A Look at the Year Ahead
What’s your dream for Matahari?
By Leena Mathew, Co-Director
Happy New Year! My name is Leena Mathew (she/her) and I’m one of four co-directors at Matahari Women Workers Center. I’ll take you through what the new year will hold for us in a moment, but it feels important to first notice how much has changed at Matahari in recent years.
We went through three years of a global pandemic together, and are still seeing its effects on our community of largely migrant women and femme workers of color. Matahari made a shift from meeting regularly in-person to an entirely remote program in 2020, all while maintaining our commitment to language justice. Members of the #OurWorkOurWorth campaign relentlessly advocated for early vaccine access for domestic workers and our base continued to organize to protect au pairs from being excluded from the MA Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, against wage theft, and in favor of a fair minimum wage for tipped workers with the #OneFairWage campaign.
These and other events of the past year invited us to pause and reflect on Matahari’s mission to build political power for women workers, and how we can continue to grow as an organization. Last summer, we launched our first member, staff, and ally led Steering Committee, shifted to a worker directed nonprofit model, and wished Matahari’s former executive director, Monique Nguyen, and former lead organizer, Julia Beebe, well as they transitioned to new roles with the City of Boston and the Coalition on Human Needs. These leadership changes have felt intimidating at times, but have offered us a beautiful opportunity to build a new era for Matahari.
What is your dream for the next era of Matahari?
My dream is that Matahari will be a place where members continue to lead in words and in action. I dream that this will continue to grow into a safe and sustainable political home for organizers. Where intergenerational groups of migrant women of color can be respected and honored for their visions and contributions. Where we will be committed to lead by example. Where domestic workers can follow in my co-director Angella Foster’s footsteps and grow into staff organizers and future directors of this organization.
This will be a year of transformation for Matahari.
We will rely on tried-and-true traditions and introduce new initiatives. We will revive the Community Fellows space to refresh member organizing and leadership skills, and deepen our shared political analysis by incorporating the We Make History curriculum into our program.
Here are some ways to participate in the months ahead.
February 15: Phone Bank, 6PM: Members and volunteers will meet at CIC Boston (50 Milk Street) to outreach to former members and invite them to our events this winter. RSVP to Angella Foster at angellaf@mataharijustice.org or 617-741-7647.
February 23: “Rise Up” Beer Launch, 6:30PM: Lamplighter brewed Rise Up, a delicate floral-spiced Wheat Ale, to benefit the Matahari. A dollar off of every taproom pour and four packs sold will support Matahari’s mission. Click here to register.
February 24: Celebration of Grassroots Organizing Info Session, 9AM: Member-leaders Haybi Barrios & Marie LaPlante are planning an event to launch the democratically controlled Celebrate Grassroots Organizing Fund on June 3rd. Click here to register.
March 8: Matahari’s Birthday Celebration, 7PM: Lamplighter will launch a special beer in honor of Matahari’s 20th Anniversary and grant us use of their Cambridge Crossing (CX) location to celebrate this big moment on International Women’s Day! Click here to register or sponsor the event.
As we prepare for these events, organizers and members have been thinking about the following questions.
How do we absorb members so that they can play a meaningful role in our community?
How can current leaders engage new members into leadership roles?
How can we use traditions like International Nanny Training Day, National Nanny Recognition Week, and the Members Assembly to engage people sustainably?
Thank you again to all of you for your commitment and energy for this community! We are so excited to welcome in a new year at Matahari with you.