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Women's Commission > CCSW Archives

CCSW Archives

888 Memorial Drive Dedication

Highlights of Past Women's Commission Programming*

*The listing below does not include monthly meetings of the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women.

888 Memorial Drive Celebration
The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project hosted an International Women’s Day celebration to commemorate the 1971 takeover of a little-used Harvard-owned building at 888 Memorial Drive. Commemorating the events of 38 years ago, the program combined the unveiling of a new Historical Commission-designated property marker (later placed at the site); a screening of Left on Pearl, a documentary about the takeover that highlights this significant but hidden chapter in Second Wave feminist history; as well as personal tributes from women who participated in the takeover; a slide presentation of recent additions to the women’s heritage database; folksongs from Marcia Diehl; and a cello performance by Cynthia Forbes. One of the few such takeovers by women for women, the 1971 occupation led directly to the establishment of the longest continually operating Women’s Center in the U.S., and sparked the development of many other feminist and community organizations in the Boston area and nationally. Today, the Cambridge Women’s Center continues to provide programming to promote social and economic equality and justice for women in Cambridge and beyond.

Stories of friendship with True Story Theater
The Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project hosted True Story Theater (TST) at the Cambridge Senior Center in celebration of International Women’s Day. Participants were asked to share “stories of friendship” from their lives and TST performers created on-the-spot performances — using music, spoken word, dance, movement, and song — to capture the essence, emotions, and sensations of the story teller. TST’s mission is “to strengthen community, building empathy and trust, by performing interactive storytelling theatre and teaching skills of effective communication and improvisation.” Throughout the afternoon, the actors brought smiles, laughter, tears and even moments of grief to audience members. By the end of the performance, the entire room felt bonded — one community woven together through shared experiences of friendship and love.

A Call to Men
In an effort to raise the awareness of community groups, the police department, and youth service providers about the role “well-meaning men” have in ending violence against women and girls, the Commission periodically hosts training workshops led by Tony Porter from A Call To Men.

Cut It Out Cambridge (CIOC)
A collaboration with the Cambridge Public Health Department, the Cut It Out Cambridge initiative trains salon professionals to be able to recognize signs of abuse and to safely refer clients to the appropriate local resources. Research shows that most domestic abuse victims never call the police or go to a shelter. However, they do talk about the abuse with someone they trust. Salon professionals are skilled and experienced listeners. Many women and men suffering from abuse feel comfortable confiding in them. CIOC’s innovative approach—harnessing local small businesses to respond to, and have a positive impact on, the public health crisis of domestic violence—is rooted in a community-based response model. CIOC helps to educate and empower members of the Cambridge community whose involvement in addressing domestic violence has yet to be tapped.

Cut It Out Cambridge PSA
The CIOC pilot trainings were filmed by two local documentary filmmakers, Kim Romano and Hermine Muskat. They used their footage to produce a three-minute public service announcement that aired on local cable stations CCTV and City TV-8. In the pilot project, stylists with deep roots in Cambridge neighborhoods were trained by health professionals to listen non-judgmentally to their clients’ stories and offer appropriate referrals. All five salons involved in the pilot training were familiar with abuse in all its guises and greatly appreciated the information and guidance they received. Viewing the Cut It Out Cambridge video.

Domestic Violence-Free Zone (DVFZ) Core Group member
Under the direction of the City-Wide Violence Prevention Coordinator at the Cambridge Public Health Department, the Core Group worked to produce systemic changes in city policy, guide the projects of the DVFZ, and organize the city’s yearly Domestic Violence Awareness Month activities. Since the passage of a city ordinance in 1994 that defined Cambridge as a Domestic Violence-Free Zone, the Commission served along with other Core Group members including the School Department, the Police Department, the Department of Human Service Programs, and the City Administration.

Domestic Violence-Free Zone (DVFZ)
During the mid-90s the Commission played an early and pivotal role in the City’s formation and declaration as a Domestic Violence-Free Zone. At that time, the initiative recommended that the City view the DVFZ as a community development centerpiece; an economic development centerpiece; a focus of the educational system; a permanent and substantial factor in the development and allocation of affordable housing; a public health standard to be used to measure "quality of life;" and as a critical economic factor affecting the vitality and sustainability of the city. At its core, the DVFZ called the community to rise to the challenge of domestic violence; to plan to build a future that would attain the equality of women, and to support a systematic framework for the healing and recovery of all victims of violence.

Domestic Violence Task Force (DVTF)
For more than 20 years, the Commission’s director chaired monthly meetings of the Domestic Violence Task Force. Comprised of public and private organizational representatives, the DVTF convenes to create alliances, share information and perspectives, confront problem areas, discuss new ideas for public education, and improve intervention and prevention work in the city.

ENGAGE Curriculum
The Commission partnered with the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women to create a curriculum, ENGAGE (Empowering the Next Generation of Girls About Gender Equality), for Cambridge youth. ENGAGE’s goal is to provide girls, ages 8–13, with an eight week program to help empower girls to make healthy, informed decisions; to give them the knowledge they need to navigate the sensitive issues they face in their teenage and pre-adolescent years; and to foster an attitude of acceptance and understanding for all people. Topics included are: body image, anti-bullying, media literacy, dating violence, LGBTQ issues, economic equality, girls and sports, and political and community involvement.

