Welcome, Nigel & Elijah!
The Boston Ujima Project is proud to announce the arrival of our two new Ujima Fund interns, Nigel Jayavendra and Elijah McCants-Green!
Nigel Anton Jayavendra is a junior at Westborough High School in Massachusetts who is fascinated by financial inclusion and the economics of development in both urban areas and emerging markets. He is very involved in the microfinance community as a fundraising volunteer at PEER Servants and the founder of a high school student-run microfinance institution, the Westborough MicroBank. In addition, he is currently conducting research on the growth potential of the informal economy of his home country Sri Lanka and is in the process of establishing Money Trees, an accelerator program for microenterprises in frontier markets. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball with his friends and competing in high school speech and debate. He is very excited to work at the Ujima Fund!
Elijah McCants-Green is a music producer, actor, and budding leader based in the Philadelphia area. Elijah has produced soundtracks for Black History Mini Docs, the Mayor of My City Rap Competition, and has sold songs internationally. On top of his musical endeavors, he has acted in a short film titled Greenhouse and attends the University of Pittsburgh as a Political Science major.
Welcome, Boston Center for Community Ownership!
Image: Staff of BCCO with members of Boston Cleaning Collective
Ujima is also proud to announce our partnership with Boston Center for Community Ownership!
Boston Center for Community Ownership supports cooperative businesses in working-class communities, immigrant communities, and communities of color in Boston and throughout New England. BCCO is a worker self-directed non-profit that uses a community organizing approach to co-op development. They provide organizing support in English and Spanish for startup co-ops and co-op conversions, as well as ongoing training and technical assistance for existing co-ops.
“I’ve been around since the early days of Ujima, back when it was a study group. BCCO is serving as the Seed Commons Program Officer for Ujima's Boston Local Co-op Fund. Our role is to provide technical assistance, or training and tools for success, to Ujima borrowers. We specialize in co-ops, but what we do is translatable for all small businesses,” says Stacey Cordeiro, “The idea is that we’ll be the liaison between the Ujima Fund and Seed Commons Network.”
Learn more about BCCO here.
TONIGHT: Voting Extravaganza
This #UjimaWednesday at 6PM, we will be hosting a Voting Extravaganza for Ujima Voting Members. Join us for a live performance, and voting. Attendees will receive a customized gift box from our partners at Commonwealth Kitchen!
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#UjimaWednesdays
Wednesday, May 5th, from 6:00pm-8:30pm.
Time: Wednesday, May 5th, 6PM | Location: Zoom Only
- 6:00PM-7:15PM Ujima Voting Extravaganza: This Wednesday we are using our workshop time to host our first-ever Voting Extravaganza!
- 7:15PM-8:30PM #CoCreation: Arts & Cultural Organizing Member Team and Podcast Member Teams
PLEASE RSVP. Thank you!
- May 5 - Ujima Voting Extravaganza
- May 5 - Arts & Cultural Organizing Member Team: This quarter, the Arts and Cultural Organizing Micro-learning Pod is led by Ujima fellow Mercedes Loving-Manley. Through studying the works of 3 filmmakers, we will learn the role of community and storytelling for Black Queer and Trans people.
- May 5 - Podcast Member Team: Help create a member-led podcast, by and for the Ujima community.
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2021 Citywide Investment Plan
Ujima Voting Members: Have you voted to ratify the 2021 Citywide Investment Plan yet? There are just 2 days left to submit your vote!
HOW TO VOTE:
- VOTING REGISTRATION: Check your membership status by logging in at bit.ly/ujimamembers. You must be a voting member to vote.
- VOTING OPTIONS: When you log in to your Member Portal, you will click the button named "Citywide Investment Vote 2021" or under the dropdown menu that asks, "What would you like to do?," select “Visit Ujima Voting Commons,” which will take you to the site where you can find the ballots as well as video tutorials on voting. You can vote online or by paper ballot. We have three versions of the ballot that you can choose from. Login to your member portal to view all ballots and instructions here.
- VOTING SCHEDULE: Cast your vote by Friday, May 7th, 2021! All paper ballots must be postmarked by this date. All online voting must be completed by 11:59PM.
- PHONE A FRIEND: After you’ve completed your ballot, sign up to remind or encourage other members to vote! Click here to sign up to contact a friend.
We need over half of all Voting Members in each round to make this vote binding! For more information about this year’s vote log in to the Ujima Voting Commons.
#CoLearn Recap: Haley House
Last week we were joined by Bing and Misha from Haley House Bakery Cafe, who spoke about the history of Haley House, the 2019 closure, and what they've been up to in the past year. Check out the link to view the full video and notes here.
Upcoming Ujima Meetings
We hold Open Meetings every Wednesday at 6PM via Zoom.
Check out our May calendar below!
#UjimaWednesdays Meeting Agenda:
6:00-7:15 - Community Building + Financial and Political Education.
7:15-8:30 - Member Team Meetings (Based on a rotating schedule; See calendar above) |
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