institutionalized avenue to affect how USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funds are spent. Therefore our mission is also to empower and convene the community to set the direction for NRCS programs in our area.Conservation Districts were founded across the U.S. to be the grassroots counterparts to the NRCS, founded at the same time. Specifically, Districts’ role was to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and to help decide how NRCS money would best support the long-term sustainability of working lands in their area.The Conservation Districts’ histories are complicated by a number of factors. One issue is that in our founding, only white, land-owning men were allowed to participate. Another issue is that NRCS has become increasingly centralized, with less local responsiveness. Another problem is that some see NRCS as aiding only large agro-industry, and not the regenerative or small-scale practices we also need.In our recent attempts to right these wrongs at the local level, we find we have no funding for that work. We do have funding from State agencies to do water quality work, but our accountability there is to the State. We do not have support for true grassroots leadership and responsiveness.