On August 1st, we’re bringing that tradition home to Roxbury.

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This year, renters, homeowners, volunteers, activists, and neighbors across Massachusetts made history: we collected 157,000+ signatures, met our ballot goals, and qualified rent control for the statewide ballot… BEFORE the MA Supreme Court Justice struck the question down on a technicality on religious exemption from a lawsuit financed by private equity real estate. That decision blocked our ballot question BUT it did not take away our movement. So we're doing what our people have always done when the system fails us: we're gathering, we're feeding each other, we're telling our stories, and we're dancing anyway.

Because here's the thing they don't teach you: Massachusetts had rent control. For decades, it kept Black, Brown, immigrant, and working class families rooted in Roxbury, Cambridge, Boston, Lynn, Brookline and beyond. And in 1994, a statewide vote, driven by real estate money, ripped it away. The people who lived through rent control are still here. They remember. And at the Rent Party, they're going to tell you exactly what we lost, and what we're fighting to win back.

The Elders Remember

For the past few weeks, we’ve been sitting down with brilliant Black elderly women who grew up in Roxbury, raised families under rent control, and either held on through skyrocketing rents or were pushed out of the neighborhood they built. Their interviews will be featured at the Rent Party, and we’ll be sharing clips leading up to August 1st. Here’s a taste.

Yvonne

Yvonne has called Roxbury home for over 30 years. She grew up in the Lenox Street projects, where her family paid around $100 a month in rent, and moved into her current home in 1995 right as the ban on rent control took hold after standing in line at the Strand Theater with hundreds of other families for a housing lottery on DSNI community land trust land. A proud 1199SEIU member, she marched to the State House against the ban then, and she’s still in the fight now.

“I’ve been living in my community for 30+ years, so have the other tenants been living in their townhouses for 30 years and we don’t want to move. That’s how rooted we are. Everybody knows everybody... That was community, to raise your families and hopefully, you know, pass it on as generational. But now it’s really scary, because I don’t even know if we’re going to be able to do that.”

When we asked her how people reacted when rent control was banned in ‘94, she didn’t hesitate: “Everyone was DISGUSTED, disgusted, and very fearful of what our future holds.”

Marie

Marie grew up in the Whittier Street projects, was president of her senior class at Girls’ High in 1966, marched with Dr. King on the Common at 13 holding her mother’s hand, and learned organizing in Chuck Turner’s community classes as a teen. Under rent control, she and her sister Paula raised their boys together and that stability changed the trajectory of two generations.

"Rent control allowed us to be able to make the payments to put them into private schools on scholarships... We could afford to do that because rent control allowed us to pay an affordable rent, in order to be able to do that."

Both boys went on to graduate from History Black Colleges and Universities. But when rent control fell, the family was pushed into the predatory mortgage machine, variable rates, balloon payments, and that’s how Marie found City Life/Vida Urbana. Her hope for young people in Roxbury today?

Paula

Marie’s sister Paula, born and raised on Tremont and Ruggles joined the Roxbury chapter of the Black Panther Party as a college student, selling the paper on Blue Hill Ave and protesting police violence downtown. After rent control was banned, her family was swept into the foreclosure crisis alongside so many other Black families.

“That’s how we met City Life, we were victims of the foreclosure crisis and lost our homes to the banks... And we just felt compelled, as activists, to be part of a movement that was defending people who were getting evicted.

Heather

Heather immigrated from Jamaica and has lived in the Brigham Circle Mission Hill area of Roxbury for nearly 50 years. Her mother paid a little over $300 a month for a three-bedroom under rent control; last year, Heather was told her rent would jump to $4,000 a month. She collected signatures for the ballot campaign and never stopped.

“Without rent control, everybody becomes homeless.”

And her charge to the next generation: “Organize. Fight. Never stop fighting... Leave something better than you found it, for those coming up, so that they can enjoy Roxbury.”

Rent Part for Rent Control Program

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2PM–5PM, All day offerings: Silkscreening with Ñ Press, Rent control gallery opening, with 4 Roxbury elder audio stories, Backyard games for all ages, Food & drinks served all day

2:30–3:30 PM, Black Wealth in Roxbury: A Conversation with Marie Firim

Marie takes us through the history of Black wealth-building in Roxbury, including Billie Holiday’s role, through jazz and music, in helping build the entrepreneurship of Black Roxbury residents. Come learn the history they didn’t teach us.

3:30–5:00 PM, Open Mic & Spoken Word

Featuring poet and poetic soul Christina Pierre-Louis and Essmaa Litim (more info on each artist below), woven together with live testimonies from organizers who fought for rent control in the ‘90s and organizers carrying the fight today. Bring a poem, a story, a song. The mic is yours.

5:00–6:00 PM, Community Dinner + Honoring Our Volunteers + Rent Control Updates

Catered with love because nobody organizes on an empty stomach. We celebrate and recognize the rent control volunteers who made this historic campaign possible and share where the fight goes next, fresh off the July 31st legislative deadline.

7:00 PM–late, DANCE PARTY 🎉

Because joy is resistance, and a rent party isn’t a rent party without dancing.

The Artists Behind the Party

This event was curated with the vision and hands of lead artists who came to this work through the CLVU Arts & Culture Committee, proof that when artists and organizers build together, the movement gets more beautiful and more powerful.

Amber Dominga, @amberr_dominga, Born and raised in Roxbury, Amber has become a trusted voice and advocate in Boston's local arts and culture scene. Whether working with traditional institutions, businesses, or independent online platforms, she combines her experience as an artist, organizer, and media personality to empower and educate through art and storytelling. Her creative practice spans illustration, murals, and community-based workshops throughout Greater Boston, alongside her career in public art.

Melissa Teng, @mqqt_, Melissa is a public artist and cultural researcher whose work explores public service as presence and public safety as belonging. Working across neighborhoods, institutions, and infrastructures, she is always interested in how people come together and bend the world around us. Her work has been supported by A Blade of Grass, the City of Boston's Un-monument initiative, Collective Futures Fund, New England Foundation for the Arts, the Sasaki Foundation, and others.

Matthew Neubacher, @matthew_neubacher, Matthew is a writer and frequent reader at the Trident Booksellers Poetry Open-Mic, with writing interests in sci-fi and speculative futures. Professionally, he is an urban planner for the City of Watertown supporting new housing development.

Spoken word featured artists:

Christina Pierre-Louis, @purelypoetic617, is a poetic soul whose story is an inspiration to every closet writer seeking to tap into their hidden gifts. She found her love for spoken word and the stage through tragedy when she lost a dear friend in a car accident. After writing a tribute poem to her heaven bound friend, her touching expression and vivid imagery became an instant crowd favorite, and by popular demand her poetry grew a life of its own. Through her poetry, she hopes to help heal, inspire, and bless others. She has performed at several notable venues and events including the Roxbury Poetry Festival, GBH Studios, Hard Rock Cafe, Grace by Nia, and the Strand Theater. Gracing stages in Boston and beyond, Christina aspires to let her spoken word career flow as high as God’s will, while she gathers the pieces to eventually publish her very own collection of works.

Essmaa Litim, @yess_maa, is an award-winning spoken word artist, author, cultural curator, and marketing strategist. Voted Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the 2025 Boston Music Awards and recognized as an Extraordinary Woman by the City of Boston in 2023, her voice has reached platforms including TEDx, PUMA, Moderna, WGBH, Gillette Stadium, and more. She is the founder of Femme Flo, a sold-out poetry experience centering femme voices through performance, panels, and workshops, spaces designed not just to showcase talent, but to affirm it. Alongside this, she serves as Operations Manager of FreeVerse, a Boston-based nonprofit and monthly open mic that has become a home for storytellers across the city. Through workshops at universities and organizations, and writing featured in multiple anthologies, Essmaa uses poetry as a tool for reflection, expression, and collective healing. A graduate of Bentley University with over 8 years of marketing experience, Essmaa is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health while using storytelling as a tool for healing and cultural impact. She is the author of Speechless (2021), with her second book centered on Afro-Arab identity slated for release in late 2026. Through every stage and space she creates, Essmaa is committed to transforming vulnerability into power and storytelling into legacy.

Come Through

📍 The Muse Gallery, 336 Blue Hill ave, by Roxbury - Dorchester line 🗓 Saturday, August 1st, starting at 2:30 PM 💰 FREE because that’s the whole point 🗣 Programming in English and Spanish

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Bring your neighbors. Bring your elders. Bring your kids. Bring your stories.

They struck down our ballot question, but they cannot strike down our community. Thirty years after they took rent control from us, we’re still here and on August 1st, Roxbury is going to sound like it: history, poetry, good food, and a dance floor full of people who refuse to be displaced.

RSVP here: bit.ly/rentparty-rox

See you on August 1st. The struggle continues and so does the joy!

