Show Up For Elizabeth Ruckus: Community Support Needed

Our beloved comrade and friend Elizabeth Ruckus needs our support!

Many of us know Ruckus from organizing work in Boston and from her role stewarding the Democracy Center (DC) in Cambridge for the last eight years. The DC has been an important hub for community organizing and connection since its founding over 20 years ago; yet three months ago, the multimillionaire funder who effectively owns the DC through his nonprofit - the Foundation for Civic Leadership (FCL) - abruptly decided to close the DC with no community process or input. This meant both that a critical community resource would be shuttered, and that Ruckus would lose her job.

Community members came together to try to save the space through meetings with FCL, media pressure, protests, and then an occupation of the space in early July. FCL’s failure to meet or negotiate with the community in good faith culminated with their decision to call the police on protestors seeking to keep the building open. Ruckus resigned in the face of her employers threatening to use police violence to remove community members.

This means that she no longer has the opportunity to receive any severance from FCL, which she was negotiating for. She is a primary breadwinner in her household, and recently used most of her savings for upfront housing/moving costs. She needs our support as she looks for a new job.

As Ruckus’ comrades and friends, we know that she is deeply committed to values of justice, community care, and the radical imagination to believe another world is possible. Many of us have benefited from her collaboration, mentorship, and the care and attention she brings to spaces she’s in. We’ve been privileged to work alongside her in critical local struggles, particularly for prison abolition, mutual aid for comrades facing housing instability, and more. In this moment, we hope to return the love and care that Ruckus shows for the people in her life, and demonstrate our commitment to valuing, supporting, and caring for each other as a community.

Please give what you can to support our comrade, and help spread the word!

How we calculated the goal for the fundraiser

Based on the severance package Ruckus was negotiating for

Redistribution

Ruckus will redistribute 10% of the funds we raise for her through this fundraiser:

For those who want to balance their giving to Ruckus as a white, cis person, here are some current fundraisers for queer Indigenous, Black, and/or POC folks in need of direct support:

Other payment options

If you want to donate a different way than gofundme, you can: