The BCAP Initiative
This is a one-stop-hub for resources you can use throughout Boston.
With adequate investment, BCAP can make significant inroads in supporting Greater Boston’s most economically exploited and underresourced individuals to not only survive but to flourish as resilient community members and themselves proponents of social transformation. By connecting individuals directly with one another through mutual aid, BCAP also supports community power for collective actions. With stronger connections between individuals on various sides of inequality comes greater awareness of the sources of inequality. With this awareness and connection, both privileged and under resourced community members can take collective action, whether through policy advocacy, political engagement, and community organizing, to achieve systemic change and rectify past and current injustices.
Lastly, BCAP serves not only to rectify inequality across Greater Boston but to innovate upon longstanding models of mutual aid and promote equitable wealth redistribution elsewhere. Other mutual aid groups might adopt BCAP’s tactics of a digital platform, leadership pipeline program, and transforming the culture of giving, thereby achieving economic justice across the US and beyond.
Julia Mejia
Founder
Julia Mejia is a community advocate and former nonprofit director who currently serves as an At-Large City Councilor in Boston, Massachusetts. Raised by a single mother who was undocumented for most of her childhood, she was forced at an early age to speak up on behalf of her mother and others who felt ignored by the very institutions that were supposed to serve them. Since being elected in 2019, Julia has created countless opportunities for others to step into their power and advocate for positive change as a community organizer. In 2020, Julia was named Best City Politician by Boston Magazine. Prior to being elected, Julia served as the Executive Director of the Collaborative Parent Leader Action Network (CPLAN), where she advocated for parents to have a seat at the table for all education issues.
Cabell Eames
Project Coordinator
Cabell hails from Richmond, Virginia, and is a lifelong racial, social, and climate justice advocate. Growing up amidst Big Tobacco and the chemical industry, she knows first-hand the importance of corporate accountability and environmental justice. Cabell first organized for climate issues in 1994, joining the Sierra Club’s Save the Rainforest campaign in New York City. Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles and organized with community members to mandate recycling in the city. After settling in Massachusetts in 2005, Cabell began working on several political campaigns, including Bob Massie’s run for Governor in 2017. Most recently, she was the Political Director for Better Future Project and previously served as the Advocacy Director for Goss Associates, an immigration law firm helping numerous clients receive their green cards. Cabell believes the moment for equity, justice, and equality is long overdue and works diligently to inspire lawmakers to do better for the world and its people.
Jonathan Mendoza
Development Consultant
Jonathan Mendoza is an award-winning Jewish and Mexican-American political and community organizer, social justice educator, and artist. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Jonathan has organized across the U.S.—in Boston, Washington D.C., San Antonio, Chicago, and North Carolina, and Tennessee—with local and national movements focusing on democratization, policing, youth power, Jewish-Palestinian solidarity, and migrant and economic justice. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate with a self-designed bachelor’s degree in Arts for Social Advocacy and minors in Political Science and Poetry. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Democracy and Governance at Georgetown University.
Jacob deBlecourt
Community Consultant
Jacob deBlecourt is a public policy specialist and community organizer living in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Raised in Southern New Jersey, they moved to Boston to study Political Science at UMass Boston before serving as the Director of Public Policy and Communications for Boston City Councilor At-Large Julia Mejia. They have helped to advocate for public policy initiatives surrounding small business support, police reform, civil rights, reparations, labor protections, and language access. They are a current candidate for Boston City Council District 9 to represent Allston-Brighton.
Jacquelyn Tolksdorf
Designer + Developer
Jacquelyn's agency, The Unglitch Inc focuses on corporate anthropology and marketing for inclusive brands and organizations. Jacquelyn the Creative Director is happy to create web design and development for the Building Community Assets and Purpose initiative. After working with great establishments like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Alzheimer's Association® on branding, marketing, design, development, and more - she is thrilled to join Julia Mejia and her team at BCAP. The Unglitch Inc also provides bcapma.org with green web hosting. Green web hosting is a type of hosting that is friendly to the environment. It involves using green technologies to minimize the carbon footprint of an organization.
We’re here for the community and community changemakers.
We partner with organizations to drive real change in Boston communities. Together, we work to reduce poverty, promote equity, and increase opportunity. Join our Program Exchange Directory to connect the public with your organization so everyone in need can be helped and so your non-profit can get seen by those who need it most. Join fellow emerging non-profit leaders at BCAP’s Non-Profit Leadership Program. In this cohort program, you will learn how to effectively manage your direct report(s) and your supervisor(s). Through individual coaching, peer support, and workshops, you will strengthen your specific leadership style and learn how to harness it in your non-profit.