With love,

City Life/Vida Urbana

P.S. The fight isn't waiting for the party. Join us at the State House rally on July 29th, two days before the legislative deadline, to demand our legislators move rent control forward. RSVP to rally here.

CLVU’s work for rent control and tenant organizing continues, and we have so much to build! We are currently facing a fundraising gap for the Summer. We need donations from regular people to build our fight against these private-equity-backed corporations. Your contribution will support our organizing work and help win rent control. Donate here.

Celebrating Movement Work in Boston with 15 organizations at the Annual Celebration of Grassroots Organizing

On Saturday, June 28, CLVU joined the 13th Annual Celebration of Grassroots Organizing with 15 local social movement organizations. The 13th annual Celebration of Grassroots Organizing in Boston honors the groundwork that was built by leaders and allies meeting local community needs. Leading the movement for Black lives, uplifting youth voices, supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, and defending communities from the harms of gentrification and displacement, policing, deportations, climate change and much more – our fights are inter-connected. We all know this collective work is more important than ever, and none of our work can get done in siloes. The partners raised over $200,000 to support our local social movement work in housing justice, workers’ rights, civic engagement, environmental justice, youth justice, restorative justice, and more! The traditional meal at this fundraiser is lobster — because how often to we get to gather together over a lobster meal!? Lots of other food options are offered too.

CLVU Executive Director Denise Matthews-Turner spoke at the event, emphasizing our shared goals as social movement organizations and the importance of working together and uplifting each other’s work. Here is a snippet from her remarks:

“This afternoon is what ‘Many Fronts, One Movement’ looks like. Just look around. People connected to different organizations. Working in different neighborhoods. Organizing around different issues. Using different strategies. And yet we’re all here because we believe something fundamental: No one organization can build the world we’re trying to create.

The world we’re working toward cannot be won through a single campaign. It won’t be won by housing organizers alone. Or environmental justice organizations alone. Or immigrant rights advocates alone. Or youth organizers, worker centers, or organizations fighting for racial justice acting alone.

The systems that create inequality, displacement, environmental racism, exploitation, and exclusion are deeply interconnected. None of us chose these separate fronts. They were created by systems that divide people’s struggles.

Our work is to help people see those connections—and to build a movement that’s just as interconnected as the challenges we face. That’s why this Celebration matters.“

In my other life, I’m a quilter. One thing quilting has taught me is that strength doesn’t come from one piece of fabric. It comes from many pieces joined with intention. I think movements are built the same way.

The world we seek is simply too large to fit inside any one organization.

It takes all of us.

The Annual Celebration of Grassroots Organizing is not just a fundraiser; it is a space to connect with the organizers and community leaders making this work happen every week. It’s a place to gather, hear stories, build community, and help us keep this vital work alive. The fundraiser also provided Spanish interpretation and childcare. Want to attend next year? Let us know and stay tuned for next year’s celebration — there are plenty of ways to get involved and to support making it happen!

Partner Organizations: Alternatives for Community & Environment, Asian American Resource Workshop, Boston Ujima Project, City Life Vida Urbana, The City School, Families for Justice as Healing, GreenRoots, Haymarket People’s Fund, I Have a Future, Matahari Women Workers’ Center, Muslim Justice League, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston, New England Community Project, Stories Inspiring Movements, The Youth Justice & Power Union

Spotlighting a partner organization: Youth Justice and Power Union (YJPU)

One of the 15 partner organizations is Youth Justice and Power Union, a powerful group of youth organizing to organize, basebuild, and lead campaigns. YJPU centers the voices of Black and Brown youth across the city. YJPU leaders go around the city asking residents directly what they need from Boston’s new participatory budget and inviting them into the process. In line with CLVU’s mission and vision, YJPU aims to build collective power that confronts systemic issues at the root through organizing and direct action. And their most recent organizing has focused on proposing a City budget that meets the needs of its communities rather than increasing money spent on policing.

Most recently, Mayor Wu and the Boston City Council voted to slash the proposed funding from youth jobs, affordable housing, elder support, Boston’s participatory budget, food access, and Boston Public Schools while *increasing* the police budget by over $4 million. YJPU’s organized proposal for the FY27 budget allocates $6 million go towards youth jobs and $5.25 million towards affordable housing. Rather than the $474 million currently funneled into policing, YJPU is asking the city to invest in the things that actually keep communities safe and thriving such as secure funding for youth workers to receive good, livable pay year round and truly affordable housing. However, Mayor Wu and the Boston City Council have passed a proposal contributing only $750K towards youth jobs, and $2 million towards housing vouchers. As of now, the City gives less than $10 million of its own budget for building new affordable housing, and most of it is STILL TOO expensive.

YJPU is also asking for $2.6 million for community-led mental health crisis response, and $40-plus million to expand participatory budgeting itself. The fight for rent control and the broader people’s budget movement happening at YJPU looks like communities deciding, together, where the money goes and who it’s actually for.

We are strong as a movement when young people are organizing and we are centering youth voices!

CLVU as a critical social movement partner

City Life Vida Urbana (CLVU) plays a critical role to build working-class power across Massachusetts by supporting individuals and families in forming and sustaining negotiating pówer through Tenant Associations to resist mass displacement. Our weekly anti-displacement meetings are the heart of CLVU’s sword and shield organizing model, offering a space for tenants and small homeowners to strategize, build leadership, and take collective action against evictions, unaffordable rent increases, and foreclosures. Whether it’s tenants at 10 Wilmore St in Mattapan organizing against $500 rent hikes, or the long-standing victory of the Fairlawn Tenant Association fighting for rent control, working-class tenants all over the state show what’s possible when people come together to fight back. Active and past tenant associations like 168 Gove and 6 Humphreys Place are powerful examples of community-led resistance to displacement and speculative corporate landlords. Donate to CLVU today!

As we celebrate our organizing, rent control work continues until we win!

Our coalition was back in front of the State House last week because our State Legislature can still act on rent control. They have until July 31 to move rent control legislation forward this session, and we are keeping the pressure on. We either pass rent control at the State House now, or it’s back to the ballot in 2028– with an even bigger and stronger coalition. Our coalition is phone banking legislators to tell them we need them to pass rent control.

ACT NOW: Call or Email legislators

CALL YOUR REPS

Your state legislators need to hear from you. Urge them to pass rent control legislation. We need to show that we are here to stay and will keep fighting until we win. Stay tuned for more upcoming rallies/actions.

This morning, our coalition rallied and put pressure on legislators at the State House.

Yesterday, June 23, we received *very* surprising news. The Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a final ruling finding the Keep Mass Home rent control ballot amendment language around religious exemptions to be in conflict with the State Constitution. This means we are no longer able to go forth in putting rent control on the November ballot.

We disagree with the court’s interpretation, and we know Massachusetts voters want to vote on rent control. The good news is that this court decision does not prevent us from building a sustainable movement where we fight and win together for working people across Massachusetts. After months of powerful organizing, it’s clear: the people of Massachusetts support rent control. The Keep Mass Home coalition gathered over 157,000 signatures statewide – that’s 157,000+ Massachusetts residents who took time to show support for rent control, several thousands coming from CLVU members and our communities – because we all deserve stable homes and neighborhoods. We scared the real estate industry so much that private-equity-backed national corporations (more on this in a future post) poured millions into ads against our campaign, and brought them to the point of pulling out all stops and looking for any and all reasons to strike this down. And we aren’t going anywhere!

“Do Your Job!” Our legislators can still act on rent control by July 31

Our coalition was back in front of the State House already this morning because our State Legislature can still act on rent control. They have until July 31 to move rent control legislation forward this session, and we are keeping the pressure on. We either pass rent control at the State House now, or it’s back to the ballot in 2028– with an even bigger and stronger coalition.

ACT NOW: Call or Email legislators

CALL YOUR REPS

Your state legislators need to hear from you. Urge them to pass rent control legislation. We need to show that we are here to stay and will keep fighting until we win. Stay tuned for more upcoming rallies/actions.

YOUR ORGANIZING WORK got us this far. We are stronger than ever, and we WILL fight til we win.

Each and every one of you who have collected signatures, talked to neighbors, friends and family, came out to rallies, shared your stories out loud and talked with press, came ot meetings, played a real role in getting us to this point. Our collective organizing has moved the needle on rent control, and it continues together. We have built an incredible statewide movement, grown our power, and we are stronger than ever.

WHAT WE HAVE TODAY THAT WE DIDN’T HAVE 1 YEAR AGO

• New & stronger leaders in our movement

• 157,000 + signatures from people who want to see rent control on the ballot in MA

• Thousands of volunteers

• Broad public support

• So much more knowledge gained through experience talking with community members and people across Greater Boston and the state

• and much more.

  
  We are planning debriefs on these updates in the next week with other rent control partners and will invite you all into those spaces so we can talk together!

  

  

  

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DONATE & support our movement!

