Network for Social Justice

The Network for Social Justice seeks to advance a suburban movement which promotes structural changes to advance equity and inclusion in suburban communities, working within Winchester and reaching communities beyond it.

Specifically, our aims include:
-Serving as a resource for individuals and groups that feel they are the victims of discrimination, racism, exclusion, etc.
-Serving as a resource for schools, institutions, and individuals who wish to deepen their knowledge of social justice issues and, particularly, incorporate racial and social justice approaches into their own work
-Building the organizing capacity of activists as facilitators, speakers and convenors knowledgeable about social and racial justice issues in order to target issues of human and civic rights relevant to Winchester that also have regional and global applications
-Increasing the size and diversity of the Network by growing connections and engagement among and between community members in Winchester and activists in organizations across the suburbs (working on analogous or parallel issues)
-Creating local change through targeted campaigns to address structural discrimination, racism and exclusion in Winchester

The Network for Social Justice utilizes three interlinked strategies for advancing our work: Teaching through community education, serving through community engagement, and leading through community activation. In line with our theory of change rooted in transformative organizing, we implement this strategy through focusing on the individual, interpersonal and structural/institutional levels.

Educational Strategy Through teaching, we focus on promoting dialogue and learning opportunities to raise personal awareness and deepen collective understanding of historical and current injustices and privilege. Our community education is designed to reach community members in three ways: workshops to assist individuals to understand themselves, their positionality and biases as part of larger systems of oppression; trainings to help build capacity of activists to work in collaboration as agents of change (e.g. facilitated dialogue training); and events and public presentations aimed to educate the community to tackle structural inequities related to vulnerable groups or populations (film screenings, panels and individual speakers).

Engagement Strategy We serve by focusing on building a welcoming and inclusive community through events that generate widespread civic participation and appreciation of the power of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Our engagement strategy is built around: holding social justice themed community-wide events around annual holidays/dates of community celebration, including our MLK Day of Service, our upcoming Pride initiative, and our annual Black History Month program; and building strategic partnerships with local nonprofits and groups who align with our message in order to hold regular outreach events (such as partnering with the Winchester Farmers Market, tabling at Town Days, outdoor concerts, etc).

Activation Strategy We lead through work on the individual and institutional level. We take the lead on a case by case basis by supporting individuals to address incidents of harassment, bullying, discrimination, or civil rights violations as they arise, while conducting and supporting broad-based grassroots advocacy for institutional and systemic change on the town, state and/or national level. We utilize three methods: running a small intake center for those who feel they have been a victim of or bystander to discrimination, hearing those claims, and responding either with consultation or mediation. The second approach is via targeted campaigns that have developed in relation to ad hoc committees we run on immigrant justice and indigenous people’s rights. These campaigns encompass education and community engagement and are designed to be both holistic and sustainable. The third strategy constitutes ‘responsive advocacy,’ incidents where the Network will be approached by another organization and utilize our members and resources towards a time-sensitive campaign in line with our social and racial justice principles.

Contributing to our organization’s capacity to accomplish our goals are our external communications mechanisms, internal personnel, and efforts to increase our reach via coalition building.

Communication avenues include a web site, social media presences on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and a weekly electronic newsletter that provides Network, community, and regional happenings in the social justice space.

Internally, our resources include a full-time Executive Director with a background in nonprofit management and academic and practical expertise in social justice education and coalition building; a professional support staff of three part-time employees who possess skills in development and community organizing; a nine-person Board of Directors who provide professional insight and organizational oversight; a 12-person Steering Committee that has a combined 167 years of institutional knowledge and actively participates in the day-to-day activities of the Network, and a cadre of volunteers psychologists, teachers, lawyers, writers, facilitators, and mediators who support the work of our action arms.

A key facet of our mission includes building a movement in the suburbs to lead, serve, and teach about the importance of community organizing. We are accomplishing this through expanding the internal capacity of our Network through education so that we may broaden our base and collaboratively build a coalition of groups and individuals committed to similar aims.

Over the twenty-nine years of the organization's existence, the Network for Social Justice has grown to become a respected and valued "go to" resource for Winchester and neighboring communities, with both organizations and individuals regularly seeking assistance. Particular areas where guidance is provided include race, religion, disability, and socio-economic status. Unfortunately, we are seeing throughout Massachusetts and the country an increased openness in the manner in which hostilities to those who are "different" are being expressed.

The challenge more than ever is to strengthen an open inclusive civic dialogue that addresses the underlying reasons why this is happening, and to work systemically to dismantle those structures which perpetuate the lack of equity and inclusion in our town and society. We also seek to understand how the work of movement building, particularly around issues of racial justice, occurs in the suburbs so that we may inform similar suburban groups about this process.