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Welcome to POCIE's First Spring Outdoor Activities and Recreation Skills (S.O.A.R.S) event! 

S.O.A.R.S is designed to provide free access to outdoor recreation skill development for POCIE's Community in preparation for the upcoming Spring, Summer, and Fall Seasons! This event features workshops and trainings in exciting and diverse outdoor recreation skills such as canoeing, birding and ID, foraging and mushroom identification, plant ID and print making, reading the forested landscape, and more! 

This event will be held on May 10th, 2025 from 10am-4pm at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield MA. Transportation assistance from the Boston area will be arranged according to attendee needs. 

This event is perfect for folks who are eager to learn more outdoor recreation skills to incorporate into their daily lives at the instruction of passionate BIPOC facilitators. 

Please bring comfortable clothes and shoes for walking and standing, and being outside all day. Bring a change of clothes if you plan to participate in canoeing. A full lunch will be served mid-day. Bug spray and sunscreen will be provided all day. Bring a reusable water bottle! 

This event is made possible through the Massachusetts Office of Outdoor Recreation (MOOR) Inclusive and Accessible Events Grants Program.

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Join 1for3, Boston Black Girl Environmentalist and Massachusetts Professionals of Color in the Environment for author Linda Quiquivix's discussion of her book Palestine 1492: A Report Back, and dinner from Palestinian-owned restaurant Aceituna Grill. 

In Palestine 1492: A Report Back, Quiquivix shares the lessons that Palestinians, Zapatistas, Panthers, and Jaguars have taught her along this journey, the most discouraging being that this world itself is unethical, and that changing it is at best difficult and at worst impossible. Even so, she calls for readers to dismantle such a world and imagine and help each other to build a new one from below and in common, together, and side by side. 

Price: This event is free. We suggest donating to the Palestinian human rights organization 1for3.org at least $12. Please donate here. 

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Join POCIE, 1for3, and Boston Black Girl Environmentalist for a Tatreez Workshop with Roba Khorshid at Palestinian-owned cafe Andala Coffee House.

We hosted an amazing tatreez (traditional Palestinian embroidery) workshop led by Roba Khorshid, learned about environmental justice issues in Palestine from the amazing nonprofit 1for3 Palestine, and about the long history of Black and Palestinian solidarity from Harvard African and African American Resistance Organization (HarvAfro).

There was also a silent auction and fundraiser for 1for3 featuring the work of amazing local artists, where $645 were raised to support 1for3’s work upholding Palestinian human rights around education, healthcare, and the environment. Thank you to everyone who participated, donated to 1for3, and Andala Coffee House for hosting this spectacular event!

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We teamed up with expert local farmers and the Dorchester Food Co-op to discuss Food Sovereignty Basics in preparation for our upcoming Food Sovereignty Speaker Panel!

POCIE and the Dorchester Food Co-op collaborated for an art build and introductory conversation on Food Sovereignty. We talked about basic food sovereignty concepts while drawing and mapping our food chain, and imagining regenerative food webs and what it might take to weave them together through art. This conversation precedes a Food Sovereignty Panel with four local experts in June 2025!

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We were thrilled to be joined by Chris Carr on January 16th, 2025 for our first member meeting/guest speaker of the New ​Year!

Our member meetings throughout 2025 will be focused on a central theme: Land and Liberation movements. Our first guest will be Chris Carr, Co-Founder of Black Land Ownership, who will be joining us to discuss historical and contemporary land dispossession and segregation of Black communities in the US, and Black Land Ownership as a counterforce to these systemic forms of oppression.

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Welcome back to POCIE's Fourth Annual Fall Gathering! 

Fall is the time for us to come together and find joy in our community as we reflect on POCIE’s last year. This is a pivotal moment for us, and we want you to join us to celebrate our last year of accomplishments at our Annual Fall Gathering on October 21st. 

POCIE wouldn’t be what it is today without the guidance, support, and love from our membership. We want each of you to continue to shape POCIE through a day of workshops, feedback sessions, community building, and great food at the Fall Gathering.

We are thrilled to be partnering with the Urban Farming Institute (UFI) in Mattapan for another day full of community, great food, and updates on POCIE's last year.

Like last year, the theme of the "heritage harvest" is to focus on food, community, culture, and identity - and we want to remind you that you are invited to bring a dish from your culture for the cultural potluck! You can bring something home cooked or store bought. Bringing a dish is totally optional - there will be enough vegan, vegetarian, allergy-sensitive options for everyone.

Sign up now and be part of this important gathering.

Finalized event schedule below.

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In August 2024, POCIE teamed up with the Boston Harbor Women of Color Coalition (BHWOCC) to host our first-ever collaboration. Together, we created the Netwalk in Nature - a professional development event on Peddocks Island that redefined what networking and career growth can look like—fun, educational, and far from daunting, like exploring an island!

Netwalk in Nature is a professional development experience like no other! We're taking over Peddocks Island to connect with each other and the outdoors by exploring the many career opportunities available on Boston Harbor and the greater environmental field. Join us to connect directly from folks at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the National Parks Service, Massport and more while they take us around the island and share their professional experience and insights working on the water. You can also look forward to an engaging and relevant workshop with POCIE CoFounder Nia Keith, discussing strategies to navigate white dominated office spaces.