CLVU’s work for rent control and tenant organizing continues, and we have so much to build! We are currently facing a fundraising gap for the Spring – please contribute to help us raise $30,000 by July 1. We need donations from regular people to build our fight against these private-equity-backed corporations. Your contribution will support our organizing work and help win rent control. Donate here.

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SIGN UP TO COLLECT SIGNATURES

It’s GO TIME!! Last fall, we gathered 125,000 signatures together across the state. Now we need 25,000 more to officially put rent control on the November 2026 ballot, and signature collection starts NOW! The campaign is also looking for volunteers to support online, and as spokespersons. We need YOU — See below for more!

CLVU has shifts out now in the Boston area. Sign up for a Boston area shift here. There are also statewide shifts if you’re not in Boston– check out statewide shifts in Western Mass and Worcester here.

No experience needed! We got you.

Never collected before? That’s okay. We’ve got trainings, materials, and experienced volunteers who will walk with you every step of the way. You won’t be doing this alone! Join a shift and check out a training every Tuesday at 6pm throughout May.

Pick up your packet at a site near you:

📍 Jamaica Plain — City Life / Vida Urbana

• 284 Amory St, Floor 1

• Mon, Wed–Fri: 11am–4pm | Tue: 2–8:30pm | Sat: 10am–12pm

📍 Dorchester — New England Community Project

• 102 Columbia Rd

• Mon–Fri: 9am–4pm | 1st & 2nd Sat: 10am–3pm

📍 Downtown Boston — Field First

• 145 Tremont St, Floor 2

• Tue–Thu: 9am–5pm | Mon/Fri/Sat by appt

• Contact Grace: gracemcgovern@field-first.com

📍 Lynn — Lynn United for Change

• 112 Exchange St

• Mon–Wed: 2–6pm | Fri & Sat: 10am–1pm

📍 Springfield — Springfield No One Leaves

• Hours TBD | Contact: katie@springfieldnooneleaves.org

SIGNATURE COLLECTION TRAININGS ✍🏾

• Every Tuesday in May: 6-7pm, 284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain (in English with Spanish interpretation)

• Wednesday 5/6: 6:30pm-8pm, 28 Paris Street, East Boston (in English with Spanish interpretation)

• Can’t make it in person? The Keep Mass Home campaign is hosting digital signature collection trainings (in English)

• Stay tuned for dates for Brockton signature trainings, or email Katie kmccann@clvu.org for info!

Want to support the campaign in other ways? ART BUILDS🎨, DIGITAL ORGANIZING 👩🏽‍💻, SPOKESPERSON TRAININGS 🎤!

East Boston: Join us for a special night of art + rent control action with Ñ Studios and their risograph!

• WHEN: Tuesday, May 19th, 6-8pm

  WHERE: 126 Border St, Boston
  *When you are facing the building, there is a door on the left hand side that says ‘gallery’ — go in through there!
  

  CLVU is partnering with Ñ Studios for a creative rent control advocacy night. Come make rent control art we can use for the campaign, make calls, pick up rent control signature sheets for the ballot, and make history.

• Keep Mass Home needs digital organizers! Volunteer with a fun group of digital organizers to support the campaign online. Sign up for more info here.

• CLVU is training members to talk to the press, or to your neighbors! If you want to learn how to talk about the rent control campaign easily, email grace@clvu.org — we’ll be hosting more trainings soon!

• Follow CLVU and the Keep Mass Home campaign on Instagram for daily updates!

  ---

  “Hold on– I thought we already surpassed our goal in the fall!?”

  You’re right – We absolutely DID have major success in the fall with an impressive collective effort across the state, turning in over 125,000 to the Secretary of State and getting certified to move forward in our campaign! Now, it’s time for the second (and last) round of signature collection – this is required of all ballot petition efforts in Massachusetts. This time, the number of signatures required isn’t as lofty – but we still need 25,000 signatures, which is a lot of work – and we need you to pitch in!

  COLLECT SIGNATURES

  

  Subscribe now

WHAT’S HAPPENING

The Trump administration’s HUD has proposed a new Mixed Status Rule that would strip away decades of housing protections for mixed immigration status families. Right now, if you have an undocumented family member, they can live with you in federally assisted housing, even though they receive zero federal housing assistance and often pay higher rent than subsidized residents.

HUD wants to end that. If this rule passes, families will face an impossible choice: force a loved one out, or lose their housing together. And with ICE and CBP enforcement already terrorizing our communities, that’s not a “coincidental” tradeoff; it’s a direct path to family separation and homelessness.

OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN THEIR OWN WORDS

“I’m scared. I don’t want to be separated from my daughter…we are not a family if we aren’t together. Not even the shelter system separated us, but for some reason the federal government wants to separate us? I don’t understand why immigrants are being blamed for the housing crisis when the real villains are on Wall Street, jacking up our rents and taking advantage of the federal government to pay them out. Billionaires pay less in taxes than minimum wage workers, and they’re forcing programs to shrink and blaming immigrants for the shrinkage — leaving regular people like us to drown in debt and a crisis of sky-high costs.”

— [CLVU member, Boston]

This is who this rule targets: a mother here in our city who has survived every crisis this system has thrown at her family, and is now being told that the federal government wants to finish the job of evicting and separating her family. Her analysis is right: the housing crisis was not caused by immigrants. It was caused by policy choices that handed our housing system to Wall Street. Scapegoating mixed-status families doesn’t solve the crisis; it deepens it, while the real culprits walk away untouched.

THIS RULE ISN’T JUST CRUEL… IT’S COSTLY AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Undocumented residents aren’t a burden on the federal housing system; they’re subsidizing it. Because they’re ineligible for benefits, they pay market-rate or above-market rent, supporting affordability for everyone else. Remove them, and costs go up. Pile on the new administrative burdens this rule creates, and federal housing dollars stretch further from families and closer to bureaucracy.

We are in the worst affordable housing crisis in a generation, one driven by Wall Street speculation, corporate landlords, and decades of disinvestment in public housing. This rule would eliminate subsidized units, strain housing agencies, and push families toward homelessness while doing nothing to address any of that. It’s not policy. It’s a misdirection.

WHAT WE’RE DOING ABOUT IT

CLVU is joining with the national Right to the City Alliance and the Alliance for Housing Justice to flood HUD with public comments demanding they withdraw this rule. Public comment periods work, and the more voices HUD hears, the harder it becomes to ignore us!

It takes two minutes. The form is pre-filled, just add your name, customize your testimony, and hit send.

TELL HUD NOW!

Already submitted? Share this post, tag a neighbor, forward it — Every voice counts before next week’s 4/21 deadline!

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After the film, stick around for a conversation with local worker-owners and union leaders building worker power right here in our communities. The panel will feature leaders from worker-owned co-ops and local unions, including May from Circus Coop Cafe, Alex from the Worker Ownership and Power, Paola, a Coop lawyer, and Marina who is representing the cleaning Coop she cofounded and a long-time CLVU Northside member! Come connect, build coalition, and pick up tools for the work ahead. 🎟 Grab your free tickets here!

Boston Labor Conference

WHEN: 12:45pm March 28, 2026 (during the lunch break)

WHERE: Carpenters Center, 750 Dorchester Ave

RSVP ticket

Hymn for a Collective Future

Rally chants help channel energy into power, making sure our demands are heard loud and clear. CLVU organizer Antonio, also known as Twice Thou, has been doing exactly that through music, organizing, and community leadership.

Before organizing with CLVU, Antonio built a career as a hip-hop artist and entrepreneur, using music and art to speak out on social issues. In 2011, when his own home was facing foreclosure, he turned to CLVU for support. Music became his sword of public pressure in the fight to save his home.

By using and teaching others CLVU’s organizing strategy of the sword, shield, and offer (public pressure, legal defense, and collective bargaining), Antonio quickly stepped into leadership and mentorship in the fight for housing justice.

Today, he mentors young people, organizes alongside neighbors, and works to reclaim foreclosed homes from banks so they can be returned to former owners at their real market value.

Through the Rally Rhyme below, Antonio calls out systemic injustices from food insecurity and worker exploitation to family separation and displacement while inviting us to build something different: a collective future where communities reclaim what’s ours. A future grounded in democratic decision-making, community-owned housing, cooperative and worker-owned labor, and economic systems that serve people, not profit.

