On September 9, Chinatown HOPE invited residents and community members to enjoy a day full of activities at the Fall Fun event at Phillips Square in Chinatown. Despite the rain forecast, over 100 people came, young or old, to make beautiful flower crowns, sing together, and play fun lawn games. City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy also joined us as well and supported our efforts.

At the event, Chinatown HOPE collected signatures for a petition asking Mayor Wu and the Boston City Council to increase funding for the re-design of Phillips Square. Attendees reported the event helped them care more about Chinatown and they felt more connected to the community.

Photos by The Chinatown Project

Chinatown HOPE is a collective of eight Chinatown organizations with the aim of coming together to leverage and build upon existing assets to have a greater, lasting impact on working class residents in Boston Chinatown. Community engagement began in summer of 2022 to understand what the Chinatown community thought a healthy neighborhood looked like, and resulted in a 3 branched intervention. Chinatown HOPE is funded through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Community-based Health Initiative to decrease social isolation and increase community cohesion by activating open space in Chinatown through gardening, arts, cultural programming, and resident leadership development.

The collective that includes BCNC, Asian Community Development Corporation, Chinese Progressive Association, Chinatown Main Street, Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston Chinatown Resident Association, and Chinatown Community Land Trust and is facilitated by CHIC Community Engagement Consulting.