RSVP for May 22 From Insight to Impact Webinar, "Missing & Opaque Systems: Who Is Locked Out?"

In Greater Boston, access isn’t evenly distributed. Behind many funding decisions are systems and networks that determine who gets visibility and who gets overlooked entirely.

Dive into this issue in Session 2 of “From Insight to Impact," a five-part community learning and action webinar series grounded in building a shared understanding of how charitable giving shapes equity in our region.

Friday, May 22

12:00–12:45 PM

Virtual

Free!

Our research report, “Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change,” reveals how grassroots organizations led by women and gender-expansive people of color are working to meet urgent community needs while navigating systems that were never built with them in mind. 

In Session 2, “Missing & Opaque Systems: Who is Locked Out?”, we’ll look at how funding remains concentrated among a small number of organizations, while groups serving immigrant, multilingual, trans, and gender-expansive communities continue to face major barriers to support.

Grassroots leader Asha Abdullahi, Founder and Executive Director of Somali Parents Advocacy Center for Education (SPACE), will join the conversation to share what it means to build community-rooted work outside traditional philanthropic networks.

Register Here

"Mothering the Mother" Book Talk - May 21 feat. Mama Shafia

The Boston Women’s Fund and New Commonwealth Fund are excited to invite you to a powerful and intimate evening with renowned midwife Mama Shafia in celebration of her debut book, Mothering the Mother. 



This is not just a book talk: it’s an invitation into a deeper understanding of care, healing, and what it truly means to support mothers during one of the most vulnerable and transformative periods of their lives.

Thursday, May 21

6:00-8:00 pm

Free

Street Theory Collective

541 Massachusetts Ave.,

Cambridge, MA 02139

RSVP Today!

Mama Shafia, a renowned traditional midwife, public health expert, and cultural healer, brings over forty years of experience supporting birthing parents and communities. Grounded in African American postpartum traditions, many of which have been historically suppressed, her work reclaims practices that center nourishment, rest, ritual, and collective care.

At a time when Black women continue to face disproportionate risks in childbirth and postpartum health, Mothering the Mother offers more than insight: it offers a path forward. It calls us back to community-based care, to sisterhood, and to practices that honor both mother and child with dignity, protection, and love.

This evening is about more than learning, it’s about remembering. It’s about being in community. And it’s about asking, together, what becomes possible when we truly center care.

RSVP Today!

WCVB CityLine: Supporting Women and Girls of Color

Boston Women's Fund's CEO, Natanja Craig Oquendo and Researcher Jessica Martin sits with WCVB to discuss "Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change."

WCVB CityLine: Supporting Women and Girls of Color

New data shows just 0.2% of Greater Boston nonprofits focus on women and girls of color. Natanja Craig Oquendo, CEO of the Boston Women's Fund, and Jessica Martin, the research consultant for the study, lay out the resources needed to change current inequities.

"When we talk about the triple burden, what we want people to understand is that our leaders are also in this life... they have lived experience that is so valuable to us right now, and we want to make sure they're resourced in the right way." - Natanja Craig Oquendo, Boston Women's Fund's CEO

Watch the full segment here