On February 28th, Gloria Namugaya spoke at the third event in the Grassroots Speakers Series. Gloria is the Executive Director of Women Encouraging Empowerment Inc., an organization that supports immigrant and refugee women and their families. WEE’s mission is “to educate, advocate, protect and advance the rights of immigrants, refugees and low income women and their families through organizing leadership development and service delivery.” Gloria began and directs numerous programs with the goal of helping immigrant and refugee families support themselves.
Gloria, accompanied by her newborn daughter, spoke about the work of WEE’s numerous initiatives, including their ESL program, community circle and leadership initiatives, and domestic violence prevention efforts.
Numerous women who work with and are part of the WEE community attended the event with Gloria. Some of them shared their stories and personal narratives, including their experiences of being displaced to the United States and how they then sought help from the WEE community. The women also talked about their terrifying interactions with ICE agents since settling in Boston with their families. We thank them for sharing their powerful stories with us.
Please consider supporting Gloria’s work and WEE by reading more about how to get involved, volunteering with their organization, or making a donation. We appreciate all those who attended Gloria’s talk and have showed support for this series.
GRASSROOTS SPEAKER SERIES: LEARNING AND ACTION WITH LOCAL ORGANIZERS
Join us for the next event in our series on March 29th featuring Priscilla Flint-Banks, the co-founder of Black Economic Justice Institute (BEJI) in Dorchester, MA. Priscilla will be talking about the work of their initiative, the Blue Hill Corridor Planning Commission, where a group of community stakeholders are working together to stem the tide of gentrification and to have a say in development.
On April 10th, we will hear from Kevin Lam, the Organizing Director of Asian American Resource Workshop. Kevin will be talking about the current landscape/conditions within the Southeast Asian community regarding deportation issues, specifically focusing on AARW’s organizing efforts to mobilize against Southeast Asian detention and deportation.
ABOUT THE GRASSROOTS SPEAKER SERIES
In the midst of today’s hostile political climate, grassroots organizers remind us that the struggles of oppressed people are not new. TSNE, with our long history of nonprofit capacity building, seeks to use our platform to lift up the voices of grassroots community organizers working on some of our society’s most pressing issues.
The Grassroots Speaker Series highlights the creativity, resourcefulness, and resilience of local community organizers. Our speakers will share how their lived experiences shape their organizing and the difficulties they face leading grassroots organizations.
Our speakers will explain how audience members can get involved in supporting their work, and may include a facilitated action step during their talks. We hope that attendees will leave with ideas about how to continue to support these important organizations and causes in their own lives—as nonprofit workers, funders, students, or community members.