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A Rally Rhyme

Written by CLVU organizer, Antonio Ennis

We’re transforming struggle, into community control

If freedom isn’t free, then Unity shouldn’t be sold

Put the city budget, in the hands of the people

This announcement is public, to dismantle the evil

Think beyond just survival, through the power of resistance

We’re bound to break the cycle, if we vow to stay consistent

Poverty stricken, the plot thickens, while we’re preyed upon

Lottery tickets, for housing that should be safe and warm

150 years later, empty promises of reparations

Where’s the 40acres?...where’s the mule?...where’s the civilizations

Protection against harassment, and landlord retaliation

Is education, and the formation, of Tenant Associations

Developer’s greed, is fueled by speculation

Gentrification, genocide and familial separation

Investors seek displacement, by puttin’ an offer on a building

But, the power of the people, can conquer any villain

Since Plymouth Rock landed on us, we’ve been taught resilience

Freezin’ SNAP benefits and youth jobs, is how they Plymouth Rock our children

Government shutdown, ain’t the answer to the crisis

Supplement cuts, now the damages are priceless

Let’s reclaim our economy, resources and democracy

The Sword, The Shield, & The Offer, is the City Life philosophy

Community Land Trusts, Collective ownership

Rent Control is the standard that Massachusetts voters pick

From envisioning to building

Across Massachusetts, working-class families are working two or three jobs and still struggling to afford rent. Wages stay flat while housing prices keep skyrocketing and our communities are paying the price. skyrocketing housing costs.

At CLVU, we believe another future is possible. A collective future where everyone has what they need to live with dignity: food, housing, healthcare, education, meaningful work, and the freedom to live without fear of displacement or deportation.

But that future won’t come from vision alone. It comes from organizing.

Join us at the Boston Labor Conference to connect with neighbors, workers, and organizers building power across our communities. Come share ideas, build solidarity, and strengthen the collective action needed to win a better future for all of us.

RSVP ticket

📍 Carpenters Center — 750 Dorchester Ave

📅 Saturday, March 28

🎟 Get your free tickets here!

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Although we are all feeling this tense political moment in different ways, we need to be by the side of our neighbors who are feeling the fear run through their neighborhoods. Deportation and detainment are, of course, horrible forms of displacement. Evictions, deportation, detention, and violent policing practices all rely on fear– and right now, the communities we organize in are afraid of answering the door, and children are watching their families get ripped apart. We are living in a dehumanizing time in which immigrants, human rights activists, and organizers are being targeted by federal powers. But in neighborhoods across Boston, people are organizing. Although it’s scary, more than ever we need everyone to recommit to courage, build momentum, and activate our people power… together we say “ICE OUT!”

CLVU Members Speak Out

Read pieces of courage and testimony from the CLVU community who are feeling this anxiety firsthand.

One of our longtime members, a grandparent who has lived in this community for decades, described this moment with a mix of heartbreak, disbelief, and anxiety.

“This moment doesn’t even have a name,” they told us. “This fear feels unprecedented, like something that will be studied in documentaries years from now. I love this country… and I’m sure the racists love this country too... So if you truly love a country, why are you violating its Constitution and attacking its people who contribute to the community and economy? What hurts and enrages me most is watching someone like our president with a criminal record blame immigrants for being criminals. I’m just a grandparent who doesn’t want to work hard anymore… I’m tired, this rent is too high and everything is too expensive… y peor there is no work.”

They spoke about the emotional and physical toll of living under constant fear of a political attack. “There’s no peace. There’s no mental health. People are getting sick, suffering from depression, high blood pressure, and worsened heart conditions from all this extra stress. It’s also so hard to find work… I’m barely keeping up with my recently negotiated rent because I’m jumping from one cleaning gig to another. And when we do find work, we accept work in undignified conditions and essentially what are low wages… immigrants like me are forced to accept low prices because we need the gig, I need that pay, any pay to survive and pay rent.”

For directly impacted immigrants, fear has been constant, and home is no longer just a shelter; it has become a frontline for displacement. “Immigrants have always been the workforce of this country. This country is a mosaic of immigrants. The people who say nothing is happening are the US citizens who’ve never experienced racism. I live watching the news day and night just so I can track what lies are being told now. I see or hear about the disappearances happening in the streets, and it doesn’t always make it onto the news. And every day I ask myself, what will happen if ICE takes me?”

They described the crushing weight of uncertainty… the uncertainty of people who have lived in this country for 20, 30, even 50 years being detained over minor infractions from decades ago, like a speeding violation, are not grounds to consider deportation. Nothing justifies deportation and family separation. “Where are the laws? Because I only see this claim of Kings,” they asked. “No lawyer can minimize this pain. It’s not right to see immigrant rights be destroyed every few weeks by our government. We are honest, hardworking people, and yet we are treated worse than dogs.”

They know about community protections. They know about LUCE and ICE Watch, about calling LUCE when there is an ICE sighting. But even that does not erase their fear. “When I saw what happened to citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” they said, reflecting on recent violence, “I wondered…what happens when there are no cameras? How are people treated when no one is watching? It’s terrifying when undocumented people and or anyone is detained. But it’s even more frightening to think of what could happen in detention centers.”

Their fear extends beyond themself and they also reflect on their grandchild.

“My grandchild came here as a child. They received a Social Security number. They were close to getting residency. All the paperwork was submitted. And now, a lot of immigration processing is frozen or is almost a decade behind. My grandchild will graduate from high school soon. They dream of becoming dentists. My grandchild is at the top of their class and is invited everywhere for academic awards. But without residency, how can they afford college? University is so expensive, and more expensive for undocumented youth. How can they continue their dreams?”

Their voice softened as they spoke about the new generation of youth no longer having access to receiving DACA (since Trump 1.0 destroyed DACA in 2017) and the pathways that once gave families hope. “I am older,” they said quietly. “But what about my grandchild? What about the thousands of young people with professional dreams? What future are we giving them? Are they also going to be forced to work cleaning jobs that I had to suck up and endure?”

“Everything feels desperate. Rent is high. Work is unstable. I’m sometimes scared to go to meetings. But I still send people information. I tell them about the weekly eviction defense meetings. I share where to find food at food banks. I can’t do everything I used to do as a leader at CLVU, but I can at least help that way.”

Their testimony reminds us that fear does not erase dignity. Even under pressure, even in the face of uncertainty, our elders continue to organize, inform, and care for others. And that, too, is courage.

Another member, who is Haitian and whose community is directly impacted by the recent TPS ruling, shares their reflection:

“I’ve lived here for years,” one Haitian member shared at a recent community meeting. “I work. I pay rent. My kids go to school here. But everything in my life has the word temporary attached to it.”

For Haitians, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) meant the ability to breathe, not fully, but enough. It meant work authorization, a signed lease, and the chance to plan more than a few months ahead. But living under TPS also meant carrying the mental stress and anxiety of knowing that stability via TPS could be canceled at any time. When news spread that TPS protections could be terminated, fear of displacement fueled feelings of stress and anxiety. But there was a huge sigh of relief when a federal U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C. temporarily blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate TPS for Haitians in the US.

Although the termination of TPS for Haiti was temporarily blocked, the member shared that “It feels like the ground is moving again”.“How do you build a future when the ground keeps shifting? I already lived through an earthquake in Haiti. Why does this instability happen again in Massachusetts?”.

That instability doesn’t stay in the headlines. It shows up at the kitchen table, in lease renewals, in conversations with landlords. When your status is uncertain, signing a lease feels risky. Some landlords hesitate to renew. Some demand additional documentation. Some exploit the uncertainty. Although federal fair housing law protects tenants regardless of immigration status, fear makes it feel risky to assert those rights. “How do you fight eviction when you’re fighting deportation too?” they asked “the fighting never stops but at least I’m not alone”. Temporary protection status (TPS) nor the Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals (DACA) does not provide a pathway to citizenship therefore not guaranteeing permanent safety. But committing to growing our people power and collectively strengthening our organizing muscles is what we will build towards community defense and liberatory practices.

When we organize together, fear loses its power. In this political moment, CLVU remains determined in our commitment to anti-eviction and housing justice organizing, because safe and stable housing is critical to dignity, safety, and belonging. We continue to host regular eviction defense meetings where organizers, movement lawyers, and law students support and engage hundreds of community members in English, Spanish, and Haitian Kreyol to learn their basic housing rights. These meetings create space for tenants to identify collective organizing strategies to resist evictions and unaffordable rent increases, and to fight foreclosures across Boston and Brockton while building working class power.

At the same time, we recognize that housing stability cannot exist where immigrant communities are being targeted and terrorized. That is why CLVU is part of the LUCE network, with many members and allies from our base participating in ICE Watch efforts to keep the communities where we organize safe. Through coordinated monitoring, rapid response, and community education, CLVU members are working alongside partners to ensure neighbors are informed, supported, and not left isolated during ICE enforcement. We do this because housing justice and immigration justice are inseparable: when fear of deportation keeps tenants from asserting their rights, housing insecurity, evictions, depression, and worsening health become more looming.

Everyone deserves a home without the threat of eviction, intimidation, or deportation. Organizing tenants, building collective power, and standing with immigrant families strengthens our neighborhoods. Our vision at CLVU has always centered collective safety, in which everyone has the right to exist in freedom without fear of displacement or deportation, regardless of immigration status. At CVLU, we fight for racial, social, and economic justice and gender equality by building working-class power. So together, we will continue to organize in our communities’ defense, organize to end the occupation of our communities, and fight for a future where each person has the right to food, housing, health care, education, meaningful employment and the right to exist in freedom without the fear of displacement or deportation.

