wHO wE ARE
Dedicated to Building A Movement
We believe social change happens from engaging with and developing the leadership of community members who are most impacted by an issue. We believe that capacity building at the grassroots level, including engagement and education, leadership development, and coalition building are the basis for political and social change. The key to social change is people’s power, which means we have to build a broad grassroots movement that is rooted in communities and supports individuals and families that are excluded from the benefits of our current system.
Our Mission
The Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund is dedicated to building a movement led by low-income community members with a focus on black, indigenous, people of color, and women. In order to raise the voices of those who have experienced the impacts of economic hardship, we have several focuses: education, volunteer recruitment, leadership development, and building or participating in effective coalitions that address the economic survival issues that our members face. We build our membership through inspiration and by cultivating relationships that guide leadership development.
OUR PURPOSE
Advocating for Change
At the Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund (CSJ Ed Fund), we are more than just a grassroots organization – we are a family of passionate activists and dedicated volunteers who have come together to fight for economic opportunity and social justice. Since our founding in 1994, we have nurtured a strong leadership core of individuals who were first drawn to our cause and have since become lifelong advocates for change.
Our organizing staff is equally diverse, consisting of volunteers who were directly impacted by the issues we prioritize. Through ongoing outreach efforts, we connect with families in public housing developments and low-income neighborhoods in multiple languages, ensuring that we can effectively reach all those affected by poverty.
Our campaigns have made a meaningful impact on a variety of issues that impact struggling families in Massachusetts, in Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, Taunton, Randolph and Attelboro, and beyond. As a founding member of Raise Up Massachusetts and the founder of Common Start, we have led the way in advocating for change and mobilizing our community to raise their voices and demand justice.
At CSJ Ed Fund, we are more than just an organization – we are a force for change, driven by our unwavering commitment to creating a more equitable and just society for all.
WHAT WE DO
Our Agenda
Common Start Child Care Program
Common Start Child Care Program is a new initiative that aims to provide affordable and quality childcare for all families in Massachusetts. The program will offer subsidies to eligible families based on their income and needs. The program will also support childcare providers with grants and training to improve their services.
Learn more about it here: https://commonstartma.org/
OUR CAMPAIGN
The Common Start Coalition, founded and directed by Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund, has been working to re-engage our coalition partners and members across the state. So far, Common Start has engaged 311 partners and stakeholders in a variety of activities including: a legislative briefing; followed by members walking around the Statehouse to engage their legislators, a series of roundtables focused on distinct stakeholders such as parents, early educators, family child care providers, and administrators.
Affordable Housing
Affordable housing is a pressing issue for many people who struggle to pay rent and face the risk of eviction. This legislation aims to address this problem by allowing local governments to implement rent stabilization policies and protect tenants from unjust evictions. This would help ensure housing stability and affordability for low-income households.
OUR CAMPAIGN
CSJ Ed Fund has taken action to address the state housing crisis. Rents are increasingly unaffordable, with families paying 40% or more of their income in rent. We found from our issue surveys in our communities that housing is an issue that is particularly deeply felt by our low-income constituency and among people of color. Our first step will be to participate in a state funded eviction diversion program, which involves canvassing households against whom eviction proceedings have been brought. We will be informing people about the availability of legally-mandated mediation to help resolve the issue and stay in their homes.
No Cost Calls
No Cost Calls is a campaign that aims to end the high fees that incarcerated people and their loved ones have to pay for phone calls. By making calls free, No cost calls hopes to promote family ties and reduce recidivism rates. No Cost Calls believes that communication is a human right and should not be exploited for profit. As of December 1st, 2023, phone calls are free in Massachusetts prisons and jails.
OUR CAMPAIGN
The Coalition “Keeping Families Connected” (KFC) has a robust number of active organizations and individuals and serious efforts are being made to allow currently incarcerated folks and their families to be very involved in the process. Locally, CSJ Ed Fund has helped reach out to incarcerated women and people involved in a re-entry group who have given written testimonies as to the dire need to connect with families, children, attorneys, doctors, and the burden of very expensive calls thwarting this connection.
Public transportation
Public transportation is a vital service that connects people to jobs, education, health care, and recreation. Investing in mass transit can reduce traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and air pollution. It can also stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and improve quality of life. Therefore, public transportation deserves more funding and support from governments and citizens.
OUR CAMPAIGN
Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund is laying the groundwork through diligent canvassing and phone banking efforts, legislative advocacy, and story collecting at local transit stations with people directly affected by transit issues.
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decision-making. It aims to protect people of color, low income, and immigrant communities from the disproportionate impacts of toxic pollution. These communities often face higher exposure to health hazards and lower access to resources and opportunities.
OUR CAMPAIGN
Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund continues to anchor a coalition of Taunton residents to fight a gasification plant which would burn sewer sludge releasing harmful toxins into the air. Together with residents, environmental justice partners Clean Water Action and Conservation Law Foundation, we have fought the Aries project to a standstill.
Free Public College
Free public college is a policy proposal that aims to eliminate tuition fees for students attending public colleges and universities. It is based on the idea that higher education is a public good and a human right, and that everyone should have access to it regardless of their income or background. Free college would be funded by taxes or other sources of public revenue, and would require reforms in the higher education system to ensure quality and accountability.
OUR CAMPAIGN
CSJ Ed Fund worked to pass a progressive program that would make community college free. In the 2023 Massachusetts budget, $38 million were included to offer free community college for students 25 or over, plus another $12 million to cover all costs for those in community college nursing programs beginning Fall 2023.
