Embracing A Vision for Equity in Boston

Boston, MA - (October 19, 2022): King Boston, remaining part of The Boston Foundation, has officially changed its name to ‘Embrace Boston’ to reflect its groundbreaking work in bringing The Embrace Memorial to the city and moving into the next phase of its vison of building a radically equitable City of Boston by 2030.

“The Embrace Memorial started with a broad vision to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and has grown to share the stories of so many others who made an impact on the City of Boston,” said Imari Paris Jeffries, Executive Director of Embrace Boston. “As we evolve as an organization that works to dismantle structural racism through arts, culture, research and policy, our name reflects our passion to embrace a Boston that works for all of its residents and visitors."

The Embrace Memorial will be revealed on Boston Common on January 13 during Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. Embrace Boston is continuing to build momentum, and has numerous initiatives including:

• Continued work with the Roxbury Strategic Masterplan Oversight Committee and My City at Peace, a community building organization, and HYM on the development of a parcel in Roxbury known as Parcel 3 (“P-3”) for the future Embrace Center. The Embrace Center will serve as a public cultural hub and anchor for the Black community to include exhibitions, a performance space, indoor and outdoor gathering and workspace, and commercial spaces for lease by Black-owned eateries and entrepreneurs.
• Finalizing a two year-long campaign across multiple neighborhoods to identify and select known and unknown figures of the civil rights movement to be honored at the 1965 Freedom Plaza at the site of The Embrace Memorial.
• Amplifying arts and culture from across the cities 20+ neighborhoods by uplifting the work of diverse artists and musicians.
• Expanded research and policy agenda including the first ever ‘Boston Harm Report,' which will serve as an educational handbook for legislators and other stakeholders, as well as a starting point for community conversation around reparations to atone for the historical and ongoing disenfranchisement of Black people in Boston.

“The King Family is honored that Embrace Boston was founded to continue the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King through civil rights activism with the goal of creating an equitable and just Boston for all,” said Martin Luther King, III, on behalf of his wife Andrea Waters King and their daughter, Yolanda Renee King. “We look forward to the unveiling of The Embrace Memorial on Boston Common next January, and the continued success of Embrace Boston and their determination to uphold the legacy of our family.”

In addition, last summer the organization hosted the inaugural Embrace Ideas Festival, a first of its kind, multiday celebration leading up to the Juneteenth holiday to challenge residents in imagining and building a new, radically inclusive, and equitable Boston for all.

"Utilizing the momentum our organization has gained, we are focused on connecting and uniting all of Boston’s neighborhoods to honor and recognize the untold stories of our communities”, said Paris Jeffries. "The legacy of Dr. and Mrs. King, and the entire King family has been instrumental to our foundation and guiding vision. We look forward to continuing their legacy through our work."

To learn more about latest on The Embrace Memorial and the organization, please visit the Embrace Boston website: www.embraceboston.org.

About Embrace Boston
Founded in 2017, Embrace Boston is a nonprofit with a mission to dismantle structural racism through their work at the intersection of arts and culture, community, and research and policy. Collectively, the work is intended to create a radically inclusive and equitable Boston where everyone belongs and the BIPOC community prospers, grounded in joy, love, and wellbeing. The organization is a deeply collaborative, BIPOC-led organization that is working toward an ecosystem which fosters equity, opportunity, and wellbeing for a transformed Boston by 2030, the city’s 400th birthday.

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Justin Auguste
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