by Stephen Brophy

Cassandria Campbell - image by Valarie Seabrook

The Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) has had an outstanding intern working for it this summer. Cassandria Campbell came to the organization through MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, where she is a graduate student, and feels that she has learned a lot from her experience.
At the FCDC, Campbell has worked both in housing development and community planning and organizing. In the former she was most involved in helping Director of Housing Lisa Soli prepare for the refinancing and renovation of two FCDC properties—a process that involves filing many applications with city and state agencies, and talking with tenants about the renovation process.
Her more visible work was with Sarah Horsley, the CDC’s director of civic engagement, for whom she spent the summer laying the ground work for expanding spaces for community activities in the Fenway. Calling their effort the Common Ground campaign, Horsley and Campbell have conducted a community-needs assessment, which organizing involved focus groups with specific communities (such as seniors, Chinese speakers, disabled residents, families); a survey (translated into Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese); and interviewing various service providers and local leaders. The duo also organized the popular Starlight Movies in the old McDonalds’ parking lot in the West Fens last month.
The goals of this work are to find out what services are lacking in the community and what organized activities residents would like to see, to determine how a community center could be most valuable to the neighborhood and to create the argument for it that leads ultimately to funding for a center.
Born and raised in Roxbury, Campbell currently lives on Mission Hill. A graduate of O’Bryant High School, she went on to Swarthmore College before enrolling at MIT. In between she spent time in Ecuador, teaching English to students and professors at the Universidad de Loja. She feels that her time at FCDC has helped her to clarify her plans for the future.
“This summer has reinforced for me that I want to continue to work in housing and community economic development,” she told The Fenway News recently, in an interview conducted at her FCDC office. “I have come to appreciate more fully how difficult community organizing can be—how many different people have to be pulled together, and how complicated the process is.
“Also, working with Lisa has got me more interested in community development finance—I was an cconomics major at Swarthmore, so this kind of work is really appealing.
“Working in the Fenway has changed the way I see communities working. I always had the view that some places were for people with high incomes, and others for low-income folks. If you have resources you have opportunity, and I never questioned that people should try to go against this. I’ve been very interested to see how a community can be so diverse in terms of race and class and sexual orientation, and still be stable. I appreciate the opportunity I’ve had to work with FCDC because I also see how much is involved in maintaining a stable community.”
Dharmena Downey, FCDC executive director, says that “The CDC was lucky to have Cassandria serve as an intern with us to substantially advance our work. She exemplifies what’s inspiring about the symbiotic relationship that happens when students apply their energy, time and talents to advance the cause of community development. In the process she gained valuable real life work experience and we [the Fenway] benefited from her talent, work ethic, intelligence and grace. With our work it is always about the connections we make with each other to advance a shared agenda. Cassandria was able to connect with people on a very deep level and make a significant contribution to both FCDC and the people of the Fenway.”
Campbell assures the many friends she’s made this summer that she is not going away just because her internship is over. “People will still see me around. I’ll be at the Senior Center fundraiser at the Baseball Tavern on September 26, for instance.”