YW Boston

August is National Black Owned Business Month, a time to celebrate the innovation, resilience, and success of Black entrepreneurs. At YW Boston, we're proud to support and empower Black women through our Women's Empowerment 360° (WE360) program, helping them turn their visions into reality.

This past July we completed our work with our first cohort of women entrepreneurs and are gearing up for our second cohort starting this August. To be a part of our third cohort, this Fall (September 10, 2026 – October 29, 2026), visit our website to learn more and apply by August 19, 2026.

https://www.ywboston.org/we360/

We’re excited to invite you to register for Marketing Your Business: Storytelling, Visibility, and Community-Centered Branding, an interactive session designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners strengthen their brand and connect more effectively with their audiences.

Date:August 11
TIme: 12:00 – 1:30 PM

Join Ngoc-Tran Vu (she/her), artist, creative entrepreneur, and communications strategist for a practical and engaging conversation on how to tell your business story with confidence, increase your visibility, and build authentic connections within your community. Register today: https://buff.ly/4nwv4V9

We’re excited to invite you to register for Marketing Your Business: Storytelling, Visibility, and Community-Centered Branding, an interactive session designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners strengthen their brand and connect more effectively with their audiences.

Date:August 11
TIme: 12:00 – 1:30 PM

Whether you're launching a new business, growing an existing one, or looking to refine your marketing approach, this session will provide practical tools and actionable strategies you can begin using right away. Register today: https://buff.ly/4nwv4V9

Missed our last book event? We’ve got you covered! You are invited to join YW Boston in partnership with Words as Worlds and justBook-ish to celebrate the release of Earthly Playing Field with author Radhika Singh, in conversation with Aba Taylor, President and CEO of YW Boston.
 
About the book:
Earthly Playing Field connects ongoing People’s movements against global imperialism through a q***r, Sufi love story.  
 
As the Empire wages war on a besieged people, Roma meditates on the role of faith in resistance. While her older brother wields a futuristic technology to hack AI warfare, her younger brother organizes on a more local front line with the Punjabi farmers’ protest. Roma encounters Leila in the midst of these struggles and falls helplessly into love, ruminating on mystic poetics and the luminous history linking their ancestral lands.
 
Register here at the link in bio

Missed our last book event? We've got you covered! You are invited to join YW Boston in partnership with Words as Worlds and justBook-ish to celebrate the release of Earthly Playing Field with author Radhika Singh, in conversation with Aba Taylor, President and CEO of YW Boston.

About the book:

Earthly Playing Field connects ongoing People's movements against global imperialism through a q***r, Sufi love story.

As the Empire wages war on a besieged people, Roma meditates on the role of faith in resistance. While her older brother wields a futuristic technology to hack AI warfare, her younger brother organizes on a more local front line with the Punjabi farmers’ protest. Roma encounters Leila in the midst of these struggles and falls helplessly into love, ruminating on mystic poetics and the luminous history linking their ancestral lands.

Register here: https://buff.ly/QlbtWRc

62 years after the Civil Rights Act, the fight for justice is far from over.

In this powerful reflection, Sterling Ellison (they/them) examines what the Civil Rights Act achieved and what it did not. From institutional self-preservation to the ongoing realities of racial capitalism, repression, and attacks on marginalized communities, this piece challenges us to move beyond symbolism and demand material action.

As hard-won rights face renewed threats, the question isn't whether history is repeating itself, it's how we choose to respond.

Read the full piece:https://buff.ly/VAmJ9zU

Last week, the United States marked 250 years of independence, proclaiming “freedom and dignity for all.” What also happened last week? The Supreme Court ruled that states may restrict transgender girls from participating in school sports.

It’s easy for conversations about transgender rights to drift into abstraction, but the reality is lived. It shows up in the cumulative weight of scrutiny, exclusion, and constant public questioning of whether trans people belong in spaces others move through without thought.

And too often, transgender people are placed in the position of having to repeatedly justify their own humanity as though dignity is conditional.

It is not.

Transgender people deserve safety, belonging, and full participation in public life. And that has to be true everywhere, not just in principle or in pockets of acceptance.

250 years in: freedom and dignity for all or only for some?

Care-informed leadership means more than talking about care, it means practicing it.

After listening to our community, we've made the decision to postpone Under Pressure: The Invisible Load of Caregiving, to ensure this important conversation is more accessible to the very caregivers it's designed to center.

Summer often brings added responsibilities, from school breaks and childcare gaps to travel and shifting family routines. Rather than asking caregivers to stretch even further, we're choosing to pause, pivot, and create the space for greater participation.

✨ We're excited to bring this intergenerational conversation on caregiving, invisible labor, leadership, and meaningful change to you during the fall, with the new date being announced soon.

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support. We can't wait to gather with you for what promises to be a powerful and impactful summit. Stay tuned!

Youth leadership isn’t the future. It’s happening right now.

On July 29, join YW Boston for Our Transformative Power: Built With Youth, Led by Youth, a powerful convening centering young people as the architects of community change.

Hear directly from youth leaders, engage in intergenerational conversations on advocacy and shared power, and take part in workshops designed for young people, educators, organizers, and community leaders.

Whether you’re a student, parent, educator, nonprofit leader, or funder, this is your opportunity to learn from and invest in the leadership already shaping our future.

🎟️ Space is limited, so register today: https://www.tfaforms.com/5224252

For many trans and gender-expansive people, leadership isn't a choice, it's a necessity. But what happens when those expected to lead aren't given the support they need to thrive?

In our latest blog, Piper Slowinski (She/They) shares a personal reflection, and why we're building the next generation of trans leadership.

Read the blog and learn what's coming next:https://buff.ly/9vdrH8Y 🏳️‍⚧️