LYSE FEDJANIE
How did you first discover Ujima, and what initially drew you to be a part of our community?
The Boston Ujima Project came up on my social media, and I joined a newsletter. So my first involvement was checking out the newsletter, reading through activities and happenings. I finally started getting more active during the pandemic; my schedule kept clashing with a lot of the events prior, but during the pandemic (and with everything being remote) it was a lot more accessible. I became more active with the arts and culture organizing in January 2022, when I ran a microlearning session, Cyborgian Liberatory Media.
I see Ujima creating a framework for the solidarity economy in Boston; a lot of the work that I'm doing is around Afrofuturism—creating worlds and realities that are more equitable, more liberatory, more life giving, and I see Ujima’s goals, activities, events, and workshops as being well-aligned with all of that.
Are there any standout moments in your time with us that have made an impression on you?
I really enjoyed doing the microlearning sessions, and having such a broad variety of people attend, participating and approaching from different angles (from an academic standpoint, from a practical standpoint)—I think that, to me, was powerful. But I also really enjoy being a delegate and voting on investments for some of the businesses in Boston.
What are your overall thoughts about Ujima’s mission and our approach to community-driven investment?
I'm really appreciative of it. As somebody who's really interested in building out Black futures, Ujima’s quote (“another Boston is possible”) feels very aligned. The fact that they're actually doing it helps open up those possibilities even further; people in our communities are gaining power to decide how things develop and grow in their communities, what they want to cultivate, and what they want to support. I appreciate the collectivity in that work as well.
“I see Ujima creating a framework for the solidarity economy in Boston; a lot of the work that I'm doing is around Afrofuturism—creating worlds and realities that are more equitable, more liberatory, more life giving, and I see Ujima’s goals, activities, events, and workshops as being well-aligned with all of that.”
How does your role as a delegate ensure that the community's voice is represented in investment decisions?
I get a chance to review these businesses, but also to review what the community had to say about them. Beyond just, “which of these businesses have I seen involved in the community,” which is a very important aspect of it, I also get to see the people who submitted these businesses, and ask what about these businesses was relevant to them—what was important? For example, somebody highlighted an East Boston mutual aid group that helped provide food and food pantry options to the Muslim community. That aspect of community engagement to me is necessary; otherwise, this mutual aid group probably would have gone under the radar.
[Throughout my time as a Delegate] I was grateful to speak to Ujima staff and membership. We had a session where we debriefed on the businesses, our thoughts, our concerns, and what we wanted to do further research on. That's really important! For example: let's say I pitch a business and somebody else who's a delegate might not necessarily know much about the business, to be able to say, “Well, I would like further research on how this is actually helping the community or not.” Because I have a stake in what the outcome of that decision is, I can ask for that, so I can be sure that an investment is aligned with community needs.
How has your experience as a delegate deepened your understanding of the relationship between shared decision making and fostering a sense of communal ownership over investment outcomes?
As someone who grew up in Boston, I don't think there's many opportunities for what most folks should be able to do: decide on what should be happening in their community and who to give money to—especially not in the areas of Boston that I grew up in: Mattapan, Dorchester and Hyde Park. Rather than Ujima saying, ‘well, we have this investment, we'll just do it’, having someone like me, who's from the community, who has experiences with some of the businesses, coming in as a delegate—I think that is a multi-layered approach. The person who nominated the business for us to vote on has ownership over that piece of the process, and then I have ownership over the piece where I'm voting as delegate. That multi-layered, shared decision-making is really powerful to have and to demonstrate that there are ways that we can come together and kind of decide what we want to see.
Lyse Fedjanie Barronville (she/li/they) is a Black queer womxn from Haiti who came up in “the other Boston”. As a strategist, innovator, creator, & scholar striving to co-design liberated futures with our communities, Lyse serves as the Executive Director & Strategy of Konbino—short for Konbit Inovasyon (or Innovation Collective in English)—and the Principal Consultant & Facilitator of Abundant Futures Consulting & Incubator Series.
Lyse was recently inducted as the Ambassador of SheBuilds Global Initiative Boston Chapter where she is working to co-curate Ecosystem Builders events highlighting Haitianwomxn in the Boston ecosystem who are building liberated futures and thriving legacies for those that will follow behind them. She holds a BA in sociology/public health and an MS in management, both from Boston University, and is currently researching Afro/indigenous cosmology, spirituality, ecological justice, & liberatory tech/AI as an MTS candidate in Black Theoethics & Womxnist Afrofutures at Iliff School of Theology. Lyse values resting as resistance, laughing as close to “too much” as possible, pursuing peace, cultivating community, and relishing moments of joy.