In October people from across Greater Boston gathered at Nubian Markets in Roxbury to discuss how to build an effective network of people of various faiths that can advance economic justice in our community.

Organized by the Anchor Institutions Organizing Team, staff of the Boston Ujima Project and community allies, we hope to build this interfaith network for three key reasons: 1) to promote ujima —that is, collective work and responsibility for the common good; 2) to expand Boston Ujima Project’s own network of support; and, 3) to advance an economy that supports Black-owned businesses in Boston and that is rooted in values of solidarity.

Why now? We recognize there are powerful forces that work against solidarity, seeking to divide us — most obviously in Washington right now. But even before the 2024 elections, economic and political power has been increasingly concentrated in the hands of fewer people. Our dreams have become infected with visions of personal wealth rather than community uplift.

One important reason for an interfaith network at the present time is that faith is being used by elites to divide communities. Struggles for political and economic democracy are undercut when we are deceived into seeing our potential allies as our enemies. Most strikingly, antisemitism is being cynically weaponized by the right to stigmatize those, including Jews, who support Palestinian liberation and to fuel Islamophobia.

At a time when Muslims are being targeted as terrorists, Jews are being identified with the state of Israel and white Christian nationalism is on the rise, we are standing up and saying, “No, there is another way.”

It is a path set forth in the seven principles of Nguzo Saba — namely, umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima, ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith).

The Boston Ujima Project recognizes the connectivity between culture building and economy building, which is why so much of Ujima’s work is centered on arts and culture; the late business management theorist Peter Drucker famously noted that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Building a vibrant interfaith network is a vital companion to Ujima’s cultural project.

The notion of building a faithbased network is not a new concept at the Boston Ujima Project. The anchor institution team began to build a faith network in 2018, when Ujima anchor team volunteers and Boston Ujima Project staff recognized that synagogues, churches and mosques were important community anchors that could buy products from Ujima network businesses, invest in the loan fund for Ujima network businesses and engage in grassroots advocacy.

Some of us were members of congregations; others of us had a spiritual outlook while not claiming membership within any specific faith community. All of us believed in the power of organizing across faith — and of building community.

In many respects, our initial outreach was successful: over a dozen faith-based groups agreed to buy goods and services from the Ujima Good Business Alliance. More than $100,000 was raised for what ultimately became the $5 million Ujima Fund, offering financial support to 10 minority-owned businesses and non-profits today. Many people in our faith-based communities came to community or city council meetings to advocate for programs such as the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program, which generates tens of millions of dollars in tax replacement funding for community services from other anchor institutions and non-profits like area hospitals and universities, which are otherwise exempt from contributing tax dollars.

These successes are nothing to scoff at — and a lot of worthwhile relationship-building resulted from our actions, too. But our work has also often been transactional more than relational — a purchase here, an investment there, turnout at a community meeting every once in a while. This tendency toward transactional exchange also led us to focus our organizing efforts on wealthier, primarily white congregations with whom we could transact.

To operate not just at the level of transaction, but at the level of culture building and transformation, the coming phase of faithbased organizing at Ujima must be both relational and explicitly multiracial, including congregations that hold Ujima’s largely BIPOC and working-class voting and resident members.

Our vision and our hopes: Toward a lasting network

Our goal in gathering is to take the first step toward developing a truly inclusive, multiracial network of people of faith, a network that can build the world — block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, community by community — in which all can be free and thrive. Our gathering is also not just about the Boston Ujima Project: we hope to connect many networks to build a stronger coalition that can support each other’s efforts. Many faith-based groups have social justice committees; many people are already active in building a solidarity economy in Boston.

We see our coming gathering not as a single-bullet solution, but rather as an important first step in building a common vision — both in Boston Ujima Project’s own networks and beyond — about what faith means to us, what community means to us and what a solidarity economy will require.

We are not naïve. We know that there are histories of interfaith antagonisms. We recognize that true solidarity is hard work and requires deep commitments. And we know that for some, even the word “faith” can be challenging. For many of us, faith traditions have resources — rituals, traditions, texts, music — that sustain our commitments to social justice.

Still, we are not solely seeking members of congregations, or spiritual or religious individuals. We welcome participation and partnership from anyone who is committed to the project of building a values-based network that advances a solidarity economy — not as a theoretical concept, but as practical lived experience.

We will find areas of common ground, resist the forces that seek to divide us, be more effective and build a more supportive community — together.

We don’t know where this journey will lead, but we are excited to take the next step!

To get involved feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!