City of Boston Task Force on Reparations Awards Grants and Contracts to 26 Recipients through Community Grassroots Partnerships Program

Mayor Michelle Wu and the Reparations Task Force (RTF) today announced the recipients of 26 contracts and grants under the Reparations Community Grassroots Partnerships Program. The task force’s program invests up to $70,000 in residents’ efforts to create community-based spaces and honor the untold stories of Black residents of Boston. This program will expand opportunities for community engagement with the reparations work and supplement the research teams ongoing efforts to produce their report. This partnership program was funded by the City of Boston’s Equity and Inclusion Cabinet.

"The Boston Reparations Task Force's Community Grassroots Partnerships program is a critical effort led by community to highlight the stories of residents and families, and that of Boston,” said Mayor Michelle Wu.  “I'm grateful to all of our awardees for their service in advancing this work and look forward to the awardees and Task Force's continued efforts."

Program recipients, including community-based leaders and organizations, local artists and historians, educators, and elders, were supported through grants and contracts. The grants were awarded for the “History and Research Grassroots” and “Storytelling and Public Education” categories.  The contracts were awarded for “Community Engagement” and “Oral History” categories.

"How do we achieve a united voice to mandate, acknowledge, articulate, repair and restore our own histories?  We act together as a whole community in Boston to acquire the value, the ownership, the justice due as credit for our own historic contributions, stories and occupied spaces, " said  L’Merchie Frazier, City of Boston Reparations Task Force Member.

“Congratulations to all award recipients, we cannot wait to see the wonderful work you all continue to do in your communities!” said Mariangely Solis Cervera, Chief of Equity & Inclusion. “We hope that by investing in our City community, we can bring community-grounded strategies into the Task Force’s work.”

“The Grassroots Partnerships Program is a powerful testament to the strength of community-led initiatives. By investing in the stories, spaces, and voices of Black residents, we are not only honoring our history but also creating pathways for collective healing and justice. These partnerships embody our commitment to racial justice, allowing us to address the legacy of racism and move Boston closer to true equity for all,” said Lori Nelson, Senior Advisor on Racial Justice.

The 26 recipients selected to receive grants or contracts are:

Black Men United Boston: The partnership will be used for weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 9am, Charles St AME Church.

STEP Nation: The partnership will be used to host three community meetings, each targeting a different population of Boston residents including elders/senior citizens, youth and their families, and general Boston residents.

Massachusetts Council of Churches: The partnership will be used to host two plenary meetings to discuss what reparations can look like in religious communities. The objective is to tell stories of what is already happening in Boston, hear what is needed, and spark a prophetic imagination of what reparative work is possible.

United Sons and Daughters of Freedmen: This partnership will be used to support USADOF’s educational initiatives and workshops on reparations and the legacy of slavery, including their online sessions and the in-person workshops.

Repair America Collective: The partnership will be used to host a "Back 2 School" Reparations Event, organized by individuals ages 14-25 from the Transformative Culture Project and the Marcus Anthony Hall Educational Institute, along with educational experts. They will have interactive exhibits, workshops, storytelling sessions, and art/music performances.

Mass Spiritz: The partnership will be used to host three events , focusing particularly on how reparations can ensure a liveable wage for Black Bostonians who are artists/creators. A three-track EP will be created with some of the funding, and each meeting will hold a listening session for the songs assigned followed by a discussion.

United Neighbors of Lower Roxbury: The partnership will be used to host  "History in the Garden" event, devoting attention to a constructive conversation about the history of lower Roxbury, the challenges the neighborhood faces today and how reparations may look in the neighborhood.

Reclaim Roxbury: The partnership will be used to host three community meetings with Roxbury members, discussing the legacy of slavery in Boston's housing policy.

Boston People’s Reparations Commission: This partnership will be used to organize twelve meetings and additional events per year for Black Boston families, focusing on community engagement, education, and setting goals and objectives.

Bay State Banner: The partnership will be used to host one to three Grassroots community engagement meetings, located in Roxbury, Mattapan and South End. These meetings would focus on homeowners and home seekers to engage conversation about home buying/selling experiences, and racism within the housing process in Boston. The conversation will then shift to what housing based reparations could be in Boston.

Panthers Legends Academic Youth: The partnership will be used to host three community engagement meetings at Tech Boston Academy surrounding anti-Black racism and promoting local reparations while fostering a healing community among Black Bostonians.