Minimum Wage For All
Minimum wage for all is a policy that aims to ensure that all workers earn a decent income for their labor. It involves raising the minimum wage to a level that covers the basic needs of living, such as food, housing, health care and education. Supporters of this policy argue that it reduces poverty, inequality and exploitation, while opponents claim that it reduces employment, competitiveness and economic growth.
OUR CAMPAIGN
CSJ Ed Fund has always been at the forefront of the minimum wage increase. Founding Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition focused on increasing the MA state minimum wage, CSJ Ed Fund has raised wages multiple times over the past two decades. In 2006, CSJ Ed Fund and Raise Up Mass won an increase from $6.75 to $8.00 an hour. We played a leading role in a campaign to win an increase in the minimum wage to $11 per hour again in 2014. Once again, we worked to pass legislation to establish a $15 minimum wage in 2018. CSJ Ed Fund and Raise Up Mass continue to push for minimum wage increases as necessary.
Volunteers
Communities reached
Days of Change
Team
Meet Our Team
The Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund team is a group of dedicated and passionate individuals who bring a diverse range of experiences and expertise to their work, committed to advancing social justice by utilizing their collective skills in research, advocacy, and community engagement to promote equity and inclusivity.
April Jennison (she/her)
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Executive Director
Tracie Gutierrez (she/her)
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Chief Operating Officer
Tracie Gutierrez brings over a decade of operations and organizational leadership experience to our team. She manages finance, human resources, compliance, and internal systems, strengthening our internal structures to ensure transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability. Her work builds the operational foundation that allows our campaigns and organizing to thrive.
Previously, Tracie served as Co-Executive Director at Brockton Interfaith Community, where she helped build durable systems to support grassroots leadership. She has extensive experience developing strong internal processes that align mission with practice, ensuring that our values show up not just in what we fight for, but in how we operate every day.
Tracie cares deeply about immigration justice and women’s rights, and she brings that commitment into every aspect of her work; from policy compliance to people care. Her leadership reflects a belief that strong movements require strong infrastructure, and that sustainable change is built from the inside out.
Debra Pimental (she/her)
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Executive Strategist
Deb Pimental (she/her) transitioned to Executive Strategist in 2024. She convenes the regional transportation focused coalition Bus Riders United. Deb has over 25 years of organizing, campaign, coalition building, administration, management, and policy experience. Deb rose through the ranks, starting as a volunteer in 2000 to Executive Director of the CSJ Action Fund in 2010. She continued in that role while taking over as Executive Director of the CSJ Education Fund in 2012. Deb played a leading role in numerous successful statewide campaigns including the ACT Coalition’s healthcare victory in 2006, the founding and conceptualization of Raise-Up Massachusetts that led to ballot victories on Earned Sick Time in 2014 and legislative victories to increase the minimum wage in 2014 and 2018. And she led the Paid Family & Medical Leave victory for Raise Up Massachusetts in 2018. In 2022, Deb played a key role in the millionaire’s tax ballot victory. She is currently directing a statewide coalition she initiated under the Coalition for Social Justice Education Fund, the Common Start Coalition, focusing on affordable, accessible, high quality early education and childcare. Deb was the recipient of the UMass Dartmouth George Ripley III Memorial Award in 2021 for significant and lasting contributions to workers and lifting up communities with the goal of diversity and inclusion in the workforce; and resolute commitment to the achievement of progressive social change in the Commonwealth and in our region. She is a founding member and continues as a steering committee member at the Mass Voter Table that is committed to a long term organizing strategy that advances the vision of a more democratic and equitable society. She is a member of the Executive Board for Building Pathways South and the Advisory Board for the UMass Dartmouth Labor Education Center. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Bridgewater State University.
Shakira Jean (she/her)
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Brockton Organizer
Shakira Jean (she/her) serves as our Brockton Organizer, bringing both lived experience and deep commitment to the work. A recent graduate of Bridgewater State University, she first joined our organization as a volunteer in our door-to-door canvassing program, where she quickly stood out for her leadership, discipline, and ability to connect with community members. As a proud Haitian woman who speaks fluent Haitian Creole, she plays a critical role in building power with immigrant families across Brockton. Her organizing is rooted in movement values; dignity, justice, and collective liberation. She aspires to pursue a law degree and become an immigration lawyer, continuing the fight for our communities both inside and outside the courtroom.
Sabrina Zak (she/her)
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Environmental Justice Director
Sabrina Davis (she/her) is our Environmental Justice Director. As a volunteer, Sabrina Davis contributed to organizing and passing a vital paid sick time ballot question in Massachusetts and a minimum wage legislative campaign in 2014 with the Coalition for Social Justice’s Fall River chapter. In 2016, Sabrina led the organizing effort in opposition to the Charter School Expansion Bill in Fall River. Sabrina canvassed, trained volunteers, cultivated leaders, managed the field team, and reported data. Sabrina was hired in 2017 and was instrumental in organizing Fall River for another minimum wage campaign and a paid family and medical leave campaign, culminating in legislative victories in 2018. Sabrina started organizing for the fair share tax campaign as a volunteer in 2015 and continues to work toward a victory at the ballot in 2022. Sabrina currently organizes CSJ’s transit and environmental Justice campaigns, where she continues to fight for better and more affordable public transit and protecting gateway communities from corporate polluters.