CEEDS4Change (Community Empowerment Through Education, Development, and Service for change) is a United States registered non-profit organization founded by Ms. Mary M. William in 2018. Mary was born in St. Lucia, West Indies. After several years of teaching in St. Lucia, Mary migrated to the United States to further her studies. As a Social Worker, Mary worked for the Department of Social Services, Cambridge Youth Guidance Center, New England Medical Center and as a Freelance Court Investigator for the Cambridge District Court. She also served as Director of a Head Start Program, teaching at the preschool and college level. She is an alum of LeadBoston, a year-long leadership development program that builds awareness of social justice issues and teaches participants to initiate change directly benefiting their organizations and their communities. Her most recent employment was with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a social worker, and the Boston Public Schools as a school administrator. She founded the organization after her retirement.
The organization’s mission is to create self-sustaining collaborations with public schools, higher education and businesses that encourage organic and non-GMO gardening, nutritious cooking and healthy eating to reduce food insecurities in underserved communities. The organization recognizes that underserved communities often lack access to fresh, nutrient dense food (Monsivais, & Drewnowski, 2007). The health and wellness risks posed by this lack of access is often exacerbated in these underserved communities by inadequate access to health care, greenspace, and resources to promote holistic wellness.
To address this situation, the organization is working with a team of dedicated people from the greater Boston area. Each executive board member brings a unique perspective informed by long-time experience working with Boston public schools and/or institutions of higher education throughout the Boston area and a rich history of working with the community’s most underserved. This experience, insight, and commitment to redistributing resources is used to create self-sustainable collaborations between Boston public schools, businesses, and institutions of higher education that are aimed at addressing food insecurity, providing community garden space, and creating innovative health and wellness programs and school curriculum.