About Reflect & Strengthen

Our Vision

R&S's vision for social justice is to create a world where all people are afforded equitable opportunity, support and resources to nurture the development of their minds, spirits, health, and well-being; where women, people of color, queer people, differently-abled people, elders and youth are respected interpersonally and institutionally; where people are free to practice and share their beliefs and traditions; where societies are run collectively and resources are shared equally; where international laws prevent the taking of land, natural resources or labor by force and violence.

Our Values

• Anti-racism
• Celebrating Life
• Consensus Decision
• Making
• Equity
• Leadership Development
• Love
• Restorative Justice
• Addressing Root Causes of Oppression
• Sisterhood

Herstory

In 2001, eight young women from working-class neighborhoods in Boston created Reflect and Strengthen (R&S) because there was no other space for us to heal from the trauma that threatened to destroy us. We needed a space where we could think critically about the root causes of our oppression and unite to gain the skills and power to affect change across our community. We were collectively mourning the murder of a brother, the absence of many of our fathers, and the death of two of our infants due to lack of proper health care. We struggled with our histories of abuse and rape; the pain of watching loved ones fall into drugs and prostitution; and anger stoked by public schools that miseducated us.

In dealing with these attacks on our humanity, we found scant community-based resources. It was glaringly apparent there was a systemic lack of support for the young working-class women, immigrant women, women of color, queer women, and teenage women who made up R&S. We created a space where we could dig way beneath the superficial impact of direct-service organizations. In the beginning, we met twice a week for peer-led support groups, political education, and performing arts workshops. We created a full-length play called “Tabula Rasa and All That Yin Yang” from what we learned about our shared struggles. Our play sold out a week-long run at the Boston Center for the Arts.

The experience of the play provided the foundation of R&S’ holistic approach to organizing which prioritizes self-empowerment, culture, and community building. Afterward, the founding members were determined to maintain a space where we could be our whole selves and process the violence, lack of access, incarceration, self-hatred, and trauma we experienced because of our race, class, gender, orientation, and citizenship status. R&S gave us the strength and resolve to be grassroots organizers, mothers to our children, engaged community members, and role models to our sisters. We wanted to share this space with even more women. We did outreach and invited young women to become members as we formalized our rituals into the core programs of R&S.

R&S is celebrating our 10th Anniversary in 2011! For ten years, we have been filling a void of working class women leaders in Boston. Our founders began R&S in 2001 because there was no place by and for working class women to be their whole selves, tell their unique stories, and develop their power. Founding members channeled their struggle and passion into building an organization that was strong enough to sustain sisterhood across generations of women.

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