This event is perfect for folks who are eager to learn more about the vast array of career opportunities and connections in the outdoors, people looking to network with both BHWOCC and POCIE members, and those looking to enjoy nature alongside other passionate people of color. 

We'll have lawn games, food, headshots and more for a FREE DAY of connecting, networking, and career growth! RSVP HERE

This event is made possible through the Boston Harbor Island Partnership Innovation Island grant, thank you to all involved in making this opportunity possible!

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Join POCIE and Sudbury Valley Trustees for a discussion on the conservation movement's historical roots in white supremacy and how to combat environmental injustice with Amarachukwu (Amara) Ifeji. Q&A to follow, moderated by POCIE co-founder Nia Keith.

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This year, over 50 members of POCIE's community gathered at the Arnold Arboretum for a day full of nature, community, and rejuvenation.

We recognized two outstanding members of our community: our Rising Star Aisha Farley and our Guiding Star Pallavi Kalia Mande, both of whom have consistently worked to increase access, equity, and justice for BIPOC professionals in the environmental field.

We ate incredible food from Rhythm 'n Wraps and dessert from Cupcake Therapy, enjoyed a guided tour of the Arboretum's Conifer Path and Bonsai Exhibit, and were treated to yoga, forest bathing, and massages!

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BIPOC communities have long centered the interconnection of people, planet, and ecosystems in our lives and livelihoods.

This emphasis on intersectionality, while often left out of conventional conservation spaces, has always been at the heart of BIPOC sustainability practices.

Join the discussion with POCIE and Net Impact Boston on Thursday, March 28th at the NERD Center in Cambridge!

A special thank you to our panelists Lacee Satcher, PhD, Jarred Johnson, Rosalyn Negrón, Hessann Farooqi, our moderator Nia Keith.

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We were thrilled to be joined by J. Cedric Woods, PhD on January 18th, 2024 for our first member meeting/guest speaker of the New ​Year!

Cedric is a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He combines over a decade of tribal government experience with a ​research background, and has served as the director of UMass Boston’s Institute for New England Native American Studies since ​2009. Prior to arriving at UMass Boston, Cedric completed a study on the evolution of tribal government among the Mashpee ​Wampanoag Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Additionally, Cedric has consulted for the National Museum of the American Indian, the Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina, ​and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. We couldn’t be more excited to have Cedric join us to start our year off ​on a high note. He will be joining us to speak to our community about his experience as an indigenous leader in Massachusetts, his ​research, and his experience moderating panels like the New England Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Climate Justice panel.

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Kerry is the Founder, President, and Executive Director of Browning the Green Space (BGS) a voluntary coalition of leaders and organizations that share the passion to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in clean energy.

The BGS Initiative operates at the intersection of environmental justice, economic justice, and social justice. Kerry centered his discussion around growing up in the fenceline community of Anniston Alabama, and how environmental injustice and food injustice in his childhood informed his desire to make an impact for BIPOC communities.

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We were blessed to partner with the Urban Farming Institute (UFI) in Mattapan, and chef and founder of Food and Folklore Tamika R. ​Francis to bring you the Heritage Harvest. We spent a day focused on food justice, community, and cultural cuisine. 

Tamika led us in cooking classes, where our community made Rastafarian “Ital” stew, and chipotle spiced black-eyed peas (Hoppin’ ​John). While prepping and cooking these two incredible dishes, Tamika facilitated discussions on food and identity, and the socio-​political history of the two dishes being made. Click the links above for recipes and the history!

On top of that, we had the chance to learn about the cultures, cuisines, and stories of our members. In tandem with the dishes Tamika ​taught us, we were blessed by the cooking of our members during the communal potluck! Members brought a favorite dish from their ​childhood, culture, or home country. We shared memories and stories with the food - with discussions around what the food means to ​us, where we first tried it, the dish’s symbolism in our respective cultures, and more.

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Currently Boston City Councilor, Gabriela Coletta's Outreach and Communications Manager, Gabriela took the stage as our second summer speaker.

Gabriela is a lifelong East Boston resident, proud daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, and a recent graduate of Boston University. From a young age, Gabriela has dedicated her time to organizing in her community around immigrant rights, youth empowerment, waterfront access, and environmental justice.

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Our first annual Day of Wellness (DOW) provided us the opportunity to give back to POCIE’s beautiful community in the form of a day free to choose what would best help you recenter and rejuvenate.

We gathered at the Boston Nature Center (BNC) in Mattapan to enjoy delicious food, drinks, and dessert surrounded by forest and beautiful walking trails. We offered yoga, mindfulness meditation, and all day massages to our community.

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We started the summer off with a wonderful conversation with Shalaya Morissette, Chief of the Minority Business and Workforce Division at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), located within the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.

Shalaya opened up about her experience as a BIPOC leader in the environment in Massachusetts, and the trials and tribulations of getting to where she is today as a black woman in America.