How Do I Interact with a Sliding Scale?
For the next 4 months CMMN GRND is test running a sliding scale model for our NEW unlimited IRL (in-studio+ livestream/on demand) package
Sliding scale is a community care based fee payment structure that takes into consideration the variances of economic access and privilege that exist for all intersections of folks. Sliding scale is not a sale or discount.
To be 100% REAL, we have been pretty terrified to launch these new packages under the sliding scale model because it could ‘crash and burn’ VERY quickly if not used correctly. This would lead to CMMN GRND having to close our doors, especially after the financial struggles we have experienced due to the pandemic.
To keep us from having to close shop and continue to be there for all of you beautiful folks, weirdos, outsiders, proud ones, marginalized, genders benders … our CMMN GRND family, we want to explain a lil more about why we are running a sliding scale model. We want to share all the juicy details on how a sliding scale works. so that YOU can know how to interact with it.
Our Considerations:
Our mandate from ‘day one;’ to create a social wellness collective for all bodies. We want to do a better job of including folks who may not experience economic privileges so that our team can truly be of service to a larger, more diverse community.
By introducing a sliding scale model, we are confident this will be possible.
There has been a lot of dialogue and thought that has gone into deciding the amounts indicated in our scale.
First and foremost, we know that we have amazing instructors, who are experts in their fields, and we want to not only pay them fairly, but also invest in further educating them in the fields of trauma informed, anti-racism, and decolonization practices. We want to appropriately value our team and class offerings.
As a small business, we can not operate on the same model as big box gyms, which often times sell excess memberships with the expectation that they get under-utilized. We want to steer away from that method of capitalism and focus on a this model of fee payment that is based around community care.
Eventually, we will limit the amount of packages that can be purchased with in each tier of the scale once we have a better understanding of our full class schedule and capacity so that folks can still easily access the classes we have on our schedule.
But what should I pay?
We will never ask you to validate your income with us, our sliding scale program works on the ‘Honour System’. To effectively participate in a sliding scale model it requires honesty, accountability, aa desire to think outside of yourself and most importantly about community.
Community truly thrives when the focus is on taking care of one another. There are three price points within our sliding scale model:
Financially Precarious:
$150.00/month (IRL and THROUGH PIXELS)
Financially Stable:
$190.00/month (IRL and THROUGH PIXELS)
Financially Confident:
$230.00/month (IRL and THROUGH PIXELS)
When you pay more, you are helping to make it so that others can access our space. You are also supporting the growth of CMMN GRND so we can continually do the work that we do. When you pay in the middle, you are helping us cover the costs of running our business. When you pay at the bottom you are allowing your community to hold you and support you.
When deciding where you sit on this scale one of the first things to consider is the difference between ‘sacrifice’ and ‘hardship’. Here is how we envision the difference:
If paying for a CG package would be difficult, but not detrimental, it qualifies as a sacrifice. You might have to cut back on other spending in your life (such as going out to dinner, buying coffee, or a new outfit), but this will not have a long term or harmful impact on your life. It is a sacrifice in order to invest in your own wellness.
If, however, paying for a class, package at CG would lead to a harmful impact on your life, such as not being able to put food on the table, support your family, pay rent, or pay for your transportation to get to work, then you are dealing with hardship.
You may consider paying less if you:
• are a single parent supporting children or have other dependents
• have significant debt that prohibits you from attaining your basic needs
• have medical expenses not covered by insurance
• receive public assistance
• have immigration-related expenses
• are an unpaid community organizer
• have been denied work due to incarceration history
• have been denied work based off of other biases (racial, gender, sexuality, cultural, etc.)
You may consider paying more if you:
• own the home you live in
• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own or lease a car
• have access to family money and resources in times of need
• work part time by choice
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.). We ask you to recognize this as a choice even if you are not currently exercising your earning power
We acknowledge that our lowest package price ($150.00/month) is still an inaccessible price point for many. Unfortunately, we experience limitations to what we can offer, while still being able to keep our doors open while paying rent in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
With that being said, we will still be offering our Classé Sospeso program, every time you buy a class package you can also donate the advance purchase of a single class or portion of a class to someone who may not have access. 100% of these funds will be used to make our classes more accessible to our community. To access these funds email info@cmmngrnd.ca or talk to anyone on our team.
These next 4 months are an experiment for us to see if this new model is even feasible. We know sliding scale models work in other spaces, and we hope can be successful at CMMN GRND.
We are confident that with a community like ours it will be!
Let us know what you think! Have you interacted with sliding scale before? What feelings come up for you reading this?