Civic Engagement/Fenway Plans!

One of Fenway CDC’s greatest strengths over the years has been an engaged and devoted membership base. We continue this tradition through the following initiatives.

Fenway Plans!

Fenway Plans! is the FCDC's current organizing campaign. We build broad community engagement in neighborhood planning. We are mobilizing residents to advocate for Fenway's most critical needs: affordable housing, enhanced transit service, and community centers/spaces, especially for families and seniors.

Fenway CDC! Campaigns!

Save Our #55 Bus:
In August 2009, the MBTA recommended the #55 bus for service cuts. Running from the West Fenway neighborhood to Copley Square and Park Street, the #55 bus is an essential transportation lifeline for residents, including commuters, people with disabilities, and seniors.

The Fenway CDC organized the Save Our #55 Bus! Campaign to show the MBTA how important the bus is to the daily transportation needs of the West Fenway neighborhood. At neighborhood meetings in September and November, community residents voiced their concerns and formed a working group to take specific action steps, including:

• Passing out flyers at the bus stops
• Reaching out to non-English speaking communities within the neighborhood
• Collecting signatures on a petition to the MBTA
• Organizing letter-writing campaigns to the MBTA, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and local elected officials

We can now declare victory in Save Our Bus Campaign! In a letter sent to the Fenway CDC in early January, the MBTA confirmed that the 55 bus is safe and will face no service cuts. To see a copy of the letter, click here.

This victory is due to community members’ hard work! Fenway residents reached out to their neighbors, gathered over 350 petition signatures, and sent in more than 100 postcards. In early January, the Fenway CDC mailed the petition to Secretary Jeff Mullan at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and sent copies to numerous city and state elected officials. See the cover letter that Fenway CDC sent with the petition here.

For more information on the Save Our #55 Bus! Campaign, contact Sarah Horsley at (617) 267-4637 x19 or shorsley@fenwaycdc.org

Community Spaces
The Fenway neighborhood is one of two neighborhoods in Boston without a community center. The lack of community spaces and other family-friendly infrastructure -- including a neighborhood school and family-sized housing -- has contributed to the flight of families from the neighborhood and created an atmosphere of instability and impermanence. Existing programming within the neighborhood, including activities for seniors, children, and youth, has been constricted by the limited number of desirable group spaces.

To address these concerns, the Fenway CDC has launched a campaign to advocate for more community spaces in the Fenway. At an initial neighborhood meeting in the West Fenway in October, an overwhelming number of passionate residents turned out to voice their need for more community spaces. In addition to expressing their long-term desires, residents joined together in small groups to brainstorm ideas for temporary uses for a small outdoor space. Suggestions for part of the former McDonald’s lot at the corner of Jersey and Boylston Streets included an outdoor performance space, an area for community events, a temporary park or garden, and a number of other creative uses.

For more information on the Community Spaces Campaign, contact Sarah Horsley at (617) 267-4637 x19 or shorsley@fenwaycdc.org

Fenway Family Coalition

The Fenway Family Coalition is a parent-led group that organizes Fenway families to develop and carry out initiatives that meet varied needs of Fenway parents and children.For more information about the Fenway Family Coalition, click here.

Fenway Votes!

Fenway Votes! is a grassroots effort to build the political power of the Fenway neighborhood. Fenway Votes! focuses on voter registration, education, and turnout, as well as building a more politically aware and active neighborhood

Although community participation in elections has historically run at approximately half of the citywide average, the Fenway Votes! campaigns in 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003, 2006, and 2007 demonstrated that get-out-the vote efforts make a difference. In 1999, with an extensive voter registration drive and well-organized get-out the vote strategies such as phone banking, tabling, mailings, and literature drops, voter turnout was close to the citywide average (21.4% vs. 24.2%). In 2002, we increased voter turnout by nearly 20% relative to the previous gubernatorial election. More recently, in the 2006 election because of our efforts we were able to add 731 voters who do not frequently vote in elections.

Fenway Votes! is part of the Civic Engagement Initiative.Click here to access the Civic Engagement Initiative website.