Alliance for Girls’ Services – Cambridge
The City of Cambridge has a number of agencies, organizations, and City departments providing a variety of programming for girls and young women. Co-founded with Cambridge Community Services, the Commission provided leadership to a broad-based coalition invested in enhancing the precision, caliber, and impact of programming offered to girls in the city. This locally focused coalition created a network for broadening ideas, increasing knowledge, and developing collaborative efforts. It provided participants with an opportunity to exchange information, share best practices, examine standards, identify gaps, review funding options, as well as consider other common interests and concerns.

State Department’s African Women’s Delegation
The Commission convened a panel discussion of professional women, all emerging leaders in their fields, from five African countries: Madagascar, Senegal, Djibouti, Cape Verde, and Burundi. The delegation traveled to the US through the International Visitor Leadership Program, part of the US Department of State. The Commission assembled Cambridge women leaders to discuss issues related to women’s education, and women as agents for change in commercial sectors, specifically initiatives and programs that focused on businesswomen, microfinance, and female entrepreneurs.

Sheltering Sudanese Women
The Commission presented the first US screening of The Promised Land, an award-winning short documentary that examines the rising influx of Sudanese immigrants to Israel. Since 2006, hundreds of Sudanese and Eritrean women and children have crossed into Israel seeking asylum from violence and persecution in their homelands. The women and children’s plight has reached crisis proportions. The film follows the story of Eliza as she describes the torture she experienced in Sudan, crossing to Israel through Egypt, losing her husband, and giving birth to her son, Freedom, at Israel’s first women’s shelter. A discussion with shelter director "Mama Rita" followed the film. If you are interested in having your organization host a screening, please contact us at 617.349.4697.

Women’s Health Task Force
In existence for close to 20 years and chaired by the Commission’s executive director, the Women’s Health Task Force was established by the Health Policy Board of the City of Cambridge to support existing women’s health projects, particularly the Midwifery Program, and to identify gaps in services for women. Under the authority of the Cambridge Health Alliance and composed of Health Alliance governing board members and administrators, local service providers and community representatives, the task force’s formally stated mission was: "to promote and monitor services for women organized around the needs and values of the woman patient; and to oversee the efforts of the Cambridge Health Alliance to improve the wellness of women, to address the factors that influence the health and well-being of all women in Cambridge and Somerville, and to ensure that services needed by women in the community are available throughout the Alliance." During its many years, the task force advocated for specific health services, educational and prevention programs, and making a health care setting sensitive and welcoming for women and girls of all ages, in addition to promoting the Cambridge Hospital Breast Center, expansion of the Labor and Delivery Suite, and improvement of the reimbursement formula for the Cambridge Birth Center.

Girls’ LEAP (Lifetime Empowerment and Awareness Program)
For more than 10 years the Commission championed Girls’ LEAP, an innovative program for girls that began as a community response to a wave of violence against women in Cambridgeport in the mid-90s. Although now Boston-based, LEAP’s first programs were offered in Cambridge. Identified as a girl-focused self-defense and conflict resolution curriculum, LEAP empowers young women to hone their physical skills, engage their internal self-awareness, empower their own leadership potential, and improve their contact with community leaders. It also brings together young women with older women in their lives in a unique intergenerational approach to defining and actualizing a family- and community-based approach to safety and security.

Lesbians Talk HERstory
Along with MIT and the Women’s Center, the Commission sponsored a forum for older lesbians from diverse race and class backgrounds to share and discuss their experiences in the 60s and 70s with today’s young lesbians to help inform their activism and development.

WomenSpeak
The Commission assisted with the production of two bi-weekly cablecasts on the local access station, CCTV. Tess Ewing, from UMass Boston’s Labor Resource Center, hosted WomenSpeak, a program dealing with women’s workplace issues such as family leave, discrimination, unions, and wage parity; and The Center for New Words, hosted by Jaclyn Friedman, interviewed talented women writers.

Older Women’s League (OWL)
The Commission worked for many years with OWL, a national organization striving to improve the status and quality of life for midlife and older women, to plan programs and forums on issues affecting older women and working on legislative initiatives.

Women2Women
For more than 10 years, the Commission coordinated efforts to hold an annual day of physical, social, and emotional wellness workshops for high school girls attending Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

Kitchen Table Conversation Project
Originally aimed at women who were losing their welfare benefits, the Kitchen Table Conversation Project became the catalyst for what is now known as ROAD (Reaching Out About Depression). The Kitchen Table Conversations Project provided resources that women actively used to address immediate social, economic, and personal issues; offered support through weekly discussion, mutual problem-solving, and social/cultural activities; engaged women in projects that enhanced their trust in their own experiences and ways of knowing, and helped them to envision, expand, and pursue their own personal and vocational goals; and helped them to identify concrete opportunities for participating in public deliberation and action around social issues.

Reaching Out About Depression (ROAD)
Although now operating as an independent project under the direction of the Cambridge Health Alliance, ROAD was initially developed through the Commission’s Kitchen Table Project (KTP), in which low-income women met weekly to discuss the effect that welfare reform had on their lives and the difficulties they had faced in accessing traditional social service programs. During the KTP discussions, every participant came to identify depression as a significant challenge in her life. Through a community support network that it helped to develop, the ROAD program now assists women experiencing stress or depression with strategies and resources that promote self-empowerment, connectedness, and improved quality of life.

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