Noemi Ramos

Noemi (Mimi) Ramos is currently the Executive Director of New England United 4 Justice (NEU4J) and has spent close to 15 years fighting for social, economic and racial justice in Boston, MA. As a young Latina from Dorchester, Mimi learned to empower herself by becoming an advocate, an educator and an organizer among low income residents seeking to have a strong voice in decisions impacting their community. After serving as Massachusetts ACORN’s Head Organizer in Boston for over 6 years, Noemi and 30 other resident leaders founded NEU4J in 2010.

Noemi and NEU4J provide opportunities and concrete tools for low income communities of color to engage in direct action, policy development and movement building. Building strategic partnerships is core to Noemi’s organizing vision, and she currently serves in a leadership role in several coalitions, including Right to the City Boston, Community Labor United, Mass Voter Table and the Civic Engagement Initiative, the Yes for a Better Boston Coalition, and Dorchester Not for Sale.

Project Description

The Independent Women’s Project (IWP) aims to create a child care model that better meets the needs of parents currently employed or seeking a job in industries with nontraditional work hours, while also changing child care policy in Massachusetts to increase access to safe, reliable, and affordable child care. The IWP will build partnerships and a strategic organizing vision among: 1) single women heads of household, who are seeking employment in the building trades, hospitality and culinary arts industries, and administration 2) child care providers and nannies who are also low wage, working class women of color and 3) building trades and hotel unions with apprentice programs that provide training and direct pathways to union paying jobs for women.

The IWP will center the leadership of low income women of color in creating a Child Care Matching Tool (app and/or website) that matches parents with first source child care providers providing care during nontraditional work hours, and developing a campaign plan that clearly defines the root causes of employment barriers for women and community led solutions. The IWP will be anchored by NEU4J’s Worker Justice Center which provides referrals on sealing criminal records, building resumes, completing GEDs, and trains residents to actively engage in worker justice campaigns.