This week, the Coalition for a Resilient and Inclusive Waterfront — an alliance of more than 50 organizations throughout Boston focused on access, inclusivity, resilience, and economic vitality on Boston’s harbor, islands, and rivers — will host a Waterfront Summit and Love your Waterfront Day of Service. The Summit, scheduled for Friday, September 16, will be hosted at Roxbury Community College as part of City Awake’s Fierce Urgency of Now Festival, and feature remarks by Boston Green New Deal Director Oliver Sellers-Garcia, as well as discussions with community leaders, experts, and advocates exploring the connection between public health, resilience, and inclusivity on the waterfront. The Love Your Waterfront Day of Service, scheduled for Saturday, September 17, will bring together community members and local organizations at various service sites along Boston’s waterfront for a day of clean up and supporting local waterfront parks and open spaces, in tandem with City of Boston’s Love Your Block initiative.
Friday’s Summit will include two panel discussions, a “Waterside Chat”, and featured remarks that are open to the public, and explore the following topics and panelists. The first panel will focus on building a more resilient waterfront, and feature Alison Badrigian, Director of Projects and Planning at the Esplanade Association; Rebecca Block, City Awake Advisory Board; Sara McCammond, Executive Director at Harborfront Neighborhood Alliance; and John Walkey, Director of Waterfront & Climate Justice Initiatives at GreenRoots. It will be moderated by Latifa Turner Ziyad, Director of Community Engagement and Resilience for the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing.
The second panel will explore creating a more inclusive waterfront. It will be moderated by James Hills, host of Java with Jimmy, and feature Rev. Willie Bodrick, President & CEO of The American City Coalition; Alex Davila, Executive Director of Sociedad Latina; Jenn Meakem, Community Engagement Specialist at Boston Harbor Now; and Dr. Jon Santiago, State Representative for 9th Suffolk District.
The Summit will also feature a Waterside Chat between Jackie Jenkins-Scott, Interim President at Roxbury Community College, and Maya Smith, Co-Founder of the Boston Harbor Women of Color Coalition. The Chat will be moderated by Courtney Boston, CEO of HerVision Media & Consulting. Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Boston’s new Green New Deal Director, will provide remarks on how he hopes to engage communities throughout the city in building a Green New Deal for the region.
Following the Summit, the Love Your Waterfront Day of Service will kick off on Saturday, bringing together community members at service sites along Boston’s harbor, rivers, and islands for a day of clean up and supporting local waterfront parks. Service sites will be hosted by a number of the Coalition’s partner organizations, and include City Natives, hosted by the Trustees of Reservations; Moakley Park, hosted by Boston Harbor Now; Nightingale Community Garden, also hosted by the Trustees; and the Neponset River, hosted by the Neponset River Watershed Association.
The Summit and Day of Service follow this summer’s first ever Waterfront Wellness Week, and are the latest in a series of programs the Coalition has hosted in 2022 to forward conversations around building a more inclusive, accessible, resilient, and economically vibrant future for Boston’s waterfront. To learn more about the Coalition’s work and planned 2022 programming, please visit bostonwaterfrontcoalition.org.
Local organizations participating in the Coalition for a Resilient and Inclusive Waterfront are shown below:
Museum of Science
Esplanade Association
The Coalition for a Resilient and Inclusive Waterfront is an alliance of diverse non-profit organizations focused on elevating the pressing issues facing Boston’s harbor, islands and rivers. Through community engagement and by serving as a convener of local events and forums, Coalition will work to advance a bold vision for the future of the city’s waterfront that prioritizes resilience, inclusivity, access, and economic vitality.