Aaron Tanaka Email & Phone Number

Greater Boston Area

A capacity, funding and movement intermediary supporting the grassroots sector to transform American capitalism into a just, sustainable and democratic economy. Project areas include the Boston Jobs Coalition, Youth Participatory Budgeting, Worker Owned Co-ops, Community Land Trusts, Democratic Financing and Divest-Invest.

Ujima Project is organizing neighbors, workers, business owners and investors to create a People's Economy in Boston. ​Ujima is developing a first of its kind democratic capital fund, challenging poverty by organizing Boston's working class communities of color to invest in, purchase from, and advocate for "high road" co-ops and social enterprises that meet local needs.

Charlestown

Boston based startup worker owned catering and culinary group. Olio is a green, cooperatively run, minority owned business serving fresh, consciously sourced food to build a more delicious and vibrant local economy. Olio serves a range of events, from private dining settings to weddings and political fundraisers.

Anti-oppression training and consulting for non profits, educational institutions and businesses. Clients: Northeastern University School of Law; Philips Brooks House Association @ Harvard University; Urban Environmental Policy Planning @ Tufts University; Department of Urban Studies and Planning @ MIT.

Greater Boston Area

Boston's first private place based impact investment fund, offering loan financing, grants and private equity to incubate new worker owned co-ops, micro enterprise and fund scalable community businesses.

Best Spanish Tapas in Boston (Boston Magazine, 2012); 50 Best Restaurants (Boston Magazine, 2014)

Nationally recognized grassroots union of under- and unemployed workers, fighting for employment rights. Campaigns focus on limiting job discrimination against those with criminal records (CORI) and building new eco-friendly worker-owned cooperatives.

Anti-war coalition led by radical City Councilor Chuck Turner and activists from Boston's communities of color. Resurrecting Dr. King's "eternal hostility" towards the "triple evils" of racism, militarism and economic exploitation.

Organizing Fellow in Roxbury Presbyterian Church. Education on alternatives to toxic household cleaning and cosmetic products and campaign mobilization for stronger environmental regulations for consumer goods.

Research Assistant to Professor Christopher Sturr. Research focus on the prison industrial complex, US labor history, and post-structural social theory. Major paper: Criminalization of Youth of Color in the Bio-Security State: Schools, Police and Prisons.

Ex-prisoners and families of incarcerated run campaign against inhumane, long term solitary confinement (DDU) in Massachusetts prisons.

Research and lobbying US Congress on anti-nuclear waste bill and pro renewable energy sources.

B.A., Social Studies

M.S., Community Economic Development