Local work to consider supporting:
- Compost Cooperative Affordable Housing and Coop Sustainability: The Compost Cooperative (based in Greenfield) is raising funds to secure essential housing for their formerly incarcerated apprentice worker-owners! Formerly incarcerated folks need access to safe and secure housing, and this Coop is organizing to make that happen for the long term.
- Decarcerate Western MA Bail fund: “Decarcerate Western Mass Bailout Project is part of Decarcerate Western Mass, an abolitionist group organizing for decarceration in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties in Massachusetts.”
- Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective: Indigenous Womxn Restoring Spiritual Foundations Through Sustainable Food And Economic Systems
- Gardening the Community: “Gardening The Community is a food justice organization engaged in youth development, urban agriculture and sustainable living to build healthy and equitable communities. GTC operates a training program created for youth from around the Mason Square neighborhood and beyond to grow fruits and vegetables on vacant and abandoned lots. Youth receive a stipend and are taught principles of urban sustainable living and urban agriculture.”
- Great Falls Books Through Bars: “Great Falls Books through Bars is an organization in Franklin County, MA that sends free books, resources and reading material to prisoners.”
- Holyoke Food and Equity Collective: “The Holyoke Food and Equity Collective is an antiracist community organization working to create better access to healthy food in the city of Holyoke by building food sovereignty. On every level from policy change to gleaning, the collective’s goal is to generate health, racial, and economic equity in our community.”
- Islamic Society of Western Mass: Fulfillment of religious needs of local Muslims is the primary mission of ISWM. Its mission also includes presenting Islam and representing the local Muslims to the society et large. It strives to build constructive relationships with non-Muslims in general and other religious (faith) communities in particular.
- Jewish Voices for Peace Western Mass: A community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights.
- Kibilio (Refuge) Community and Farm: Leyden MA, “Kibilio Community and Farm is rooted in Black and Queer land sovereignty. It is an intergenerational, intentional community dedicated to embodied healing, and reparative, ecological, and reproductive justice. We in this BIPOC community invite you to be a part our journey of healing and healthy living so that we may cooperatively work toward educating for indigenous land justice and ecological balance.”
- Northampton Abolition Now “(NAN) is a group of Western Mass based artists, community leaders, educators, organizers, and writers who have been collectively advocating for radical reimagining of public safety in Northampton. NAN organizes to move money from the police department into alternative programs that make our community safer.”
- Native Land Conservancy in Mashpee, MA: “Native Land Conservancy was founded in 2012 in Mashpee, Massachusetts, and is the first Native-run land conservation group east of the Mississippi. After centuries of hardship and economic struggle, it is only now that we can finally attend to the important work of protecting sacred spaces, habitat areas for our winged and four legged neighbors and other essential ecosystem resources to benefit Mother Earth and all human beings.”
- Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust: “The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust* (NEFOC LT) is a hybrid model land trust, bringing together a community land trust model and a conservation land trust model to reimagine land access as well as conservation and stewardship of communities and ecosystems with the goal of manifesting a community vision that uplifts global Indigenous, Black, and POC relationships with land, skills, and lifeways.”
- Nueva Esperanza “Nueva Esperanza exists to be a catalyst and partner for a vibrant, sustainable and powerful Puerto Rican/Afro-Caribbean community in Holyoke.”
- Ohketeau Cultural Center: “Ohketeau is the Nipmuc word for a place to plant and grow. The Ohketeau Cultural Center serves as a place of creation and growth; where ideas will be born, nurtured, and lived out. Not only does this space allow for creative projects, but it is a safe haven for Indigenous community.”
- Out Now: “The only queer youth organization in Springfield MA, Out Now provides a safe space for queer youth & allies to learn about themselves, develop lasting friendships and leadership skills, explore the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, and so much more.”
- Palante Restorative Justice Program at Holyoke High School: “The Pa’lante Restorative Justice Program works to build youth power, center student voice, and organize for school discipline and educational policies and practices that actively dismantle the school to prison pipeline in Holyoke and beyond.”
- Pioneer Valley Workers Center: “We build power with low wage and immigrant workers across Western Massachusetts. Together we strengthen our communities, organize our workplaces, and take political action to win economic and social change for working people.”
- Performance Project of Springfield: “The Performance Project is a community of many ages and ancestries that engages young people in intensive artistic training, intergenerational mentoring, leadership development, and community building through the arts. The Performance Project envisions a world in which all people strive for personal and social liberation, where all individuals and cultures are honored, embrace interconnectedness, and we all are free to achieve our full potential.”
- Springfield Noone Leaves: “Springfield No One Leaves is a grassroots member-led organization in Springfield, Massachusetts. We organize residents most directly impacted by the housing crisis and economic inequality to build collective power, defend against displacement and win long-term community ownership & control over land and housing.”
- Touch the Sky: “Touch the Sky, formerly PV Housing Now and the Housing, Incarceration and Immigration Sub-committee developed out of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center in response to the COVID pandemic in March 2020. The original goal was to support direct, mutual aid efforts and legislative initiatives for undocumented people, immigrants, incarcerated people and unhoused people led by various leading organizations in Massachusetts.”
- Trans Asylum Seeker Support Network: TASSN is a border-abolitionist mutual aid collective supporting Trans and Genderqueer asylum seekers. They focus on supporting their compx in crossing the border, getting out of detention, securing housing, legal support, healthcare, transportation, and comprehensive daily financial and material support, building thriving lives and communities, and winning their asylum cases. For more inforation visit their Instagram page and Linktree.
- Women of Color Health Equity Collective: “Our mission is to promote the resilience and empowerment of Women of Color to advance health and wellness by building community-capacity and advocating for just policies through evidence-based research and grassroots organizations.”
