Draft:Greater Grove Hall Main Streets

• Comment: The "mission" of this organization is of little importance. What has the organization done (or failed to do), and what is it doing, according to reliable sources that are independent of it? That's what's important. Hoary (talk) 05:58, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

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History

The Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (GGHMS) is a nonprofit organization and a partnership between the City of Boston, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, greater Grove Hall businesses, residents, and community leaders.

The GGHMS organization originally began as the Grove Hall Board of Trade. The City of Boston developed a “Main Streets' ' program in 1983, which aimed to revitalize downtowns and commercial districts by promoting preservation-based economic development and community revitalization. The program was part of the larger “Main Street Project” launched in 1977 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and piloted in 3 towns in the United States. Based on the success, the pilot project was continued in six states, Massachusetts being one of these. As the City of Boston developed its Main Streets program, the Grove Hall Board of Trade became the GGHMS organization.

As a local implementation of the Main Street model, GGHMS follows, "the National Main Streets model of having a full-time executive director, volunteer board and four standing committees; economic development, promotions, design and organization." The executive director of GGHMS is Ed Gaskin, who has been in the position since 2014.

Organization

The mission of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (GGHMS) is committed to providing, "a diverse business district while maintaining our neighborhood’s historical character. We encourage innovative and creative techniques for fostering economic development that enriches the lives of the business owners, employees and residents in our community."

The organization has five goals. First, GGHMS improves the economic success of already existing businesses in the Greater Grove Hall area as well as recruiting new businesses to the area. Second, GGHMS will bridge the digital divide between the consumers of technology and the producers of technology. Third, GGHMS will make Grove hall cleaner and greener, increasing energy saving programs and green technologies. Fourth, GGHMS will enhance the quality of life in the Greater Grove Hall area by increasing public art, placemaking, festivals and public safety. Finally, it will ensure the long-term viability of GGHMS as an organization. Together, these initiatives help to foster entrepreneurship and innovation, both revitalizing the downtown area and commercial district through preservation-based methods.

Initiatives

Boston Black Women Lead

Among the organization's efforts are the Boston Black Women Lead project. Boston Black Women Lead is an effort to shed light on the lives and stories of Black women leaders who have shaped Boston’s history from the colonial era to present day. Greater Grove Hall Main Streets created the Boston Black Women Lead project in partnership with the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. The project began in 2019 and focused on collecting biographies of Black women leaders in the Greater Boston area.

In 2023, GGHMS announced the inaugural members of the project, a list of 212 significant Black women leaders. Among these women, "are long-departed city activists such as Melnea Cass and living leaders such as Marilyn Anderson Chase, a retired assistant secretary for children, youth, and families for the state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services. In all, those honored represent politicians, interior designers, 18th-century poets, and 21st-century authors, physicians, and clergywomen."

A banner was commissioned for each woman. Each banner is displayed on Blue Hill Avenue, a major thoroughfare of Boston that connects the neighborhoods Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester with the town of Milton. The 212 banners of women leaders include designs from local artist Kamali Thornell and Baltimore-based Brianna Young. “Each portrait is signed by the artist as an original piece of art, similar to prints.”

In May 2024, the Black Women Lead Project was featured in an Exhibit at Northeastern Crossing which celebrated women from the list associated with Northeastern University. This exhibit is in partnership with Black Women Lead, Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, the Office of City and Community Engagement, Boston Research Center, and Center for the Arts.

Green Zones

For many years, Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (GGHMS) has been working to beautify the Grove Hall neighborhood, making it “cleaner and greener.” Starting the “Creating a Green Zone” initiative, GGHMS began the process of identifying areas “in need of critical green intervention,” where the environmental and economic health of the community needs to be prioritized. These areas, known as “Green Zones,” are historically designated in communities that have been overburdened by environmental pollution, environmental hazards, and a lack of investment. Taking a justice-oriented approach to new investments, planning decisions, infrastructure development, and community participation, Green Zones provide healthier environments and economic opportunities for the benefit of disproportionately underprivileged communities of color.

GGHMS surveyed Grove Hall, finding significant environmental challenges. Zoe Iacovino, an Urban Planning and Public Policy graduate student at Harvard University worked with GGHMS, researching the creation of a Green Zone for Grove Hall. Iaconovo explains in their research, “The neighborhood needs investment, preservation, and preparation and as traditional systems of development have not found footing in Grove Hall, a new approach is required. The Green Zone is that new approach that centers the need for environmental remediation, justice, and resiliency in its interventions.” GGHMS aims to pioneer the first Green Zone in Boston. GGHMS also hopes that Green Zones will both increase awareness of the extent of the problems in areas burdened by environmental hazards and injustice, as well as the opportunities for solutions.