About BHWOCC

Who We Are.

The Boston Harbor Women of Color Coalition (BHWOCC) is a collaborative, solutions-driven, supportive group of people who identify as women of color who work on or for the Boston Harbor, the Boston Harbor Islands, and/or work to get our communities engaged in green and blue spaces.

The coalition is an employee-driven initiative founded in May 2021 by Malene Welch, Joye Williams, Maya Smith, and Nikki Tabron, four Black women who work at Boston Children’s Museum, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, and Thompson Island Outward Bound respectively.

Our Mission.

The founding intentions for the BHWOCC are to create a space that centers on women of color and is focused on cultivating relationships, creating professional pathways of advancement, developing culturally informed programming and events, and building strategies to specifically address climate change in communities of color.

Our Goal.

To create an intentional, collaborative, and solutions driven working space to care for eachother, our community, and Boston Harbor.

May 2021

Our History.

July 2021

At the inaugural BHWOCC Retreat that took place in July 2021 on Thompson Island, it became clear that swim safety and addressing the overwhelming and disproportionate amount of Black and POC community members drowning was a top priority.

Since then, the BHWOCC has become a 75 person group, representing 40 different organizations, and has joined Mayor Kim Janey’s Swim Safely Partnership.

September 2021

The Swim Safely Program is a City of Boston initiative that seeks to increase water safety by offering free swim lessons at YMCAs, expanding the lifeguard workforce, and offering free swimming lessons for Boston Public Schools students.
This partnership is between the City of Boston, YMCA of Greater Boston, Boston Public Schools, Boston Triathlon, Soul Caps, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, and the Boston Harbor Women of Color Coalition.

January 2022

We are grateful to have received a generous award from the Barr Foundation. With this funding we plan to do the following:
- Develop the foundation of the BHWOCC
- Establish a yearly initiative, starting with the Swim Safely Partnership and looking towards a climate resiliency project in 2022-23
- Providing professional development, networking, and educational opportunities aimed to advance the careers of women of color in our field
- Supporting local initiatives around water safety, BIPOC engagement, equity and access through fundraising
- Creating opportunities for the BHWOCC to gather at seasonal socials, bi-annual meetings, and a yearly retreat
- Launching a yearly landmark event to engage community members of color on Boston Harbor
- Review and evaluate metrics and outcomes annually

The founders added two staff members Charissa Zapata-Walker as a Project Manager and Maria Rodgriguez as a Project Coordinator to get the ball rolling on some initiatives and add some support on the back end.

Working with the founders on executing the yearly retreat, building out a structure for a board, creating a strategy for coalition members engagement throughout the year, and setting up systems in place to make the organization run smoothly.

April 2022

June 2022

As part of this initiative, the BHWOCC will be addressing specific cultural barriers and concerns that keep folks from being safe and feeling confident in and around water through a series of culturally informed community conversations. These conversations will center on community members of color, with specific outreach to women of color and their families.
Our goal for participating in this initiative is not only to decrease the number of drownings in our community, but to give community members the tools to feel comfortable and excited about participating in programs and events on Boston Harbor and in our community’s blue spaces, and to feel confident, safe, and welcomed in their shared ownership of these public spaces.

We launched our logo, brand, website, and social media to fully engage with coalition members and the public on who and what our organization/coalition is all about!