ADOS Advocacy Foundation: The partnership will be used to hold an informative meeting covering the working definitions of reparations, the history of slavery in the U.S. and the unique history of slavery in Massachusetts. It will also follow legislative timelines of reparations and provide opportunities for engagement and advocacy for those interested.

Urban Heat: The partnership will be used to host reparations experts to ensure community members have a conclusive understanding of reparations.

Olaleye Communications: The partnership will be used for two local artists to provide a creative opportunity to obtain real life testimonies, pertaining to experiences with racism and life after slavery. In this event, cultural and visual information depicting struggles against racism will be depicted, and conversations about restorative justice will be facilitated. The sessions will be recorded by a videographer and transcribed.

The Blue Hill Collaborative: The partnership will be used to host four meetings for Black residents of Boston, including the following discussions: Stories about Labor and Delivery; Life Expectancy based on Zip Codes; Who moved Trades from Boston Public Schools?; How much is owed for Reparations? The meetings will serve as an open mic for Black women and girls to tell their experiences while giving birth at Boston hospitals. 

Marcus Anthony Hall: This partnership will support interactive exhibits, workshops, storytelling, and performances aimed at engaging youth in discussions about reparations, with a focus on how young leaders can influence Boston’s future through education, cultural expression, and advocacy for social change.

AccessMA: The partnership will build on a short documentary to highlight the experiences of three formerly incarcerated Black Boston residents, focusing on the systemic challenges within the Massachusetts prison system and reentry process. Drawing on Mac Hudson's 33 years of experience in MA prisons, the project will explore the ongoing impacts of incarceration on housing, employment, and medical care, aiming to raise awareness and inspire public support for meaningful reforms.

We Black Folk: This partnership will support the work of the oral history collection for the inaugural year of We Black Folk, which encompasses live music presentations, conversations, oral histories and archival documentation aiming to build a Greater Boston-based movement for Black folk artists and their body of work. 

Mandysia Tyree Armand Albert: This partnership highlights the lived experiences of three Boston residents impacted by systemic racism. Mrs. Joyce King has long fought against anti-Black policies, Mrs. Audrey Armand has endured housing and healthcare injustices, and Rev. Dr. Kevin Peterson, an advocate involved in Boston's reparations efforts, has brought attention to these issues.

Abdul Wilkins: This partnership will raise awareness and create a continued call to action around the importance of green spaces for growing and gathering. Through a combination of visual art and videography, this project will co-create experiences that encourage mindfulness and promote sustainable solutions, connecting individuals, communities, green organizations, and contributors.

Anne Moritz: This partnership explores a growing collection of research that illuminates the history of a Black community in the North End and is researching an extension of the Black Heritage Trail outside of Beacon Hill and into the North End. 

Aziza Robinson-Goodnight: This partnership funds a research project called "Uncovering the Epigenetic Harm of Controlling and Silencing Black American Art and Culture in Boston" which aims to shed light on a critical aspect of the history of anti-Black racism in the city by examining the ways in which the suppression and theft of Black creativity have contributed to intergenerational trauma and inequality.

Beacon Hill Scholars: This partnership helps to finalize the audio for a self guided tour called “Abolition Acre! A Black Freedom Trail in Boston” made up of ten stops, beginning at the Old State House and ending at the memorial to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment on Boston Common.

Claudia Lopez: This partnership funds a storytelling project centered on uplifting histories of unhoused people that center their empowerment and activism. The partner plans to create three audio stories that will be curated by people who have experienced homelessness, and then host public listening events also curated by people experiencing or who have experienced homelessness. 

Freedom House, Inc.: This partnership funds a collaboration between the Freedom House and Northeastern University’s community archiving initiative the Reckonings Project, which will train and guide youth leaders in facilitating community listening sessions, informational presentations, the technical aspects of capturing video, and transcribing video interviews in their communities.

Hidden Jamaica Plain: This partnership funds continued research at the Loring Greenough House, including an article on slavery at the house. Hidden Jamaica Plain plans to develop a Slavery and Freedom online walking tour for the JP Historical Society, and the Loring Greenough House and its history of enslavement will be a key feature of the tour.

Hyde Park Main Streets: This partnership supports an exhibit which is designed to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of People of Color in modern-current times in Hyde Park. The exhibit also hopes to begin a five-year initiative and book project to document the current events as history making events and highlight BIPOC residents of Hyde Park as drivers and facilitators of that history.  

