Our History
Reclaim Roxbury was founded in 2015 to educate and organize Roxbury residents in response to reports from then D7 City Councilor Tito Jackson that the Boston Redevelopment Authority was gearing up to develop over a million square feet of “publicly owned land” that it had under it’s control in Roxbury through a “Plan:Dudley Square'' special planning area process. Despite explaining that the goal of “Plan:Dudley Square” as a way to “uplift the community”, we knew that the BRA has a long history of removing Black people from their land, and building segregated communities! We knew we had to act fast to Reclaim Roxbury before it was taken away!
With the help of D7 Tito Jacksons office, we began holding community meetings monthly that led to the formation of “Reclaim Roxbury” as a standing community organization, with committees and chairs and a plan for our community to create our OWN standards and goals for our public land. After three years of door-knocking, talking and convening neighbors, community bbqs and meetings, research and direct action protests in 2018 we won a commitment from Mayor Walsh and the BPDA to ensure that the development of public land through the Plan:Dudley Square process would be community led, requiring 66% affordable housing, diverse development teams, good jobs, open space and eco-friendly building practices.
Not only did we help create strong community informed standards, but we also were able to push Mayor Walsh and the BPDA to bring more democracy into decision making in Roxbury public land development, demanding new RSMPOC members and an open process for Project Review Committees.
In 2020, as we prepared to play a watch-dog role in the upcoming development proposals selected through 2 years of community planning, and ensure that standards we helped win are followed, the world was halted by covid19! During the worst days of the pandemic we pivoted to helping provide rental and foreclosure relief resources and food to our community in partnership with other local organizations. As things have begun to get back to normal, like everyone else, we do in person and virtual meetings to meet our community where we are and stay safe.
Check out our “what we’re doing” section & our blog to learn more about what we’re doing today in 2024 to ensure public land for public good, our campaigns, and how you can get involved to Reclaim Roxbury. Join us!