About

Mission

Boston Workers Alliance (BWA) is a community organization led by unemployed and underemployed workers fighting for employment rights. We have united to end CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) discrimination and the crisis of joblessness in the community. We fight for social and economic justice by creating and demanding decent jobs for all people who want to work.

The ability to live productively and raise our families in peace is a right. As we walk towards our freedom, we build strength and hope through cooperation, political awareness and collective action. We organize to overcome the oppressive forces that oppose our full potential to live.

History

BWA was formed in September 22, 2005 at a large meeting of unemployed workers at the 12th Baptist Church in Roxbury. We agreed to unite for the uplift our community by building powerful collective challenges to the crisis of joblessness. Our first two priorities involved fighting CORI discrimination and forming a BWA temp agency.

In this organization, our members work to improve their job situations by developing the necessary skills and resources to find work. At the same time, it is clear that job training and business resumes are useless if no one is hiring. We recognize that unless we demand a societal change to have fair work for all, members of our community will be forced to compete, like crabs in a barrel, for fewer and lower-paying jobs. When we unite, we are fighting for more than a paycheck. We are fighting for jobs for our youth and stable work that we can raise our families on.

If you’re unemployed, working two jobs & still not making it, can’t get a job because of your CORI, or just sick & tired of being “sick & tired,” please join us-tell your story, fight for CORI reform and jobs.

Structure

The BWA has 5 sub committees: Outreach, CORI Reform, Job Creation, Legislative and Media. All active BWA members meet as a Planning Committee on the 1st Thursday of every month from 5pm-7pm at the BWA office, 411 Blue Hill Ave. A Steering Committee composed of representatives from the sub committees meet on the last Thursday of every month.

BWA Staff

Chuck Wynder Jr., Executive Director
[email protected]

Charles “Chuck” Wynder Jr. previously served as Vice-President of Programs for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. Chuck also served as Executive Director for a regional legal serves program in Southeastern Virginia. He has been a consultant for nonprofit, legal aid organization and faith based communities on leadership, change initiatives and organizational development. A Truman Scholar, Chuck is native of Hampton, Virginia and is a graduate of Syracuse University, University of Michigan Law School, and the Episcopal Divinity School.

Hakim Cunningham, Director of Organizing
[email protected]

Hakim was born and raised in the streets of Boston and attended Boston Latin Academy in his youth. The product of a Jamaican immigrant father and a Native American mother from Florida, he grew up in a predominantly Caribbean neighborhood in the Dorchester Center area of Boston. As a young man in the early 90′s, Hakim grew up with a love for music eventually enrolling in North East Broadcasting School after high school. His life  lead him to become a Muslim at the local Masjid Alhammdullilah in Boston.  Hakim’s life changed when he  met Imam Abdullah Faaruq . Hakim decided to turn his life around  and redirected his focus to educating himself while studying Islam. As Hakim approached his religion with a greater vision of community control. He learned of the BWA and the organization’s serious work with CORI reform. After securing a job but then being fired because of his CORI, Hakim contacted the BWA and quickly became a member. Hakim was elected to the BWA Board in 2007 and was hired as BWA’s second staff person in January of 2009 to develop a non-profit store front social justice office in Grove Hall section of Dorchester. After 3.5 years  he was promoted to Director of Organizing  which he currently holds. Hakim  was selected recently as a Green For All Fellow for his BWA Urban Gardening Project he is currently enrolled in college working on a BS in Social Science. He has worked with Haymarket People’s Fund as a New England Funding Panel Member, he was also elected to the Board of Directors of Grove Hall Main Streets in 2010.

Aaliyah Turner, Worker Center Coordinator
[email protected]

Aaliyah Turner, a native of Brooklyn, New York moved to Roxbury as a young child. Aaliyah’s interest in community activism was inspired by her mother, as issues of the community was a core part of her mother’s parenting and family life. Aaliyah is a graduate from Boston Latin Academy, then she went on to play varsity basketball and tennis at Emmanuel College, and completed her undergraduate degree from Boston College. After graduating from college, Aaliyah lived in the Middle East where she studied Arabic. It was her travels throughout the Middle East and Africa that inspired Aaliyah to want to teach in the Boston Public Schools system. Aaliyah taught English and Mathematics in Boston. After 6 years as a school teacher Aaliyah decided to try a career dedicated to community service and activism. She is a mother, a writer, and is actively involved in many organizations in Roxbury and her Greater Boston community. Aaliyah joined the BWA as a member in 2009 and was hired onto staff in the summer of 2011.

Samantha Akwei, Communications Associate (Micah Fellow)
[email protected]

Samantha Akwei is a native of Harlem, NY that shares a passion for spoken word poetry and social justice. Growing up in a large family, Ms. Akwei found solace in writing and performing poetry as it enabled her to discover her voice and advocate for those in need. After winning the Knicks Poetry Slam in 2005 and the Urban Word Poetry Slam in 2007, Ms. Akwei became inspired to continue to use her voice as a catalyst for change. Thus, in college she made it a priority to be actively involved in organizations like AmeriCorps, NAACP, Green For All and WeAct. Ms. Akwei was led to the Boston Workers Alliance through the Micah Fellows program that prepares young activist to become prayerful, prophetic leaders. She currently holds a B.A in English from Spelman College and is an active member of the150th Block Association of Harlem, City Tabernacle Church and the Spelman Alumna Chapter of Boston.

Board Members

The Board of the Boston Workers Alliance is democratically elected from within BWA’s Active Membership.

Suezanne Bruce, Board Chair
Angela Yarde, Treasurer
Joel Pierre, Media
Terri Hinton, Outreach & Voter Engagement
Tracy Parks, Construction Jobs
Winston Jankee, Outreach & Economic Justice

Former Board Members: Maggie Brown, Jocelyn Choate, Judith Foster, Eugene Anderson, Timothy Hicks, Hakim Cunningham, Stanley Porter, Prenell Sanders, Blue Kearns, and Sonja Cherry.

Major Donors

Access Strategies Fund, Burgess Urban Fund, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Civic Engagement Initiative, Community Training and Assistance Center, Economic Justice Funding Circle, Haymarket People’s Fund, Herman and Frieda Miller Foundation, Hyams Foundation, MassUniting, Solidago Foundation,

Major Supporters

Chuck Turner and the D7 Roundtable, Inc provided free office space and start up guidance to the Alliance between 2005-2008.  Nuestra Community Development Corporation provides free office space to the Boston Staffing Alliance 2010-2011. Mass Global Action provides free web server hosting and technical assistance.  Database Design provides pro-bona data management consulting.