Board of Directors

Board of Directors Co-Chair

Abraham is a co-founder of Freedom Beyond, a network of circles of white people working to break free from the chains of white supremacy. Abraham was a middle school teacher of students of color for a decade before realizing that good teaching alone could not dismantle white supremacy. Today, he organizes healing spaces for people with dominating power (especially other white people, men, and wealthy people) so that they can begin the journey of deep, lifelong alignment with movements led by marginalized people.

Board of Directors Chair

Susan is an independent consultant and trainer who integrates many years of experience in nonprofit community development, grassroots leadership development, public education, and racial justice organizing. Her current work focuses on capacity building for community-based organizations, nonprofit and public agencies in the areas of community building, public education reform and racial justice organizing. She has served in leadership roles in several nonprofit community development organizations, most recently as Director of NeighborWorks® National Community Building and Organizing Programs. Susan has developed and led training workshops and courses and provided strategic assistance in organizational and board development, institutional racism, cultural proficiency, and leadership development. She was a founder of the Boston Parent Organizing Network and a 2-term (8 year) member of the school board for the City of Boston. 

Susan has come to believe that we will never get to creating truly just and equitable communities without addressing the deep legacy of racism in the United States. She is the author of The Education of a White Parent: Wrestling with Race and Opportunity in the Boston Public Schools (Levellers Press, 2012)and is a part-time faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Graduate School of Education.

Susan holds a B.A. in Urban and Community Studies from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Community Economic Development from New Hampshire College (now Southern New Hampshire University), and a Master’s Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts/Boston.

Director

Betsy joined the CCI board in February 2019. She became a friend of Community Change in 2015 at a house party, then joined the fundraising committee for the recent 50th Anniversary celebration and now considers CCI her primary focus as a funder and organizer in the work to dismantle white supremacy and support racial justice.

She has participated in each of CCI's umbrella programs from White People Challenging Racism to Showing Up For Racial Justice and continues to build community through programs offered by CCI such as Knapsack meetups, the Watering Hole and the AROS symposiums.

Betsey is a retired preschool teacher and a yoga instructor who lives in Cambridge Mass with her husband Matthew who is the Executive Director at Boston Building Resources in Roxbury. She has two daughters who live in New York City where she grew up.

CCI created the path along which I learned about my own internalized white racial superiority and the history of systemic racism in America. It is a container to hold people in courageous community to work together towards a just future. I know Community Change will be an important part of the rest of my life and I am honored to be a part of this legacy organization.

Director

Alex joined the CCI community in 2015. He has been active in with the Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Boston Chapter and, as of 2017, serves on the CCI Board. Originally from a white, middle-class family in New Hampshire, Alex is committed to dismantling the institutional and cultural white supremacy -- both in his community and within himself. The CCI community has helped him to build deeper and more authentic relationships. Most importantly, CCI has shown him how building genuinely multiracial, multi-class, and intergenerational communities that center Black and Brown people is essential for liberation. 

In his spare time, Alex finds joy reading, writing, painting and talking about new ideas. Most importantly, he loves spending time building community with his partner, friends, and family. He also aspires to get in touch with his family's cultural roots by learning to prepare French Canadian and Irish cooking for his loved ones!