I recently had the opportunity to visit with one of the Boston Women’s Fund’s grantees, South Boston en Acción (SBEA).  SBEA organizes and develops the leadership of the Latina residents of living in South Boston’s public housing developments.  The Latino population in South Boston has grown significantly and rapidly, and Latinos are the largest ethnic group residing in the South Boston public housing developments.  SBEA grew out of an ad-hoc group of women who began meeting sporadically in 2004 to talk about family concerns.  Many of these concerns resulted from the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) settlement of Latino families in a neighborhood where they encountered linguistic and cultural barriers and experienced social isolation.  In 2007, SBEA received a 3-year grant from the Hyams Foundation that led to weekly meetings, the opening of an office, and non-profit incorporation.

I was very impressed with all that South Boston en Acción has accomplished in its short lifetime, particularly given the history of racism in South Boston.  It made me eager to learn more about the history of racism and desegregation in Boston’s public housing.  Although, among my colleagues there existed first-hand knowledge of the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools, we did not have in depth knowledge on the desegregation of public housing.  I did some online research and talked to Kathy Brown of the Boston Tenant Coalition and Edna Carrasco of the Committee for Boston Public Housing.

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