Every Wednesday 12-1 PM, as well as every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 5 PM, SURJ Boston members will guide you through actions curated from our BIPOC-led partners' priorities for that week! We also offer training in how to host action hours for your own community from 1-1:30 PM on the last Wednesday of the month. Action hours are open to all! Bring friends! :) Register here!
Use this form to submit written testimony to the MA Housing Committee by Fri, January 21. Use the same link to record a video, view coverage of the hearing on January 11, and read up on rent control.
Tuesday, January 18, 2:00PM
Join this court status hearing via zoom to show support for an elder inside. The ask is to stay on mute and off camera but to show that many people want Ms. Angie free. Zoom link here.
Send emails using this template to the School Committee, Superintendent Casselius, BPS Officials, and the Mayor. Make phone calls to:
Need guidance on what to say? See the phone script.
Let the Families for COVID Safety campaign know that you took action by clicking here.
For more information, see this background piece about Families for COVID Safety.
Sign up for their listserv by clicking here.
MassUndocuFund is a fund that works to provide direct financial support to undocumented immigrants during the COVID-19 crisis. As families continue to be impacted by the Omicron wave, support our community members who have limited access to relief during this crisis!
Thursday, January 20, 7:00PM
Moratorium bill Zoom forum! RSVP here.
Take action in support of the moratorium bill! Canvass, phone bank, or text bank! Dates and more info via google form!
Wednesday, January 19, 7:00PM
DefundNPD in Newton Zoom event. DefundNPD, Brookline Budget Justice, and Project LETS will talk about the intersections of abolition and mental health.
Register online: weekly town hall on Mondays at 6pm, learn about events and actions to stop the new women’s prison and other new jails or prisons.
While many of us have had our lives return to “normal,” this pandemic is still negatively impacting our neighbors, particularly those of color, more than ever. Please lend support where you can!
We have porches set up as donation drop-off sites please email us to get the address for a drop-off site of your choice: Belmont, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, Medford, Somerville, and West Roxbury.
Donations have been extremely low as of late. Please help us pick it up if you can!
Urgent needs:
If you would like to donate funds to our partners as well/instead: (We’d appreciate an email at surjbmutualaid@gmail.com to let us know you donated!)
Kickoff Call: Wednesday, January 26, 8:00PM
The United Vision project will organize SURJ members across the country to do text outreach to white people vulnerable to right-wing recruitment.
Take some time this week to educate yourself and others and re-commit to combating organized white supremacists.
No fault evictions should never happen, especially during a pandemic. Mutual aid is standing with neighbors facing evictions — join us to stand in solidarity with neighbors across the city.
After 4 years of organizing, the residents of 6 Humphrey’s Place in Dorchester won a huge victory: their building was bought by the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust, ensuring permanent affordability and community control. Read City Life/Vida Urbana’s year end recap to learn about other updates.
Over 24,000 eviction cases and counting have been filed in our state during the pandemic. Read a summary of the bill here, and let your legislators know how urgently we need protections from evictions and foreclosures in this continuing pandemic and economic crisis!
Take action here to defend affordable housing for working-class seniors and El Embajador Restaurant! → 1. Sign the petition 2. Sign up to flyer 3. Write a letter.
Watch this powerful video of Indigenous testimony about the need to support Indigenous-centered bills in Massachusetts.
Leonard Peltier, an Indigenous activist, has been in prison for 44 years (America’s longest serving political prisoner!) on charges and a trial that have been widely disputed. Email the White House to urge President Biden to release Leonard Peltier! See this doc for suggested language.
Contact us with any questions for our group. See our document for more info and further ways to take action.
Sunday, February 13, 12:30-2:30PM
Join us for a discussion of what it took to get voting rights for all, at least on paper, and where that struggle is now. We will glance at the national scene but dig in on efforts to increase voter participation in Massachusetts.
Zoom link coming in the next newsletter. Save Sunday, 2/13, 12:30-2:30pm. Contact amelie.ratliff@gmail.com with questions or for information.
Engage with us as we discuss: Whiteness Hurts (study group), books, and more. See our upcoming Zoom discussions / meetings; RSVP if you can attend.
Knapsack Facebook discussions are an
alternative to the Knapsack Meetup group; it is not required to join this FB group to join/attend the Meetup group.
Moving From Talk to Action: Find workshops and sign up on the WPCR website.
Sign up to receive communications directly from SURJ Boston groups around political education opportunities and ways to take action.
SURJ Boston is a project of Community Change Inc (CCI), a Boston-based organization promoting racial justice and equity by challenging systemic racism and acting as a catalyst for anti-racist
learning and action.
In 1968, as a result of the Civil Rights Movement and in response to the Kerner Commission which named racism as "a white problem”, CCI was birthed. CCI promotes racial justice and equity by challenging systemic racism and acting as a catalyst for anti-racist learning and action. CCI accomplishes its mission through education, advocacy and working in solidarity with others to organize for change.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Commit to doing just one thing this week.
We can do this.
Read more about SURJ Boston and ways to get involved on our website.