JAMIAH TAPPIN
How did you first discover Ujima?
I’ve built relationships with a lot of different grassroots organizations here in Boston; that may be how I initially heard about Ujima, just word of mouth through those relationships. I do know that the first time I went to an assembly meeting was in Roxbury, actually; we were voting on one of the early investments. Members of the Investment Committee were leading the process–I was really interested in how they were facilitating a democratic process and how they were creating guidelines and agreed-upon measures. The methods stood out to me: establishing that consensus was how we were going to move forward, outlining how we were going to stay accountable, and then describing how these lead to specific outcomes and voting practices.
I work in public health, in community investment and grant-making: from housing to hospital investments, the key is engaging with community perspectives, particularly in Boston. In one of the grant-making projects, one of our funders was really interested in doing something participatory. I had engaged with Ujima through that meeting I mentioned, and a lightbulb went off: “Oh, this is a really great model for us to really center resident voices, to create a grant-making and review process.” It was a little complicated in the beginning, so we also worked with folks at the Center for Economic Democracy to help us build out our model.
What are your overall thoughts about Ujima’s mission and its approach to
community-driven investment?
I really want to understand decision-making, particularly collective decision-making: what influences how we vote, how we interact with and relate to the folks within our neighborhoods. So often at my day job, I deal with all of these concepts and practices at an institutional level; but the participatory grantmaking process I mentioned is really trying to bridge the dynamic gap between institutions and residents.
With Ujima’s approach to community-driven investment, it's not just that the money is going to help people, it's that this money is specifically given from the community, to the community, for us to collectively decide what is best for us. This communal approach gives investments more personal weight, and it’s possible to feel more personal ownership or investment; you have skin in the game, because it’s a result of your own decision-making. So I’m really sitting with that, and thinking about how we can create more spaces for community empowerment and collective processing and how we can address a lack of civic engagement through building trust.
“Here at Ujima, we convene with our neighbors and build upon those relationships; once you trust your neighbors, you also trust their vote. So now I wonder, how can this idea be scaled up in other arenas where decisions need to be made?”
Does your role as a delegate ensure that the community's voice is represented in investment decisions? And how do you see your role as a delegate ensuring the community's voice is represented in investment decisions?
There's so many spaces that Ujima holds for hearing opinions, questions, and there's a really concerted effort to make sure that folks feel included in the process: this makes my role as a delegate much easier. Because we're co-creating this environment, I feel like there's a lot of space where community is heard. So my position means I'm pushing forward our desires, our wants, our needs, rather than acting as a traditional representative (which may insinuate that I’m speaking for people).
Community ownership suggests a joint stake in the investment journey. How has the delegate program cultivated an environment where every participant feels personally invested in the decisions being made?
I think the delegate program is moreso a streamlining of process than a positioning of power; I like the word delegate here, because it presumes that there is a broader representation, and we as delegates are just the mechanism through which ideas move.
Ujima’s investment approach values collective responsibility; could you share an example of how the delegate group’s decisions collectively held the community's interests at the forefront of investment ratification?
Sure; what comes to mind here is the voting process. It’s iterative and continuous; we participate in one vote, then we collect feedback and prepare for the next vote. There are opportunities here for the broader community to offer different insights on the potential investments that we're going to carry forward; because we move through multiple steps of voting and feedback, when we get to that final decision and we see our final voting package, the package feels entirely inclusive of community interests. This process actually holds us all responsible for making sure that those interests carry water.
Any last thoughts?
Ujima is a really great model for successful and community-based decision-making processes. The addition of the delegates just proves that these processes aren't stale, that there's always new elements and new pieces to incorporate to make shared decision-making easier and more accessible to people. I’m happy that we're continuing to evolve and we're inserting new practices into the model.
Jamiah Tappin is a Director on both the Grantmaking and Health & Racial Equity teams at Health Resources in Action. She spearheads transformative processes that cultivate stronger community—institutional partnerships, shared values rooted in equity, and movement building for collective impact.
Her expertise spans many disciplines, including community organizing, coalition building, advocacy, participatory grantmaking, and facilitation, all viewed through a prism of anti-oppression and anti-racism. In her dual roles, she collaborates with the Community Health Grantmaking team, steering equitable and participatory grantmaking processes like the Innovative Stable Housing Initiative and the MA Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds, as well as partners with the Health Equity in Action team to lead organizational initiatives aimed at disrupting structures of white supremacy culture, fostering an inclusive workplace, and propelling HRiA’s work of advancing health and racial equity.
Before her tenure at HRiA, Jamiah worked in her hometown, Hartford, CT, with youth and residents on issues ranging from public safety, housing issues, and clean neighborhood initiatives. Her advocacy journey also extended to championing equity in education and supporting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Jamiah holds a Master in Social Work from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, and a Bachelors in Communication from Boston University.