SURJ Boston

Housing Justice

SAT 9/22 Homes for All Assembly: Build a People's Plan!

“Join Right to the City, Keep it 100, Reclaim Roxbury, Boston Tenant Coalition, Dorchester Not for Sale, City Life/Vida Urbana, and Fenway CDC for the Homes for All Assembly! “Tired of neighbors, friends and family getting displaced? Think the rent is too damn high? Tired of widespread luxury development? Then JOIN US for a Boston assembly to build a people's plan!” See the Facebook event for more details. Light lunch, child care, and interpretation provided.

Sign the petition for Dorchester rooming house renters

Please take a minute to sign this petition! “There are 20 single-occupancy rooms and one apartment in this building. The residents are people of color earning modest livings; in Boston's overheated housing market, other apartments in the area are unaffordable.” Support these brave renters who are defending themselves alongside CLVU in court!

Support women facing eviction at Our Lady’s Guild House

CALL realtor Marc Roos's office at (617) 236-8600 and ask him to stop the unjust evictions of these elders. Simply ask Roos to stop the pending no-fault evictions at Our Lady's Guild House. Fill out this form to let CLVU know you called. SHARE THE PETITION link on Facebook and Twitter (and sign the petition!) so that we can reach 1,500 signatures!: Use the hashtags #StopRuthlessRoos and #KickTheEvictionHabit in your social media Support women facing eviction at Our Lady’s Guild Houseposts.

RECLAIM ROXBURY: Sign the petitions - Stop Gentrification on Warren St!

Petition 1 of 2: The Tommy's Rock Neighborhood Association (TRNA) stands in opposition to a proposed development at 125 Warren Street. The overdevelopment of Roxbury is destroying the history and integrity of this diverse African-American community. TRNA seeks your support in stopping this destructive project. Please sign and leave a comment to go to the mayor and other decision makers!

Petition 2 of 2: Developers want to destroy Roxbury's history. They want to build a giant building next door to the Joseph Warren House, which has National Importance. They want to destroy that legacy in Roxbury and erect a building that will overshadow it and ruin its sanctity.

Immigration Justice

Resist Racial Profiling & Surveillance: Stop CVE and YPIP!

This week, the Muslim Justice League and Asian American Resource Workshop led creative community canvassing in Roxbury Crossing to engage people in awareness of Boston's involvement in and significant spending on racial profiling programs, including "Countering Violent Extremism" and the "Youth & Police Initiative Plus", which unjustly criminalize Muslims in our community and particularly target Somali youth. Follow Muslim Justice League and Asian American Resource Workshop for photos and info to amplify and learn more / sign the Stop YPIP petition at: https://www.muslimjusticeleague.org/stop-ypip/

Un Año Después María: Marching and Healing

A year after this disaster, Puerto Ricans still lack access to reliable utilities; utilities, land, and schools are being privatized; budgets for the University of PR and public employee pensions have been slashed; and many other austerity measures are being enacted. All this while hedge fund investors get timely payments for their predatory lending.

Join us as we mourn and celebrate those that have passed from the combination of Hurricane Maria and the crisis created by the United States in Puerto Rico. We will start at Villa Victoria, a space many Puerto Ricans fought to keep in the Boston community and then march to Seth Klarman's office, who has knowingly been extorting the island.

Cancel the debt and pay reparations now!
No privatization of public resources!
The Decolonization process must begin now!

jericho walks in burlington, ma

Jericho Walks are a silent interfaith prayer and act of solidarity. The walks draw inspiration from the Battle of Jericho, in which the community marched around the city of Jericho seven times, causing the city walls to fall. The Jericho Walk of today is a silent, peaceful, and prayerful walk to bring down the walls of our unjust immigration system and is open to people of all or no faiths. These walks are planned by Burlington Area Clergy 4 Justice (A.K.A. BAC4 Justice... don't you love it!?) and take place at the ICE Field Office in Burlington, MA. They will be happening on the following Tuesday afternoons:
• September 25
• October 16
• November 20
• December 18

Contact Laura Wagner at lwagner@uumassaction.org for more information.

#justice4siham fundraiser

The #Justice4Siham campaign has been working tirelessly to reunite activist Siham Byah, who was deported to Morocco, with her son Naseem who is still here in the US and struggling with depression. He is in desperate need of counseling to cope with the trauma brought upon him by ICE. Please consider donating to and sharing the GoFundMe page, and checking out a video about the fundraising campaign.

no business with ice

ICE is terrorizing immigrants at the border and in our communities. We can fight back by refusing to be complicit with institutions that cooperate with ICE. Sign the pledge here.

Centro Presente needs volunteers

Centro Presente needs volunteer ESL and Citizenship teachers. Email Meredith Gamble at mgamble@cpresente.org to get involved!

Boston Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Network

Support those caught up in the harm of our racist immigration system. Sign up. Please join us in taking action by ensuring members of our communities have the resources they need to fight their deportations and stay connected to their families. You can donate and share.

Prison Abolition

HELP FREE WAYLAND

Wayland "X" Coleman has tirelessly worked for liberation and prison abolition for the last 21 years, even while doing life without parole on a wrongful conviction. He needs financial support to raise $1500 in legal fees to begin the process of getting a new trial. This is the first step toward bringing Wayland home. http://gofund.me/free-wayland

PRISON LABOR & ORGANIZING WEBINAR

Monday, September 17, 6-8 pm - register for political education here
$40/ticket
Community Change, Inc., SURJB, and #DeeperThanWater are teaming up with John Donner, a veteran prisoner organizer, "that takes a deeper look at laws governing the working class-- more specifically, convicts, prisoners, and ex-prisoners-- and how they've stopped the labor movement from becoming a vehicle for uniting all groups of workers as one strata."

BLACK & PINK VOLUNTEER DROP IN

Times are drop in/drop out, so come for as long or little as you'd like. You will need a laptop. Come read prisoners' letters, learn about their struggles, and help out the Black and Pink family!

• Saturdays in Lower Allston: from 12 noon - 3 PM at Swissbäkers. Contact Eli at eli@newgreyhair.com or Facebook page
• Wednesdays in JP: 7PM-9PM at First Baptist Church, 633 Centre Street Jamaica Plain, MA.  Contact Annie at Annieatwater@gmail.com

Public Education

Lift Us Up Book Tour @ Copley Library

Come to the Boston launch of the book tour for "Lift Us Up, Don't Push Us Out", a new book about the organizing for educational justice occuring all over the country, including here in Boston. Local contributors Carlos Rojas, Glorya Denyse-Wornum and Roberta Udoh will be featured and books will be available for purchase. See the flyer for the event here.

Petition to demand PILOT Payments

A petition calling for our mayor and city councilors to demand our institutional neighbors contribute to the future of ours schools and community. Institutions such as Harvard, Northeastern, BC, BU which together neglected to pay $36 million in PILOT payments and continue to underpay. Sign the petition!

Movement for Black Lives

BLM Boston Giving Campaign

PAYPAL for donations is m4blmboston@gmail.com. For longer range, recurring support join Campaign21 which moves us from emergency, crises driven giving to solidarity sustained giving.