Introducing the Social Justice Collaborative

Reprinted from the November 15 SJC Newsletter

Dear Emerson Community Members,

Over the last several months, the staff within the Elma Lewis Center, the Healing & Advocacy Collective, and the Social Justice Center have been pondering the importance of words to accurately represent the intersectional work we do together and with campus and community partners. 

After a period of intentional and increasingly deeper reflection, we’ve decided to name our collective approach for what it truly is: a Social Justice Collaborative. 

We believe this renaming signals an important moment to recognize the ways we work in partnership with each other, with Emerson, with the Boston community, and beyond. 

Collectively, the Elma Lewis Center, Healing & Advocacy Collective, the new HIVE (Hub for Inclusive Visionary Engagement—learn more below), and the Office of the Vice President for Equity & Social Justice will be known as the Social Justice Collaborative, working expansively with campus and community partners to deepen access, healing, and liberatory social justice practices. 

Shaya Gregory Poku, Emerson’s new VP for Equity and Social Justice, believes that silos and apathy in organizations are among the most dangerous threats to equality, and that collective work and responsibility is our path to address these issues. We look forward to continuing this important work with Shaya.

Coming Soon: HIVE (Hub for Inclusive Visionary Engagement)

The naming of HIVE is an opportunity to grow relationships and programs that center an approach to learning and engagement that is rooted in justice, is both aspirational and full of joy, and acknowledges that foundational work to understand the impact of systems and structures is necessary to imagining a visionary future.

As part of the Social Justice Collaborative, HIVE will support college-access programs rooted in equity and creativity, foster deeper understanding of social justice practices in higher education through personal and professional development, and celebrate and promote the craft of creative work that explores identity, liberation, and a visionary future.

HIVE will be located in the former Bookstore Annex in Boylston Place Alley, and will serve as a place and space for those who wish to connect their passion and brilliance with the values and praxis of social justice.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new HIVE space in the coming months and invite you to continue collaborating and sharing time in the Elma Lewis Center at 148 Boylston St. and Healing & Advocacy Collective in Piano Row 240 at 150 Boylston St.