Boston Ujima Project

Join us this Thursday for Lose Your Mother: A Film Shorts Program at ICA Boston! Taking its title from the Saidiya Hartman text Lose Your Mother: A journey along the Atlantic Slave Route and inspired by a print by the graphic designer Nontsikelelo Mutiti entitled Kusina Mai/Kusina Mai Futi, a Chivanhu saying warning against being in a foreign land without the necessary support of people that would protect and encourage you, BlackStar Projects presents an evening of short films exploring ancestral connections through time and space. These dynamic filmmakers ask, "who are we if not amalgams of the people and the experiences that built us?" Food, music, technology, and more work to define our culture, and our culture is what we leave behind. Featuring experimental films by #BlackTrust alum Charlotte Brathwaite, Curtis Essel, Jenn Nkiru, Joseph Douglas Elmhirst, and Luis Arnías. 🗓️ Thursday, January 16 at 7 PM 📍 ICA | 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston MA 02210 📋 Register at https://lnkd.in/eZc8vvJh

Join us next week for Reflections with Ujima Staff, Investment and Community Standards Committee. Membersof our Investment Committee, Ujima Staff, and Community Standards Committee will share their reflections on 2024, including the highs, lows, and learnings from their roles. If you participated in any member teams or committees in 2024, we invite you to reflect on your journey within Ujima's ecosystem over the past year and consider the new possibilities we can explore together in the year ahead! 📆 January 15th | 6:00 PM EST 📍 Hyrbid | Haymarket People's Fund 📋 RSVP at https://lnkd.in/eFnqP5KP ➡️ About Speakers: Luis Cotto is a cultural worker with over 30 years of experience in Hartford, DC, Seattle, and Greater Boston. A former coffeehouse and bookstore owner in Hartford, he has championed "third places" in Black and Brown communities. Luis led Egleston Square Main Street in Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, pioneered "placekeeping," managed the Mass Cultural Council's Cultural District initiative, and most recently served as Executive Director of the Central Square BID in Cambridge. Pat Miguel Tomaino serves on the Ujima Fund Investment Committee and teaches 10th-grade history at Boston Green Academy in Brighton. Before completing teacher training at Boston College, he spent nearly a decade in green investing, including as Director of Socially Responsible Investing at Zevin Asset Management. Pat also worked as a producer for WBUR's Open Source and as a policy researcher for causes like Elizabeth Warren's 2012 Senate campaign. A Harvard graduate, he lives in Brighton with his partner Mary Claire and their dog Piper.

Tyahra Symone Angus, a Boston-based photographer and founder of AfroCentered Media, amplifies the representation of Black and Queer women through vernacular portraits and event photography. Her work uncovers hidden perspectives and uses photography as a tool for storytelling and cultural reflection. Join us for The Portal: Between The Everyday and The Sacred, our next Ujima Arts & Culture microlearning pod series with Tyahra. This three-session workshop, inspired by Zadie Smith's "Through the Portal," integrates video, literature, and photography to explore the sacred in everyday life. Participants will create digital exhibitions centered on transcendence and ritual. Don't miss this inspiring journey into art and spirituality! ✨ 📆 January 15th | 7:15 PM EST 📣 Virtual 📋 RSVP at https://lnkd.in/eFnqP5KP

Join us tomorrow for Reflections with Arts & Cultural Organizing and Resourcing Member Team. Members of our Arts & Cultural Organizing and Resourcing Member Team will share their reflections on 2024, including the highs, lows, and learnings from their roles. If you participated in any member teams or committees in 2024, we invite you to reflect on your journey within Ujima's ecosystem over the past year and consider the new possibilities we can explore together in the year ahead! 📆 January 8th | 6:00 PM EST 📣 Virtual 📋 RSVP at https://lnkd.in/eFnqP5KP ➡️ About Speakers: Ciarra McPhail, a Philadelphia-based social work professional, has over a decade of experience in community organizing and program development, focusing on Black and Brown economic liberation. She has worked with LISC, Funders for Housing and Opportunity, and the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA. She holds an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania and now contributes her expertise to the Boston Ujima Project. Adeline Gutierrez is a facilitator, writer, and spiritual care practitioner dedicated to liberation, justice, and transformative relationships rooted in Black feminism. Nahisha Jackson is an artist and journalist grounded in Black trans abolitionist work, using hope and love to reimagine worlds and advocate for collective liberation.

