CARRYING THE WEIGHT, LEADING THE CHANGE
How Women of Color Grassroots Leaders Navigate Inequities While Driving Solutions
A research report in partnership with Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at UMass Boston
At the heart of this report is a simple truth: BIPOC women and gender-expansive grassroots leaders are holding our communities together. They are visionaries, healers, and organizers. They are the ones who show up first in moments of crisis, who stretch scarce resources to meet urgent needs, and who carry their communities with love and resilience.
And yet, these same leaders are too often overlooked, undervalued, and underfunded. Their organizations often work with less and give the most. Their wisdom and lived experience rarely shape the decisions that most affect their communities.
This report aims to shift that narrative. We offer both the numbers and stories behind the numbers to name the inequities, to honor the brilliance of these leaders, and to call funders, policymakers, and partners into a different way of resourcing community power.
"At the Boston Women’s Fund, we’ve heard and felt these truths time and again, carried by grassroots leaders whose lived experience is expertise. At the Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy, we knew these insights needed to be captured as formal, rigorous, undeniable evidence. Because lived realities are not anecdotes; they are facts. And facts must drive the policies and investments that shape our futures."
RESEARCH PARTNERS.
To accomplish the goals of this research project, BWF has partnered with a research team with expertise in the issues and topics we sought to explore.​
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Jessica K. Martin, Research Consultant:
With over a decade in philanthropy, government and the nonprofit sector, Jessica brings expertise in data-driven communications, operations and strategic planning as well as a deep passion for social justice and engaging in work that is mission-driven and human-oriented. Jessica’s areas of experience include: data analysis and research for publication; policy analysis; impact assessment and evaluation; organizational operations and budget management; and, information infrastructure and data management with a focus on open and accessible data.
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Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy:
Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Director | Christa Kelleher, Research & Policy Director | Amrith Fernandes Prabhu, Graduate Assistant | Adanna Kalejaye, Graduate Assistant
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The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP), based at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston aims to promote diverse women’s leadership to achieve more just, equitable, and responsive public and institutional policies and meaningful inclusion. It does this through its Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy (GLPP) graduate certificate and MPA-GLPP track programs; applied research on electoral representation and intersectional public policy analysis, relating to the economic, health and social well-being of women and families; and public convenings that mobilize community and women’s political participation. In all its work, CWPPP’s approach is anti-racist as we seek to tackle critical issues affecting women’s lives through an intersectional lens of gender, race/ethnicity, class, and other identities. ​
RESEARCH UNVEILING & DIALOGUE EVENT.
The Boston Women’s Fund and UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy were thrilled to present our Research Unveiling & Dialogue Event, with support from YW Boston! We discussed our research effort on the wellbeing of BIPOC leaders in the grassroots ecosystem and recommendations to sustain their leadership, before it’s released to the public.
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This first look at our research effort before the public release featured a panel discussion on the implications of these findings and actions we can take towards collective liberation. Learn more about our panelists below. We were grateful for a morning of connection and dialogue as we collectively shift to better support the needs of grassroots BIPOC leaders, for the betterment of Greater Boston at large!
Event Panelists
Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson
Director,
UMass Boston's Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy
