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Heal The Hood Edition: Building People Power, and Looking Out for Ourselves, with Heal The Hood
- Boston Ujima Project
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 58 minutes ago
Heal The Hood is a Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit that works with—and for—its communities.The organization engages both youth and elders, supporting them in building themselves up and working through their trauma; their mission is to promote self-determination and holistic healing, and they work to create lasting changes that allow communities to empower themselves.
Writer Jai Monet was excited to sit down with one of the founders, Slim, to learn more about Heal the Hood, about what drives them, and how they have been able to connect to, and impact, the neighborhoods around them.
[This essay was first published in Guerrilla Magazine, a new (and highly favored) arts and culture publication which just launched last month! Support Guerrilla Magazine here!]
“We are the hood; by the people, for the people.”
Heal The Hood founders KC and Slim come from similar backgrounds, and have shared experience hustling in the informal economy; they’ve also both been incarcerated. The pair were not only looking to change their own circumstances, but that of others around them: in 2019, they began building connections with communities around them in Boston, hosting events like sip-and-paints and open mics.
They were able to further their mission in 2021, once KC was released from jail. What led them to action, at first, was witnessing a community event that year which had big names attached, but lacked foundational trust, and thus felt empty–as evidenced by the low number of attendees. Later that same night, they hosted their own show, bringing together different ‘hoods and turning out more than 100 people; they provided their own attendees with a safe third space to drink, smoke, and rap. Participants felt comfortable showing up as themselves, shared their love of music and creativity with one another, and ended the night peacefully. Their event went so well that folks gave money from their pockets, voluntarily, to help KC and Slim continue the momentum of their work. It’s incredible to see and hear what genuine love and connection have the capability of creating; what KC and Slim were able to accomplish that night inspired them to continue their mission.
Heal The Hood popularizes mutual aid for the sake of love: their flagship program, Feed The Hood, delivers ~100 bags of groceries each month, rain or shine. Deliveries go out every Sunday, whether there are 10 volunteers, or 70; KC and Slim collaborate directly with local community members, and provide financial incentives to volunteers and partners, empowering individuals to take on leadership roles and building trust within their community.
Recognizing that physical and mental disabilities may make it difficult for people to show up for themselves, Heal the Hood goes door to door—no sign-up required—to make their deliveries, often at local housing projects and neighborhoods (one of their regular stops is the doorstep of a disabled grandmother living on the 7th floor of her apartment complex). Heal The Hood also coordinates the Anti-Gentrification Task Force, coming together with local community members (often residents of public housing) to speak against gentrification and aid those that are being disenfranchised by traditional development.
Heal The Hood offers youth empowerment programs as well, inviting middle and high school students to participate in classes that support their creative and independent efforts, including DJ-ing, 3D art, computer programming, and more. Their location on Centre Street serves as a home for many of their activities, and also hosts a People’s Free Store–Heal The Hood regularly receives and sorts clothing donations, making them available for free to anyone who comes to the store during open hours.
Slim and KC hope to spread Heal the Hood’s movement of love beyond Boston, into the greater metro area. They promote urban farming, artistic collaborations and reconnecting with the land.
Heal The Hood only recently began fundraising, after nearly four years of operation; so far, they’ve relied largely on money from their own pockets and from people who have chosen to donate of their own volition. To let Slim tell it, “whether it be a budget of $100 or negative $40, we’ll continue to get the groceries and we’ll continue to open the doors to the People’s Free Store.”
Heal The Hood works to bring together people from different (neighbor)hoods and backgrounds, inspiring them to be leaders themselves rather than looking to figureheads to guide them toward goodness. Heal the Hood shows and proves that people are capable of more than what is consistently seen or discussed in the news. We are capable of love, change, and growth, so long as we choose to stand by one another.
Buy Guerrilla Magazine's inaugural issue to read this piece in print here.
Jai Monet [she/they] is a twenty-seven-year-old, Boston-born, longtime writer and poet; they are currently leaning into journalism, and hope that through their voice, they may share in the building & uplifting of Black people. To empower is to teach, inspire, protect, & work alongside one another. So long as they may be allowed, they hope to connect others through their work.