Get Involved:

• Support LUCE’s ICE watch work in Massachusetts donate today or find a LUCE ICE watch training near you. Check the LUCE website for more information.

• Come to weekly CLVU meetings in Jamaica Plain and East Boston and build working class solidarity and power with us.

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The Timeline

Here’s what the general timeline for the rent control campaign looks like as of now:

• February-April: Time to put pressure on the State legislature to pass rent control legislation in the State House, and time to prepare for the next phases of the ballot campaign (which will be a second round of signature collection, and mass voter outreach)! We are continuing to push at the State House for legislation at the same time as the ballot campaign – because the legislature still has time to pass legislation for rent control. Two different routes for winning rent control, and we’re pushing both at the same time!

• May-June: Second round of signature collection and continued pressure on the legislature to pass rent control legislation.

• July-November 3: Mass voter outreach.

• November 3, 2026: Election Day! If we are on the ballot, this is when voters across Massachusetts will vote on passing statewide rent control.

What can I do right now to support?

The fight for rent control is just gearing up. Here are the ways to take action right now:

• Contact your legislators using this tool to demand housing stability and affordable rents across Massachusetts.

• Email Katie (kmccann@clvu.org) to let us know you’re eager to get plugged in and lend volunteer support for rent control!

• Sign up for CLVU action alerts to get emails about upcoming actions and rent control events with CLVU.

• Follow the new Keep Mass Home Instagram account, and check out the campaign website!

• Attend weekly meetings at CLVU if you’re facing displacement or housing issues, or to build solidarity and connect with neighbors and community members.

Stay tuned - more updates in March!

We will have more details and opportunities to get involved before March, so stay tuned! It’s important to remember in this moment: Building community and people power are absolutely necessary to fight back against greedy corporate landlords displacing working class families. And, this people-powered movement is not just about housing, it’s about our dignity, our rights, and the power of organizing together as Massachusetts residents to support our neighbors and strengthen our communities. We are more powerful together against authoritarianism and corporate greed.

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As we begin 2026 at City Life/Vida Urbana, we stand with our communities amid growing uncertainty as we witness ICE terrorizing vulnerable neighbors, relentless warmongering and imperialism, and authoritarian tactics from a regime that aims to divide and silence us. In the face of this reality, we must once again recommit to organizing with courage, defending our neighbors from eviction, displacement, and harm, and building collective power rooted in dignity and solidarity. In the year ahead, we will sharpen our work, show up for one another, and fight for a future of liberation where every person can live safely and with dignity. Join us.

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CLVU Members Reflect on 2025 Accomplishments

At CLVU meetings this past week in Jamaica Plain and East Boston, CLVU members reflected on our past year of organizing and shared new wishes and goals for 2026! We want to share what our community felt were our accomplishments from 2025, and collective goals for the coming year!

All members agreed that CLVU’s role in the rent control signature collection campaign for Keep Mass Home, and the overall statewide coalition fight for rent control that ramped up in 2025, was a MAJOR highlight of the year! Why members felt it was important:

• The campaign brought people together – both at CLVU and across the state

• We showed what we can do when we unite under a plan of action toward a common goal

• We were happy to see the statewide Homes For All Mass coalition grow, while our solidarity did too

• We’re engaging voters and showing lawmakers that rent control is what voters want

Members also highlighted the Fairlawn victory —- 347 units becoming permanently affordable, thanks largely to the persistence of Ms. Betty and Ms. Annie, as a major win from 2025, and rallies with Wilmore tenants! And, through the year, we brought joy and laughter to our organizing, especially at the recent holiday party. To look back at all of these victories and exciting moments, check out our CLVU Bulletin posts from 2025.

Goals and Wishes for 2026

Here’s what CLVU members want to work together in 2026 and to see in the world:

• Bring in new community members to weekly meetings

• Fortify our organizing work and canvass in more residential buildings

  • Expand number of tenant associations

  • Develop common standards for housing conditions

• Win rent control

• Support immigrant communities and neighbors, organizations

• Support more people with disabilities

• Strengthen statewide housing justice coalition

• More inclusion of all members in CLVU meetings and events, no matter on location

• Transparency in decision making in our organization

• Justice, peace, housing for all, education, clean environment, rent control, joy in organizing, continued learning

• True ceasefire and reconstruction in Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Somalia and for all communities facing violence, terror and destruction

• End occupation everywhere

• Take care of ourselves

Join the Movement in 2026!

Is one of your resolutions for 2026 to build community and support your neighbors? Get involved with CLVU!

Ways to get involved:

• Sign up for CLVU action alerts to get new emails from us about our upcoming actions

• Plug in to the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign to be part of the campaign for statewide rent control in 2026!

• Come to our weekly meetings on Tuesdays in Jamaica Plain and Wednesdays in East Boston

• Follow CLVU on Instagram, Bluesky, here on Substack in English and in Spanish at El Boletín de CLVU, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

• Want to contribute to the CLVU Bulletin with your housing story, an op-ed, artwork, or photos? Email grace@clvu.org

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We’re Moving Forward Toward Rent Control on the 2026 Massachusetts Ballot!

We have an exciting rent control update:
On Tuesday, December 2nd, the statewide Keep Mass Home campaign, with volunteers led by ally groups across Massachusetts, turned in signatures to the Massachusetts Secretary of State. The campaign hoped to get 75,000 of the 124,000 signatures we collected from voters officially certified to move forward – and we found out over the holidays that we got far more certified than needed! The CLVU community collected and contributed over 8,000 of these signatures from September-November, with groups from across the state collecting and adding to the total number!

CLVU organizers, staff and members joined with the statewide campaign at a celebratory signature turn-in event in December. Bob, a Dorchester resident and CLVU member, spoke to the crowd a bout his experience collecting signatures: “I talked with many voters who are facing excessive and exorbitant rent hikes from corporate landlords. Many shared they had already been displaced from their home recently or had to move in with family or roommates to afford rent.“

Dorchester organizer Antonio, who is also an owner-occupied landlord, added: “It’s the only shot right now at allowing people to not have to choose between a rent increase and their medical bills, the food in their refrigerators, the clothes on their backs, their health care and children”. You can get a better sense of how pumped up the crowd was at the event by this excerpt from a Newton Beacon article by Tori Torres detailing CLVU Organizer Antonio’s chanting with the crowd:

The responses grew louder each time Dorchester resident Antonio Ennis started a new chant in the small meeting room inside Church on the Hill. “What do we want?” Ennis called out, rousing the crowd.

“Rent control!” dozens of Massachusetts residents roared back.

“When do we want it?” Ennis prompted.

“Now!” the crowd shouted back.

“And if we don’t get it?” Ennis questioned.

“Shut it down!” their voices boomed, echoing off the walls.

A True Grassroots Community Effort

Grassroots volunteers drove this signature-gathering campaign! Keep Massachusetts Home got it done with a huge collective effort– and the CLVU community was out there helping make it happen! Thank you so much to everyone who put in the work to help reach this historic milestone. Here is a look back at just some of the many, many days and even more shifts of community leaders volunteering for rent control:

GET INVOLVED!

The first step is cleared – but we have a LONG way to go! We have a lot of work to do through the next phases of the campaign until November 2026.

Our communities, and vulnerable people and entire populations around the globe are facing violence, hatred, the effects of imperialism, white supremacy and corporate greed in a very real and devastating way already this year. Building community, talking to neighbors, and fighting back together is extremely important. There are many opportunities and ways to do this (follow CLVU’s Instagram, where we share posts and information from ally groups fighting for justice). The rent control campaign is one way to connect with neighbors and other Massachusetts residents, building community in your neighborhood and across the state, and growing a multiracial grassroots effort that the far right and corporate real estate executives would rather see disappear. Here’s how to plug in:

• Sign up for CLVU action alerts to get new emails from us about upcoming events, actions, etc. related to rent control!

• Join the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign list to receive notices about trainings and events happening across the whole state.

• Follow the new Keep Mass Home Instagram account.

We'll need to collect another (smaller) set of signatures in May and June (yes, more signature collecting :] ) to put rent control on the ballot in November 2026— stay tuned for information on trainings! It’s time to stabilize our communities and keep our neighbors in their homes.

Donate to CLVU

This year, our members have won some incredible victories, especially in the Mattapan community. At Fairlawn, the largest privately-owned housing development in Mattapan, the Tenant Association won permanent affordability for 347 homes. In Morton Village, after a 2020 building sale, members fought for—and won—a 5-year lease with affordable rents and increases capped at 3.25%. Now, as that lease comes to an end, they are recommitting to fight again for their own and their neighbors’ stability.

