Community Movement Commons

The partners of CMC—Center for Economic Democracy, Matahari Women Workers’ Center, Movement Sustainability Commons, Neighborhood Birth Center, Resist, and Sisters Unchained—are pleased to share that we’ve arrived at a creative solution that reflects the community feedback we received and honors our decade-long vision to co-own space and share resources as we work towards collective liberation. Welcome to CMC’s new multi-site, campus-style model (the “archipelago”) in which we plan to expand our offering across 2 parcels in Roxbury. Neighborhood Birth Center will redesign a smaller space (for clinical use only) at 14 Winthrop St, with increased parking and more green space. We are also in discussion with a land trust just 1/4 mile away from 14 Winthrop to build the movement center for the other nonprofit organizations with shared offices and public gathering spaces. Both properties will be collectively managed by Community Movement Commons. We’ve been steadfast in our belief that we can go further together—and that our collective thriving relies on the deep partnerships we’ve been nurturing. We are so relieved and excited, and look forward to being in touch later this fall with updates. And in the meantime, we are happy to connect 1:1 for questions. Fill out this contact form, and we will be in touch. Thank you for your years of support and commitment to our project—this has been a wild journey but with partners like you we know this vision is possible. In solidarity, Center for Economic Democracy, Matahari Women Workers’ Center, Movement Sustainability Commons, Neighborhood Birth Center, Resist, and Sisters Unchained (the partners of Community Movement Commons)

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Our Story:

Conversations about collective spaces for liberation and new world building began in 2017 among many community members and groups in Boston. After the pandemic started, small groups within the collective gained momentum and began searching for locations for various spaces. A first retreat center property in Western Massachusetts was purchased outright in early 2022. Toward the end of the year, a second Boston based property was purchased in Roxbury at the corner of Winthrop St and Kearsarge Ave. A third property was recently purchased in East Boston and Revere. This second property is called Community Movement Commons, is a bold vision, and is the sole focus of this capital campaign.

Who we are:

Our core movement organizations are working together to create a “love letter for our community” in the form of a beautiful home not just for us but for many movement organizations. Our six groups are:

o Neighborhood Birth Center: Boston’s first community birth center, 1st black led, 2nd in state

o Matahari Women Workers’ Center: working to end the exploitation of women and femme workers

o Sisters Unchained: connecting with girls, young women and nonbinary youth whose loved ones are currently or formerly incarcerated. We aim to work towards a world without prisons.

o Center for Economic Democracy: working towards economic democracy

o Movement Sustainability Commons: creating a sustainable movement infrastructure

o Resist: a community foundation 55 years young resourcing justice and liberation.

Ways to help or connect:

We envision philanthropic partners as foundations, corporations, government entities, and families and individuals. Contributions can be in the form of grants, cash gifts, stock transfers, donor-advised funds, employee matching, etc. We are happy to connect around any form of giving listed above or others.

Please reach out to our campaign consultant Alison Yoder at alison@wrightcollective.co with questions or to set-up a meeting to discuss how you would like to support this campaign.

https://movementcommons.co/