History
The Massachusetts of Color Coalition started in 2015 inspired by the vision of two women; Brenda Jenkins
and Celia
J. Blue.
Brenda Jenkins – was inspired by her efforts in support of Florcy Romero and Cheyenne Jones, two college
students
of color and campus organizers in the movement for Black lives. With the help of Brenda, Florcy and Cheyenne
founded
Women of Color in Solidarity- a network which connected female students of color across several local
colleges
and universities with seasoned women leaders/organizers of color to “dialogue about the responsibility that
we
uphold to advocate and protest for the rights of each other and our men of color.” From that powerful
experience,
Brenda developed a vision for bringing together an even larger intergenerational network of WOC in Worcester
to
learn about what was happening in our city and to get us more connected, engaged and invested. Brenda
formally
invited women to a networking breakfast in April 2015.
Celia Blue – inspired and empowered by her work as President of the North Central Massachusetts Minority
Coalition,
President of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, Boston and with her efforts in working with
Mary
Fernandes, Mukiya Baker Gomez and other leaders of color in the Boston area to make state government more
inclusive,
Celia realized not only should there continue to be a focus on people of color, but more importantly there
needed
to be a specific focus on WOC. She had a vision of organizing WOC across the commonwealth (and also has a
global
vision), but wanted to start with the commonwealth first, beginning with outreach into the 3 largest cities;
Worcester,
Springfield and Boston that geographically spanned the commonwealth. The plan was to initially invite a small
group
of WOC who were liked minded on WOC inequality issues to agree on the top 3- 5 areas of priority that would
have
significant impact and forming a movement to become one voice to change the status quo.
Worcester WOC – The networking breakfast sparked the conversation with sisters whom Brenda had a long
history of
organizing with – Maritza Cruz, Joyce McNickles, Marie Boone and Marianna Islam who saw the idea of a
state-wide
effort as an opportunity to build upon their collective work as racial justice organizers to grow an even
deeper
dialogue/movement – strictly focused on WOC. These women along with several other leaders of color in
Worcester
had just completed a report with specific recommendations to the city manager and mayor to make Worcester
more
inclusive. Encouraged and empowered by the reception of their report and work among other sisters across the
state-
outreach was made to trusted and experienced WOC organizers in the Boston and Springfield areas.
In May 2015 meetings begun to develop MAWOCC. Our name was created, vision, mission statement and statement of who we are were developed and the platforms we would focus on were determined.
Our founding members are: Brenda Jenkins, Maritza
Cruz,
Marie Boone, Joyce McNickles, Marianna Islam, Waleska Lugo-DeJesus, Alysia Cutting Cosby, Denise Jordan,
Mukiya
Baker Gomez, Diane Wilkerson, Mary Fernandes, Chioma Nnaji and Celia Blue
