Boston Olympic Bid Event
On Thursday, July 16, URBAN Boston, in conjunction with the NAACP, hosted an event called “The Boston Olympic Bid, Communities of Color, and the Future of Our City.” The event was held at Freedom House in Dorchester, MA.
Planning for and hosting the Olympic games in Boston will have huge implications for the future of the city. The NAACP and URBAN Boston want to ensure that all of the city’s residents have the opportunity to meaningfully influence the planning process and ensure that the Olympic bid benefits all Bostonians. Event participants shared their perspectives on what they think has been missing from the public conversation about a potential Boston Olympics, learned about an opportunity to participate in community-based research about the Boston bid in partnership with researchers, community groups, and residents, and explored how community groups in other cities have organized to influence the Olympic bid process.
If you would like to be a part of this collaborative research project, please send an email to urban.boston@umb.edu. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be a part of this project, including academics, practitioners, graduate students, community organizations, and interested community members.
Presentation slides and a memo written by the URBAN Boston Olympics Working Group can be accessed below.
Presentation 1: The Boston Olympic Bid, Communities of Color, and the Future of Our City
Presentation 2: Case Study: Toronto’s Bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics