George Greenidge
George (Chip) Greenidge will be appointed commissioner of the City of Cambridge’s new American Freedmen Commission. In addition to this post, he is being elected chair of the commission.
This commission’s goal is to reimagine reparations; its focus has the potential to reshape reparations and racial justice initiatives around the country.
According to the Harvard Crimson, “Cambridge’s ordinance is unlike the reparations plans that have come before it. Rather than focusing on racial justice, it intends to implement transitional justice. Its reparations are aimed at redressing human rights violations, including slavery, housing discrimination, and mass incarceration. This plan is specifically for ‘American Freedmen,’ a new identifying term — or actually, a really old one — for the descendants of enslaved people in the U.S.”
Greenidge is the founder and executive director of the National Black College Alliance, an organization of alumni and college students from historically black colleges and universities committed to mentoring college and high school students as the next generation of civic leaders.
He was also an initial member of the Benjamin Banneker Charter School in Cambridge.
Greenidge’s work as a convener has also been recognized locally and nationally by a number of organizations including the Aspen Institute, National Urban League and the Independent Sector.
He previously was a program officer at The Boston Foundation. He recently served as the board chair of the Boston Empowerment Zone, a nonprofit charged with dispersing federal Housing and Urban Development resources to Boston’s most economically challenged neighborhoods.
Greenidge’s current research focuses on the economic development of urban cities and affordable housing and the impact of displacement/gentrification on its residents. He also studies post-secondary education and the career success of minority students with a concentration on Black and Latino males.
Greenidge received the George M. Sparks Award in 2018 from the President’s Office and University Events and Georgia State University, which recognizes GSU’s unsung heroes on campus who exemplify a willingness to go the extra mile with good humor and perseverance
