The Port Cafe, based out of the Port/Area IV neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an intentional gathering of diverse people to break bread together. We believe that most effective and natural way to create community is over shared food. The idea of accepting all people at the dinner table is both radical and also a fulfillment of the basic premise of a civilization: there should be room for all individuals to be part of something greater than themselves.
The Port Cafe is a space in which neighbors from the Port/Area IV neighborhood can come to feed their body, mind, and soul in a safe and welcoming environment. Through a mixture of structured and unstructured moments, customers forge new bonds with other people and spark ideas for community partnerships that will live on outside of the Cafe.
The Port Cafe was founded in 2014 by neighborhood organizers from different backgrounds. Although we have distinct geographic and cultural identities , we all found ourselves caught in the same trap of the 21st century urban American neighborhood: How can we live so close to so many other people without knowing so many of them?
We asked how our neighborhood--host to such a wide variety of cultures, ages, ethnicities, national origins, and languages--could be so divided amongst our different populations. And we began imagining the life-affirming power that our neighborhood could have if we could figure out a way to create space for diverse people to interact with one another in a safe, trusting environment.
How might we do that? Inspired in part by Greenfield's Stone Soup Cafe and the Unity Tables cafe network, we agreed that food might contain the answer. Delicious food, to be exact. And so the Port Cafe was born.
The Port Cafe is grateful for the support of the Unity Tables Community Café Incubator, working to create an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable food system for our nation.
The Port Cafe is a space in which neighbors from the Port/Area IV neighborhood can come to feed their body, mind, and soul in a safe and welcoming environment. Through a mixture of structured and unstructured moments, customers forge new bonds with other people and spark ideas for community partnerships that will live on outside of the Cafe.
The Port Cafe was founded in 2014 by neighborhood organizers from different backgrounds. Although we have distinct geographic and cultural identities , we all found ourselves caught in the same trap of the 21st century urban American neighborhood: How can we live so close to so many other people without knowing so many of them?
We asked how our neighborhood--host to such a wide variety of cultures, ages, ethnicities, national origins, and languages--could be so divided amongst our different populations. And we began imagining the life-affirming power that our neighborhood could have if we could figure out a way to create space for diverse people to interact with one another in a safe, trusting environment.
How might we do that? Inspired in part by Greenfield's Stone Soup Cafe and the Unity Tables cafe network, we agreed that food might contain the answer. Delicious food, to be exact. And so the Port Cafe was born.
The Port Cafe is grateful for the support of the Unity Tables Community Café Incubator, working to create an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable food system for our nation.
CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS
Tracy Bindel aspires to fall in love at least once a day with someone or something. She spends most of her time developing her imagination of what the world could look like and works in small and big ways to bring that vision into reality. She cares deeply about people and that guides her work of justice more than anything else. And she loves to host!
Cleola Payne has a boundless love for food, nutrition and community. Her love relationship with food began when she would help her mother cook cultural dishes that often reflected her Southern American and Caribbean roots. It shifted when Cleola was a teenager and newly diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. This placed her on a path of self-healing, nutrition and learning about food access through her volunteer work in Boston and Washington DC. She’s discovering what the Creator wants her life purpose to be, so she can be used to impact her community and transform the world. Presently, she’s a vegetarian, and still cooks with her mother when she has the time, however with very different ingredients!
Erin Taylor has served food and beverages in coffee shops, bars, pizza places, and at catered events. She currently works as a garden-based educator in Cambridge and Boston public schools, including the Cambridgeport School and Fletcher Maynard Academy in The Port. She loves using food and plants to connect with kids (and adults), and to experience their essential inquisitiveness and wonder. She also plays the french horn.
Romaine Waite has been passionate about public service and building stronger communities since starting his community service work 12 years ago. Following graduating the engineering program at the University of Pennsylvania, Romaine found his new home at the Goree House and works to create innovative approaches to empowering communities through his company, Nananke. Working directly with community groups such as Goree House and Port Cafe is key to continuing his vision for building stronger communities.
Abe Lateiner was a middle school educator for 10 years. Now, he works to create and publicize alternate narratives about people with significant privilege in order to inspire greater investment in the public good by those to whom society has disproportionately given. He is also an organizer with Resource Generation.
Board Alumni
Marian Darlington-Hope
Joan Squeri, a former construction manager, turned her life long curiosity about food into a passion. Armed with experience managing over 177 farmers markets, Joan is dedicated to creating wider access to Mass Grown farm food and increasing farmers’ ownership of the value chain and food production, itself.
Renae Gray was the former Director of the Boston Women’s Fund. As an educator and community activist, she provided training and consultation on issues of race, class, and gender and was committed to social and economic justice, including eliminating violence against women and empowerment of African-American women.
