Request that the Foundation for Civic Leadership reconsider their plans for the Democracy Center meetinghouse and meet with the affected organizations and organizers to reach a suitable resolution

O-3 FIRST IN COUNCIL April 30, 2024 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER COUNCILLOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR AZEEM COUNCILLOR WILSON WHEREAS: The Democracy Center meetinghouse in Cambridge is an important institution that has served as a hub for cultural and organizing groups from across greater Boston for many years; and WHEREAS: It has recently come to the attention of this City Council that the owners of the Democracy Center meetinghouse—the Foundation for Civic Leadership—have announced plans for the indefinite closure of shared office and meeting spaces due to a change in the organization; and WHEREAS: Many organizations depend on this space for their core operations or as an essential meeting space, including Better Future Project, New England Bangladeshi American Foundation, Neighbor Program Cambridge, The Black Response, Cambridge HEART, One Fair Wage, The Activist Supply Closet, SubDrift Boston, Boston Area Liberation Medics, DeeperThanWater, Grow to Consume, and Cambridge Community Fridge; and WHEREAS: Because of the dearth of affordable options for community meeting spaces in Cambridge and greater Boston, the closure of the Democracy Center meetinghouse would be especially challenging; and WHEREAS: In two community meetings, hundreds of community members, previous users of the meetinghouse, and staff from nonprofits that currently rent space expressed their concern about the suddenness of the announcement, lack of clarity on rationale, and if or when the spaces would reopen; now therefore be it RESOLVED: That the City Council go on record requesting that the Foundation for Civic Leadership reconsider their plans for the Democracy Center meetinghouse and meet with the affected organizations and organizers to reach a suitable resolution; and be it further RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to FCL on behalf of the entire City Council.