Re-Committing In The Face of New Threats

But this year has also thrown new challenges our way—forces trying to shake us from our purpose, to test whether we are willing to stand firm for the world we believe is possible. As our members in Morton Village firmly pull their resistant landlord back to the negotiating table, they show us all that moments of challenge are also opportunities. They remind us to recommit: to our vision, our people, and the work that transforms our city.

I am recommitting myself and I want to share those commitments with you.

I am a commitment to building the power of working-class families.
Because when working-class families mobilize to challenge unjust evictions and push for policy change, they defend our collective freedoms and push to advance all our rights.

I am a commitment to resisting authoritarianism in all its forms.
Because we see undocumented community members, leading with courage, organizing ICE Watch in our city and in others across the country.

I am a commitment to the liberation of Black women.

Because when this is realized, we are all more free to shape the world we deserve. Our liberation expands the possibilities for whole communities, shifts what we believe is possible, and makes room for all of us to live with dignity, safety, and power.

Today I invite you to recommit to sustaining and fueling this organizing. Your donation is one more—but critical—way to show up in this moment, to stand alongside our people, and to help sustain the fight we are all a part of.

Support CLVU Organizing

Our Rent Control Campaign over the past year has shown exactly what we can achieve when we organize together. People are stepping forward, leading, and holding firm. This campaign is more than policy change—it is proof that transformation is possible when our people commit, act, and move as one. As part of statewide partnerships through Homes for All Massachusetts CLVU gathered over 8,000 signatures and engaged over 50 volunteers.

All of this at a time when we have had to devote considerable resources to community defense.

Sustaining this work takes real resources

And the truth is, depending on philanthropy alone puts our movement at risk. This year we’ve learned of fascist think tanks that have explicitly named our organization - they see and feel the power of organized tenants and are trying to undermine it. We know they aren’t the only ones working to cut support for groups like ours. But we remain unshaken. These attacks only confirm that we’re doing the necessary work. Your support is one of the ways we stand strong together. It helps keep our organizing rooted, grows our base, fuels the rent control campaign, and keeps building a movement that refuses to shrink. It moves us forward.

Many of you have already shown up at rallies, painted banners, knocked on doors, stood out in all kinds of weather gathering signatures, engaged your neighbors in organizing all year long, and more. Thank you.

This is one more, but essential, way to show up. Every conversation, every hour spent organizing, every donation—adds to the power of our movement and keeps us grounded in our commitments.

Together, grounded in those commitments and ready to act, we can resist, transform, and build a future our communities deserve. I’m asking you to recommit with us today. Stand with our members. Stand with this movement.

With resolve, gratitude, and solidarity,

Denise-Matthews Turner
Executive Director, City Life / Vida Urbana

THIS SUNDAY, NOV 2nd! Join us 2:30 to 4:30pm at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, MA for a multi-media event, featuring the world premiere of the documentary film, A Collective Future! Get ready for an inspiring event highlighting community organizing stories in the Boston area! A Collective Future follows three Boston-area organizers who share a powerful “resist and build” practice. There are few tickets remaining so get yours now!

GET YOUR TICKET!

For the past 2 years, 364 Harvard tenant leaders Yvette and Shaunda, and the City Life/Vida Urbana Communications Team, have worked with Center for Economic Democracy and the Asian American Resource Workshop as a cohort to create a short film featuring “resist and build” stories in the Boston area.

This bold new film, executively produced by the Center for Economic Democracy, City Life/Vida Urbana, and the Asian American Resource Workshop, follows three Boston-area organizers who share a powerful “resist and build” practice. When the current economic system threatened their home, workplace, and safety, these three Boston-area residents strategically leveraged their organizing experiences, combined with people power, to fight for and win community control. Their inspiring stories light the way toward a new world where our housing, workplaces, and public funds are collectively controlled by the people, not by billionaires and elites.

The multi-media event will also feature a panel discussion after the film, an art gallery exhibition, the launch of a new ‘zine, campaigns to get involved with, and more!

Get your ticket today! Each person who attends will receive a special edition illustrated zine at the event. You won’t want to miss this!

Meet Yvette, Khalil and May!

A Collective Future follows the organizing stories of Yvette, Khalil and May and their work for better housing, participatory city budgeting, and labor rights, respectively.

Yvette

Yvette, a tenant association leader in Dorchester, won permanently affordable housing in a community land trust! She and her neighbor Shaunda fought rent increases and poor conditions — and ended up inspiring others across the Boston area with their victory.

The neighbors partnered with the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust to purchase their 2-family home in Dorchester after they won an eviction fight against their previous landlord, who wanted to kick out the tenants to sell the building empty for a higher profit (a classic gentrification-for-profit move).

Growing up in an activist family in Roxbury made organizing a core part of Yvette’s identity. Before moving to Dorchester, Yvette struggled to purchase her late mother’s home in Roxbury during gentrification, fighting evictions. Living through unsafe living conditions due to neglectful landlords and CLVU’s eviction defense support, Yvette gained hands-on experience and knowledge in housing law, court systems, and organizing strategies. When Yvette faced eviction from her current home because her former landlord was selling the building, she said, “Nuh, we calling City Life and fighting the eviction!” With the power of her organizing community, she fought and won the right to permanent, affordable housing. Yvette’s home was taken out of the private market and is now protected by the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust! Now THAT is a resist-and-build strategy; it’s organizing in practice!

Khalil

Khalil is a Boston organizer with Youth Justice and Power Union (YJPU) and is also known as Kleo, an underground rapper. His mom encouraged him to join YJPU as a high school student. Shortly after, Khalil witnessed the injustice of Trayvon Martin’s killer being able to walk free in 2016.

Khalil talks about how growing up in Roxbury and Boston has informed his organizing work, and how his artistic abilities help him imagine creative solutions to the problems faced under capitalism— problems a more socialist future could begin to solve.

In 2021, amid the growing Black Lives Matter Movement and defund-the-police movements still driving organizing in community spaces, Khalil was invited to work full-time at YJPU as a campaign organizer focused on increasing funding for beneficial community programs and decreasing the overinflated city police budget. Khalil emphasizes that the on-the-ground work is 90% carried out by those most affected by these policies, such as the YJPU youth.

May

May was an active member of a union at the cafe where she worked, Darwin’s. When the owner decided to sell the business, she and other baristas who had organized together in the union decided to reclaim their agency and start a collectively-owned cafe in its place!

Circus Cooperative Cafe at 31 Putnam Ave. in Cambridge was born in 2023. Join us this Sunday to hear the story of how a union paved the way for a cooperative, and to hear more about Yvette and Khalil’s organizing!

SEE YOU SUNDAY AT THE STRAND THEATRE!

All ticket proceeds are donation based sliding scale, $0-25.

Get your ticket here!

CLVU estuvo por todo Boston y más allá recolectando firmas para la petición del control de renta la semana pasada.

En Roxbury, CLVU y Reclamando a Roxbury recolectaron firmas en la Feria de Agricultura Urbana. ¡Nuestro espacio del control de renta estuvo lleno por más de 4 horas el sábado de personas emocionadas por firmar! También el sábado en East Boston, las familias de los miembros reunieron firmas en la fiesta de la cuadra del fin de semana de Bienvenida de Eastie. El viernes y el sábado, los miembros y organizadores de CLVU pidieron a los miembros de la comunidad sus firmas afuera de Dunkin ‘Donuts y en la Plaza Mattapan. ¡Y en Brockton, un grupo grande de CLVU y de la Alianza de Trabajadores de Brockton llegaron listos para trabajar, entrenándose y recolectando las firmas de los votantes registrados de Taunton, Abington y más allá!

Únase a la Campaña

¡Regístrese para ser voluntario con nosotros!

Ayude en la Campaña de Control de Renta “Mantengan a Massachusetts como nuestro hogar” a recolectar 100,000 firmas certificadas para noviembre de 2025 (¡Qué es muy pronto! ⏰) para que podamos hacer posible que los residentes de Massachusetts voten sobre si debemos o no tener control de renta (Si obtenemos suficientes firmas certificadas, esta será una pregunta en las boletas electorales en noviembre de 2026).

No es necesario que usted sea elegible para votar para ayudar como voluntario; ¡Cualquier persona puede ayudar en la Campaña!

Vamos a recolectar firmas con grupos de voluntarios organizados de Vida Urbana.

Si usted se siente incómodo recolectando firmas en público, ¡También puede llevarse algunas hojas de petición para pedirles a sus amigos y familiares que las firmen! ¡Ayuda mucho hasta si de 5 a 10 personas que conozca la firman!

Formas de participar ✅:

• Pase por la oficina de CLVU en las horas que se indican a continuación.

• Regístrese para recibir las alertas de acción de CLVU para recibir correos electrónicos nuevos de nosotros sobre oportunidades de recolección de firmas en las comunidades que organizamos y confirme su asistencia a los próximos eventos aquí.