January at Ujima is a time for reflection, where we pause to meditate on what has been and imagine what could be. This month, #UjimaWednesdays will feature discussions and reflections with Ujima staff, members, and committees. Members from Ujima's ecosystem will share their wins, challenges, and lessons from 2024, followed by open discussions on cooperative work and processes. If you participated in any member teams or committees in 2024, we invite you to join the conversation each week. Reflect on your journey within Ujima's ecosystem over the past year and consider the new possibilities we can explore together in the year ahead. 🗓️ January 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th 📣 All sessions 6 PM EST 📋 RSVP at www.ujimaboston.com/events

📣 Last day to sign up! 🏠 The Boston Ujima Project, Inc. proudly introduces the Ujima Collective Real Estate Fund, launching in 2025. This initiative aims to support housing development that reflects the needs and aspirations of our communities. The fund provides new opportunities for members and wider communities to learn, design, and collaborate on community investment tools. Participants will meet monthly hybrid to focus on two key tracks: ➡ Real Estate Financing: Learn the basics of funding and managing real estate projects.
 ➡ Fund Design: Collaborate on co-creating the fund's structure, governance, and operations. This six-month commitment is a chance to help shape a community-led housing fund. Let's reimagine real estate for our communities! 🔗 Fill out the interest form: https://lnkd.in/esMK3JTU

Join us for our next Ujima Arts & Culture microlearning pod series: The Portal: Between The Everyday and The Sacred with Tyahra Symone Angus. This three-session workshop explores the link between contemporary art-making and the sacred in everyday life, using Zadie Smith's essay "Through the Portal" as a starting point. Through video, literature, and photography, it examines how artists document the present as artistic and spiritual inquiry. Participants will create a digital exhibition on transcendence and ritual. 📆 January 15th | 7:15 PM EST 📣 Virtual 📋 RSVP at www.ujimaboston.com/events ➡️ About Speaker: Tyahra Symone Angus, a Boston-based photographer and artist, celebrates Queer and Black identities. Founder of AfroCentered Media (2015), she amplifies Black and Queer women's representation through vernacular portraits, event photography, and workshops. A Smith College and Lesley University graduate, she is now an Art Therapy Practitioner. Her work appears in Black Futures (2021).

Join us for the next week for Resourcing Night School with Jeri Rayon. Resourcing Night School is a program designed to enhance members' knowledge in donorship, resourcing, and philanthropy, with a focus on Black giving. Jeri Rayon from the Black Donors Project will guide participants in exploring the critical role of relationship-building in resource organizing. Learn strategies for engaging donors, cultivating trust, and sustaining meaningful connections through an interactive discussion. 📆 January 8th | 7:15 PM EST 📣 Virtual 📋 RSVP at www.ujimaboston.com/events ➡️ About Speaker: Jeri Rayon is the Founder of the Black Donors Project, dedicated to advancing equity in arts and philanthropy through advocacy, storytelling, and systemic reform. She has held leadership roles with renowned arts organizations and serves as a coach for Creative West's Cultural Sustainability Program. Through initiatives like Black Prompts, Jeri empowers Black-led nonprofits to confront structural barriers and champion narrative sovereignty in philanthropy.

📣 Call for Pitches: Submissions for The Ujima Wire! The Ujima Wire is a Boston-based, monthly digital publication showcasing cultural, economic, and political criticism, as well as reported journalism, poetry, short fiction, and experimental compositions. We publish from January through September, focusing on stories that connect to Boston's Black, Brown, and working-class communities, solidarity politics, liberation narratives, urban policy/planning, or arts and culture. Ready to share your voice? We welcome submissions from first-time writers, mid-career folks, and experienced professionals, with a preference for writers from marginalized backgrounds. Join us in amplifying diverse narratives and making an impact in our communities! 🔗 www.bit.ly/pitchujima

"You do not go where your mother is not." Taking its title from the Saidiya Hartman text Lose Your Mother: A journey along the Atlantic Slave Route and inspired by a print by the graphic designer Nontsikelelo Mutiti entitled Kusina Mai/Kusina Mai Futi, a Chivanhu saying warning against being in a foreign land without the necessary support of people that would protect and encourage you, BlackStar Projects presents an evening of short films exploring ancestral connections through time and space. These dynamic filmmakers ask, "who are we if not amalgams of the people and the experiences that built us?" Food, music, technology, and more work to define our culture, and our culture is what we leave behind. Featuring experimental films by #BlackTrust alum Charlotte Brathwaite, Curtis Essel, Jenn Nkiru, Joseph Douglas Elmhirst, and Luis Arnías. 📆 Thursday, January 16 at 7 PM 📍 ICA | 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston MA 02210 📋 Register at https://lnkd.in/eFjkUGqg