By Zoe Goldstein, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Intern

My internship at MA Jobs with Justice in February started with a flurry of chaos. Just a week or two after I joined, the wonderful Western Mass intern coordinators, Jackie and Laura, told the intern team that we were going to be hosting two online events, one centered on environmental justice, the other on the prison and policing issues in MA. Immediately I was thrown into writing agendas, sending emails, and attending meetings alongside the other interns. I remember the stress of it all - it felt like everything was moving too quickly and the tasks were piling up on top of each other. 

But when the events finally came, I was so proud to see all our hard work translated into action. The two nights of powerful poetry, song, dance, drum beats, speeches, and commitments to action came together seamlessly. And even when the seams did show a little (speakers showing up late, speakers being switched in sequence), the grace and kindness with which Jackie and Laura handled it was inspiring. 

Most of all, I was moved to see the rows and rows of faces lining the Zoom screen - all these people who had shown up on a weeknight evening to learn about how they could help fight for a better world. I think that these events that kick started my internship showcased some of the themes that have come up again and again during my four months here - community and care. 

As an outsider to much of the organizing going on in Western Mass, my internship was a crash course in the deep yet wide-ranging work people across the state are doing to fight everything from policing to biomass power plants. Through attending various roundtable meetings of organizers who shared ideas and mapped power structures, I learned about JWJ’s emphasis on coalition-building. It was inspiring to be reminded of how many people are out there doing work that connects in so many ways. Engaging with these roundtables and groups helped me realize the power of building coalitions between movements, which at its core is community-building.

But community wasn’t only apparent in how JwJ approached its external work. Within our intern cohort, Jackie encouraged us to have 1-1 calls with each other to build relationships and get to know the other interns. These intern meetings, outside of our regular meeting times, not only strengthened our work but also let me learn more about and connect with a group of passionate, dedicated people who share similar values. Over the course of my internship, our intern cohort began to feel less like a team and more like a group of friends with similar goals. Jackie and Laura grounding us in relationships has deeply impacted how I will approach my organizing outside of JwJ. As adrienne maree brown writes, “The strength of our movement is in the strength of our relationships, which could only be measured by their depth.”

I am so thankful to have spent these four months at JwJ, learning from failures and successes (including big wins relating to halting the proposed biomass plant in Springfield!). I know I will take the community, connections, and ideas I’ve grown here with me into the next stages of my work.