Irene Smalls: This partnership funds a film that serves as a vehicle for the development of positive self-esteem in young Black boys. This film will provide young Black boys with affirming images and messages, counteracting the pervasive negative imagery they often encounter. By targeting children aged zero to five, our partner aims to build a strong foundation of self-worth and resilience that will help Black boys navigate and resist the racist attitudes, stereotypes, and behaviors they may face later in life.

Jibril Haynes: This partnership funds youth programming that addresses anti-Black racism by engaging children in storytelling, songwriting, and film production, focusing on the historical and contemporary impact of racism in Boston. By fostering an understanding of this topic through creative expression, the partner aims to empower youth, amplify their voices, and cultivate a deeper sense of community awareness and resilience.

John Brewer: This partnership funds an archive exhibit of the 90s Afrolatino youth underground club scene as well as the graffiti scene of the crew African Latino alliance, a group of political artists and activist with illustrations and murals around Boston predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods. 

League of Women for Community Service: This partnership funds preservation of the history of the League of Women for Community Service, an advocacy and charity organization founded by prominent Black women in the 20th century in Boston’s South End. 

London Parker-McWhorter: This partnership will focus on 17th century archival work regarding scans of original documents about the original settlement at Boston as well as research and scans regarding Zipporah Potter Atkins and the 1641 "Body of Liberties." 

Afrimerican Culture Initiative Inc.: This partnership focuses on the consequences of redlining in Boston and aims to add value to a comprehensive digital storytelling project that documents and highlights the impact of redlining and urban renewal policies on Boston’s African American communities. The collected community stories will be compiled into a digital archive, accessible through a dedicated website.

The Diahann Project: This partnership funds the “Birthlooms Series,” a photo journalistic documentary chronicling the liberating stills and visual storytelling of Black and Brown birthing families and the birth worker  and perinatal providers based in Massachusetts who co-journey with them.

We Power Boston: This partnership funds a video production featuring four Bostonians interviewed to discuss a series of topics relating to policy change and how it affects Black and Brown Boston, specifically on voting, housing, opening small businesses and access to the necessary resources for those activities.

Voices of Liberation: This partnership will host three meetings aiming to reach Black Bostonians living in poverty, particularly in historically Black neighborhoods like Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Hyde Park, and address economic relief needs for Black families with a median net worth of $24,000, underscoring the necessity of reparations.

Abstract Minor: This partnership will document the experiences of long-term Black Boston residents—including a senior citizen, a middle-aged professional, and a formerly incarcerated individual—highlighting themes of policy, housing, education, health, and policing, and using their stories to drive meaningful change and create spaces for justice and dignity through expression.

Sharon Hinton: The partnership will be used for a video project highlighting the community of Columbia Point, and how it was adversely affected by discriminatory housing policies through the 1950s-1970s, along with impacts from the desegregation of Boston Public Schools. Additional funding is provided for a written project on the history of Black educators and the community education movement in Boston as it relates to the Topographical Center in Grove Hall, a grassroots, community led, organized and operated after school program.

The Loop Lab: This partnership will capture and document the oral histories of notable Black individuals in the Boston community, such as Enoch O'Dell Woodhouse II, JD, whose experiences reflect resilience against systemic adversity, to shed light on the impacts of municipal policies and anti-Black racism, inspire future generations, and contribute to a more just and inclusive society by sharing these powerful stories.

“The City of Boston’s Reparations Community Grassroots Partnerships Program is a meaningful step for The Loop Lab and our mission to uplift BIPOC voices through media arts,” said Chris Hope, Founder/Executive Director at Loop Lab. “It’s about honoring the untold stories of Black Americans in Boston and providing real opportunities for Boston BIPOC content creators to grow, learn, and get paid for their talent. This program helps us ensure that our community’s stories are shared with the respect and authenticity they deserve.”

“This program has provided me with the opportunity to amplify the voices of Black Americans within my own community. A significant task as we move forward in repairing our nation's injustices through reparations,” said Bianca Cole Clark, known as Abstract Minor, a freelance artist. 

These grants are funded by the City of Boston’s operating budget. The Task Force looks forward to showcasing the work of all the partners throughout the partnership and information for events and initiatives will be updated on the Reparation Task Force website and the Equity and Inclusion Cabinet’s social media pages. For more information and interest in these recipients and their work, please contact the organizations or individuals directly. 

For more information about the Task Force on Reparations, visit boston.gov/reparations.