who we are + how we got here

Does boundless need a manifesto? We don’t think so … but we do want to share more about why we created this organization.

The creators of boundless met and began collaborating after conducting a series of community-based responses to COVID-19 in East Harlem, Harlem, Queens and the South Bronx.

The essential theme running through these activities -- which were supported by an array of community partners -- was that “reconnecting equals healing” … meaning that restoring human connections within the communities most impacted by the pandemic is the most vital first step towards building recovery and revitalization. The success of this approach was thanks to strict reliance on local residents to both imagine and deliver the community-based responses.

As these efforts proceeded, the clear need to establish boundless emerged, as current circumstances have made it evident that most typical, large/well-funded/traditionally managed community-based nonprofits consistently fail to place the visioning and control of community-based programming directly in the hands of residents.

This failure to train, support and fund grassroots/resident-directed activities now constitutes the single largest barrier in confronting the challenges that are destroying lives every day in marginalized communities.

Put another way: if we aren’t building the capacity of indigenous residents to create change in their neighborhoods, then by default, we are simply funding a status quo that has no interest in giving up the power and funding it already controls, and a pitiable track record in regard to creating resident-driven systems to foster change.

Thus boundless was launched in the summer of 2021 – to offer education, training and partnership opportunities – and to inspire and foster alternative, resident-led activities and social change work in the areas of community, business and the arts.