"Which is what we started with, right?"

Community Leadership at September's Sunday in the Park gather for a photo with co-Founder Shelley Flaherty after line dancing, quilting, breathwork, and fun!

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ― Audre Lorde

"It's not about self-care—it's about collective care. Collective care means shifting our organizations to be ones where people feel fine if they get sick, cry, have needs, start late because the bus broke down, move slower, ones where there's food at meetings, people work from home—and these aren't things we apologize for. It is the way we do the work, which centers disabled-femme-of-color ways of being in the world, where many of us have often worked from our sickbeds, our kid beds, or our too-crazy-to-go-out-today beds. Where we actually care for each other and don't leave each other behind. Which is what we started with, right?" — Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice

This year at Community Conversations: Sister to Sister, we began where we always begin - with the body.

January through May: GI conditions, skin health, food allergies, weight management, sickle cell care. The immediate, specific ways Black women's bodies demand attention and require care in a world that often overlooks or dismisses our pain.

June: We gathered for connection and self-care, then paused.

September: We returned to the exact same location, with a similar but different crew. We crafted, practiced breathwork, danced, and chewed (I couldn’t help myself). Picked up where we left off but different.

As someone new to this role but a longstanding community member who has held multiple views and vantage points through this organization's journey from initiative to fiscal sponsorship and now 501(c)3, following in our founders' footsteps presented an opportunity I hadn't fully anticipated: to slow down and listen differently. From October through December, we "circled up" under the disclaimer "Let's Talk About It" - three questions that weren't rhetorical. Who Are We? Where Do We Go From Here? How Do We Collectively Care?

We negotiated as a community what stays in the room and what travels beyond it. What we talk about in public, and discuss privately. What they've given permission for me to share is this:

Collective care means: Accountability. Supporting others and receiving support. Mutual sharing. Intergenerational spaces where we all have a reason to show up. Exploration of ideas. Safe space for vulnerability. Political act. History. Advocacy. Affirming one another. Courage - knowing we all have something to share, knowing I care because you care. Having a stake. Compassion. Authenticity. Connecting youth to the "old days." Resilience. Intentionality. Accepting - practicing acceptance and being non-judgmental (keyword: practice). Shared interest.

As some of you know, the Cambridge Council of Aging has been so generous to offer the space for our conversations to continue at the Citywide Senior Center. Recently, Carmela and I looked around and asked: “What would make this space as OUR space cozier? 

Here’s what we heard in the December gathering, and maybe how you can help?

Making our space cozier requires: Couches, blankets, warmth, working microphones (for accessibility). Desserts. Massages. HEAT. Activities that connect us. TEA. Opening structures. Grounding practices at beginning and end. Safety.

The goal wasn't answers. It was being together to form a shared vocabulary of who we are, the navigational capital we hold, and the collective care required to bring our vision for society to life. How will we next shift the atmosphere in 2026!?

As you reflect on this past year and look toward 2026, I'm asking you to consider:  are you making new pledges or commitments? And if so, what about to (fellow) Black women?

Today is the last day to contribute to our $50K campaign. 

Your time, talent, or treasure to Black women-led health organizations like CCS2S directly supports our transition from volunteer-driven to sustainable operations. Your support builds our capacity for economic justice, wellbeing, and more radical demonstrations of solidarity. Your support makes it possible for us to have a safe, cozy place to meet and working microphones, that tea and heat for warmth, those grounding practices - in addition to the material conditions required for collective care to be more than aspiration.

Give today: https://givebutter.com/CCS2S2025

"Which is what we started with, right?"

With gratitude and in solidarity,

Shanaé