• Únase a la lista de la Campaña Mantengan a Massachusetts como nuestro Hogar para recibir avisos sobre entrenamientos y para conectarse con eventos de recolección de firmas que ocurran por todo el Estado.

• ¡Siga la cuenta nueva de Instagram de Mantengan a Massachusetts como nuestro Hogar y esté atento de una página web que será lanzada la próxima semana!

• La oficina de CLVU, ubicada en 284 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain es un sitio de recogida y devolución de las hojas de petición de firmas.
  Vaya:

  • Los martes: De 2:00 a 8:30 pm

  • Los lunes, miércoles, jueves y viernes: De 11:00 am a 4:00 pm. Envíe un correo electrónico a Kati, a: kmccann@clvu.org para programar ir a recoger y a devolver sus paquetes en CLVU.

    Únase a la Campaña

    Subscribe now

NOW IS THE TIME! Start collecting signatures with us to get rent stabilization on the 2026 statewide ballot in Massachusetts! CLVU has many opportunities to get involved this week across Boston and in Malden. Sign up for a shift!

Collect Signatures With Us

We Out Here!

CLVU was out across Boston and beyond collecting signatures for rent control this past week. In Roxbury, CLVU and Reclaim Roxbury held down signature collection at the Urban Agriculture Fair. Our rent control booth was buzzing with people excited to sign for 4+ hours on Saturday! Also on Saturday in East Boston, member families gathered signatures at the Eastie Welcome Weekend block party. On Friday and Saturday, CLVU members and organizers asked community members for their signatures outside Dunkin’ Donuts and in Mattapan Square. And in Brockton, a large group from CLVU and Brockton Workers Alliance came in ready to work, getting trained and collecting signatures from registered voters from Taunton, Abington, and beyond!

Sign Up to Volunteer With Us!

Help the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign collect 100,000 certified signatures by November 2025 (which is very soon ⏰!) so we can let Massachusetts residents vote on whether or not we should have rent control (if we get enough signatures certified, this will be a question on the ballot in November 2026)!

Ways to get involved ✅:

• Stop by the CLVU office at the hours listed below.

• Sign up for CLVU action alerts to get new emails from us about signature collection opportunities in the communities we organize, and RSVP for upcoming events here.

• Join the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign list to receive notices about trainings and to plug into signature collection events happening across the whole state.

• Follow the new Keep Mass Home Instagram account, and stay tuned for a website dropping in the next week!
  

  The CLVU office (284 Amory St) in Jamaica Plain is a pick-up and drop-off site for signature petition sheets.
  Stop by:
  Tuesdays: 2pm-8:30pm
  Mon/ Wed/ Thurs/ Fri: 11am-4pm
  Please email kmccann@clvu.org to schedule your CLVU pick up and drop off.

  Join the Keep Mass Home Campaign

  Thanks for reading The CLVU Bulletin! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Keep Massachusetts Home for ALL of us!

After decades of organizing in the Boston area, CLVU, as part of the statewide coalition Homes for All Massachusetts (with Springfield No one Leaves, Lynn United for Change, New England Community Power, and many more) is launching the process to place rent control on the ballot in 2026! Let’s build unity and working-class power as we organize to put rent control on the ballot and Keep Massachusetts Home for ALL of us.

RSVP for Boston Kick-Off

Support Rent Control for Stable Homes and Strong Communities!

Signature collection is launching across Massachusetts -- join CLVU for the Boston kick-off tomorrow, Saturday, September 13th. Springfield, Worcester, and Lynn will also host campaign launch events and signature collection this weekend! Sign up to volunteer below for details.

Here are 4 things you can do right now to support the rent control ballot campaign:

1. Volunteer for the rent control campaign!

2. RSVP for the Boston Kick-off!

3. Ask your organization to endorse the Boston kick-off!

4. Share this call for volunteers statewide!

Questions? Email the CLVU Rent Control organizer, Katie, kmccann@clvu.org

See you this weekend!

Volunteer for Rent Control

It’s time to organize together— to flex our collective power and show what the CLVU community can do. Homes For All Mass is launching a campaign to get rent control on the 2026 statewide ballot – and we need you with us! SIGN UP NOW to help out with the Homes For All Mass effort to get rent control on the ballot and get updates from the campaign!

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR RENT CONTROL

How do we get rent control on the ballot in Massachusetts!?

To place rent control on the Massachusetts statewide ballot in 2026, our coalition must collect thousands of signatures from residents across the Commonwealth. From September through November, we’ll be gathering signatures to qualify a ballot initiative that would cap annual rent increases to the rate of inflation—up to a maximum of 5%—statewide. To make this happen, we need to collect over 75,000 signatures. Your support is essential!

We’ll share much more about the process in the coming months— and you’ll get all the info if you sign up to join the fight.

What will rent control do for me? And why a ballot campaign?

Rent control will mean that across Massachusetts, your landlord (excludes owner-occupied homes and new construction) won’t be able to give you a rent increase of more than 5%. Rent increases would be tied to the rate of inflation, with a max cap of 5%. For example: if inflation in 2024 is 2.9%, the maximum rent increase in 2025 would also be 2.9%. This would mean an annual increase in monthly rent of no more than $125 for an apartment that costs $2500 per month. This is an enormous difference from right now, when landlords have NO LIMIT on how much they can increase your rent — they can increase by 50%, 100%, as much as they want.

For years, our communities have pushed the State House to lift the statewide ban on rent control. But Beacon Hill hasn’t acted – so we’re continuing to push the legislation we have in the State House, but Homes For All Mass is also adding a new approach at the same time: organizing working people statewide to get rent control on the ballot, so voters can choose whether or not we should limit rent increases.

I WANT TO FIGHT FOR RENT CONTROL — SIGN ME UP!

Starting this September, we’ll help HFA Mass collect to get this question on the ballot for the November 2026 election. This is a huge opportunity to organize together and build the power of our working class communities as we take on the corporate real estate industry – we need everyone to get involved!

👉 Sign up here to volunteer to collect signatures or share your story about why we need rent control.

Want to learn more about the ballot process?
Join us at one of our weekly meetings:

• Tuesdays in Jamaica Plain (English)

• Wednesdays in East Boston (Spanish)

• Wednesdays in Brockton (Haitian Kreyòl)* more info coming soon!

You can also follow CLVU and Homes For All Mass on social media for updates, and we’ll be sending out info via email too. But make sure you’re signed up with Homes For All to stay plugged into the full ballot campaign!

Let’s do this – together!

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Derwin Gordon, ¡Presente! Our CLVU community lost a beloved comrade this past week. It’s still sinking in for many of us, and our hearts are heavy as we process the grief. We still feel Derwin’s spirit with us in the room, and in every action this week, we feel him there rallying and chanting beside us. Below, Antonio, who worked very closely with Derwin in his fight against foreclosure and developed a strong friendship with him, shares his words to remember Derwin. Since he was a friend and comrade to many of us, we created this collective memory board to celebrate him – we invite you to add your own message to remember our friend Derwin. We will continue to share about Derwin at our weekly meetings, and we’ll share any memorial information we have as well.

SHARE YOUR MEMORIES OF DERWIN HERE

To Derwin, from Antonio Ennis aka Twice Thou

Derwin, when you came to City Life, to fight for your home
You didn't know your rights, so there was fright in thee unknown
But you took notes at every meeting, I watched your fear turn to fun
If housing knowledge was spilled water, then Derwin you were a sponge
You were the epitome of a volunteer, a certified leader
A freedom fighter, a galvanizer, a Rent Control preacher
Every rally, every march, every action, you were there
When you spoke your testimony, you always made the people cheer
You were humble, you were smart, your heart was made of gold
To know you, was to love you, so now, we praise your soul
Derwin, you were the happiest, engagin' with the movement
We felt your conversation, 'cause you embraced us with communion
You were loved and appreciated, loyal and dependable
You're a hero, in my eyes, your value was immeasurable
And I don't have to wax poetic, when I speak about your legacy
It's all about the journey, because only God knows our destiny
We make friends along the way, we make mistakes and we learn
The Book of Life tells the story, in the pages that we turn
The example that you set, to trust the process was a blessin'
With burning candles, your memorialized, in Boston, as a legend
You were the stamp on the envelope, that sealed the public letter
After actions, you often told me, you love when a plan comes together
Sometimes the best mentors, are the ones that don't know it
It's up to us, to pick up what they're puttin' down, when they show it
I miss the rides in my car, the wisdom that you gave
You always said, "I got your back mate!", please continue from the grave
I'm full of sadness, but I'm blessed, to have known you in this lifetime
We'll meet again my dear brother, indeed God will pick the right time!

