Cohort 2024
We Are Better Together Warren Daniel Hairston Project
Amplifying Women’s Narratives to Break the Cycle of Violence
Suffolk County, MA
In Massachusetts, Black and Latinx people make up 20 percent of the population but nearly 80 percent of gun violence homicide victims. We Are Better Together Warren Daniel Hairston Project (WAB2G) is a community-based organization in Roxbury, Massachusetts, focused on connecting and healing women and girls affected by gun violence, homicide, and incarceration. It targets Black and Latinx families in the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, which have been and continue to be socially and economically disadvantaged. The census tracts that comprise its target communities are all historically "redlined" tracts subject to a system of racialized segregation and disinvestment resulting in concentrated disadvantage and inequities. These communities also bring many strengths, however, including a history of organizing and advocating for positive change, which this project aims to support by capturing narratives as both qualitative and quantitative data. In previous research, WAB2G learned from African American women who had experienced community violence about the interlocking nature of institutions such as the criminal legal system justice, health care, education, and social services, institutions that often perpetuate harm rather than prevent it.
With Catalyst Grant funding, WAB2G will capture the narratives of women affected by gun violence and inequities in the criminal legal system to build an advocacy framework for change. By qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing the themes and data within these narratives, its goal is to create a unified advocacy platform to educate its community about, and to challenge, the policies that foster cycles of violence. This project aims to support these communities’ legacy of organizing and advocacy for positive change.