-Antonio Ennis aka Twice Thou

I love and miss you Derwin Gordon

Play the video above: Antonio brought Derwin with us to the State House at our rally for rent control on Tuesday. Derwin was a huge supporter of rent control.

Derwin: A radically optimistic, powerful, kind and spirited leader who gave his all to CLVU, our movement, and our community

Here are just some photos and video of the many from Derwin leading at nearly every meeting, action and event over the past year — from rent control to TOPA, court support, phone banking, art building, weekly meetings, international solidarity, testifying at the State House — Derwin was there. We love you Derwin!!!

Play the video above to hear Derwin speak at a rally for the Right to Shelter at the State House, and shares how he’s from the broadcasting world but found where he’s meant to be in the CLVU community. Derwin was knew to the fight for Right to Shelter, but saw its importance quickly and acted accordingly, showing up repeatedly for those needing shelter in MA.

Share your memories of Derwin on our collective memory wall

We invite all of our community members who ever shared space with Derwin to leave a note in memory and in honor of him. You can write a message on our memory board here.

Share your memories of Derwin

Last Friday morning, senior residents of the Green St Tenant Association gathered in front of the Beacon Communities office in Boston to demand better living conditions and transparent communication with management. The rally followed a string of unproductive meetings with Beacon management, where residents said no real solutions had been offered to address ongoing issues of poor living conditions and mistreatment of tenants.

The residents live at Robinson Cuticura Mill Apartments, a 90-unit, privately-owned and federally-funded senior housing complex in Malden. Beacon Communities owns and operates the building, which houses seniors ranging in age from their mid-60s to late 90s. According to tenants, conditions in the building were not only unhealthy but dangerous—an ongoing crisis they said management has failed to resolve.

Watch BNN Youtube Video

A years-long fight against poor conditions and mismanagement

“We have many maintenance issues, said Sissy Raney, Green St Tenant Association leader, pointing to problems with water, pipes, and rodents. “The place is not a good place to live, but if we complain, we’re considered the bad guys – there are repercussions and we get written up. It gets to the point where we have to do this [protest] just to get them to listen to us.”

Back in 2022, a group of residents formally organized as the Green St Tenant Association. They voiced their fears and dissatisfaction directly to Beacon’s management and began meeting monthly in hopes of meaningful dialogue. But residents reported that Beacon staff often dominated the meetings, sidestepping critical issues and refusing to act on long-standing complaints.

Some tenant leaders were evicted in the months that followed, while others described what they saw as retaliatory and racist actions by management. Adding to the tension, residents said they were frequently issued intimidating "write-ups"—especially after speaking up about problems in the building or filing formal complaints.

The Tenant Association’s Demands

Last July, the Tenant Association sent Beacon a public letter outlining a set of demands. These included:

• Monthly meetings with a third-party moderator

• Regular and responsive maintenance

• A commitment to respectful, transparent treatment of senior residents

But Beacon did not agree to meet or acknowledge the letter’s contents.

With no response from management and poor living conditions still unaddressed, the Tenant Association chose to escalate. Last Friday, they were joined by City Life/Vida Urbana, Mass Senior Action Council, and other community allies for a public rally outside Beacon’s office. Their message was clear: enough is enough.

The Green St Tenant Association will continue organizing until their demands are met, and their homes become safe, dignified places to live!

Get involved with CLVU!

Sign up for City Life Vida Urbana’s Action Alert list to get notified of upcoming tenant association actions happening across Greater Boston!

Subscribe to Action Alerts

What does community ownership look like in housing?

Hard to imagine? Then come join us for a movie night to learn more about the movement for community ownership in the Boston area 🍿🎥! The United Properties Tenant Association (UPTA) is partnering with the Malden Community Land Trust to screen the documentary Gaining Ground: Building Community on Dudley Street — e’ll see how the community land trust movement started in the Boston area so we can bring it into Malden! Attendance is completely free! The film screening will be this Saturday July 12th at 5PM at The First Parish Church in Malden (2 Elm St, Malden MA).

The documentary we will screen follows the story of grassroots organizing efforts of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) in Boston. DSNI has existed for over 35 years and was created by residents who sought to reclaim their neighborhood, which had been ravaged by disinvestment, arson fires and dumping. Since then, DSNI has been able to rebuild Dudley with quality affordable houses, parks, playgrounds, gardens, community facilities, and new businesses, upholding a higher quality of life for residents. Homes in the DSNI community land trust are permanently affordable for tenants and homeowners and a reality we want to see across Massachusetts. DSNI believes in developing neighborhoods without displacement, amplifying youth voices and empowering resident voices. DSNI gives their community leaders a voice and the ability to achieve collective goals; for themselves as well as their neighborhood. For more information on DSNI: https://www.dsni.org/about-us

Our panel will feature local leaders who will share about their organizing and their understanding of how social housing can transform how we think about housing. At CLVU, we dream of social housing like community land trusts and beyond that is socially owned by the public sector and/or under democratic community control. We dream of social housing that is permanently affordable for the entire lives of the current residents and for future generations. We dream of social housing that is permanently decommodified and protected from the private market and for profit investors. We are organizing for a social housing that is socially financed, produced, and maintained and built by the public with a mission driven by non profit developers, construction companies, and that employs union labor and worker cooperatives. We organize social housing that is under democratic control where residents have governing power through direct role in management and decision making of their housing community and are accountable to the public. This is a vision that aligns with our national vision for social housing with the Right to the City National Alliance.

The United Properties Tenant Association

Here’s a little background on the United Properties Tenant Association who are co-hosting the film screening: UPTA is a group of tenants from buildings owned by United Properties in Malden who are organizing to fight for equitable rent, better living conditions, and stable housing. United Properties is an ubiquitous corporate landlord that owns many properties in several working class communities in Greater Boston. Their association reinforces that no one should have to face the housing crisis alone, aiming to negotiate for long term agreements with United Properties for predictable and stabilized rent increases. CLVU supported the UPTA in an organizing fight against United Properties in 2022. Some buildings won a collective bargaining agreement 3% maximum rent increase per year, but the fight continues as these agreements expire! To learn more, contact malden.tenantassociation@gmail.com.

See you on Saturday!

In the documentary we’ll watch community leaders work to prevent foreclosures and bring jobs and opportunities for young people to one of Boston's most diverse and economically challenged neighborhoods 🎬. Come join us to support the organizing work of the United Properties TA, and learn about the inspiring history behind affordable housing solutions to combat speculative corporate landlord practices🏠 !

Get tickets for Saturday, June 28, at 1 PM or 5 PM (there are 2 seatings/rounds of meals for the fundraiser picnic) at First Parish Dorchester, 10 Parish Street, Boston. The tickets are $25 - $100; buy them here. There will be Spanish interpretation and childcare. Vaccines are encouraged, and we will contact all attendees in the event of a positive COVID-19 test result following the event.

City Life Vida Urbana (CLVU) plays a critical role to build working-class power across Massachusetts by supporting individuals and families in forming and sustaining negotiating pówer through Tenant Associations to resist mass displacement. Our weekly anti-displacement meetings are the heart of CLVU’s sword and shield organizing model, offering a space for tenants and small homeowners to strategize, build leadership, and take collective action against evictions, unaffordable rent increases, and foreclosures. Whether it’s tenants at 10 Wilmore St in Mattapan organizing against $500 rent hikes, or the long-standing victory of the Fairlawn Tenant Association fighting for rent control, working-class tenants all over the state show what’s possible when people come together to fight back. Active and past tenant associations like 168 Gove and 6 Humphreys Place are powerful examples of community-led resistance to displacement and speculative corporate landlords.

The 12th Annual Celebration of Grassroots Organizing is not just a fundraiser; it is a space to connect with the organizers and community leaders making this work happen every week. Come hear their stories, build community, and help us keep this vital work alive.

Get on the frontlines! Besides attending, here are 5 ways you can help sustain the amazing work we do for housing justice, workers' rights, civic engagement, environmental justice, youth justice, restorative justice, and so much more!

1. Be a Table Host or Table Captain, bringing your friends with you.

2. Spread the word! Share on social media using this toolkit.

3. Volunteer at the picnic on June 28

4. Sponsor the event, or ask a company or organization you know to sponsor.

5. Donate to the "Celebrate Grassroots Organizing Fund" - Your gift goes directly to the partners. You can click the donate link on the main event page (under tickets) or send a check to Resist, Inc (with “Celebration” in the memo line), PO Box 301240, Boston, MA 02130.

We hope you can make it and share with your neighbors, family, and friends. See you there!

Partner Organizations: Alternatives for Community & Environment, Asian American Resource Workshop, Boston Ujima Project, City Life Vida Urbana, The City School, Families for Justice as Healing, GreenRoots, Haymarket People’s Fund, I Have a Future, Matahari Women Workers' Center, Muslim Justice League, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston, New England Community Project, Stories Inspiring Movements, The Youth Justice & Power Union