This featured guest piece is an excerpt of our February 2026 newsletter.

Dear Colleagues:

This year, February 2026, marks 100 years of commemorating the history and achievements of Black Americans. This month, and in the months and days to come, I urge you to take some time to research our rich history right here in the Commonwealth. It’s something to be celebrated.

I’m the proud Executive Director of Arise for Social Justice, a radical social justice organization in Springfield, Massachusetts that just marked 40 years of organizing and advocacy. We build community and solidarity, fighting for systemic change at the local and national levels. As a state commissioner appointed by the MA Caucus of Women Legislators, I show up every day knowing representation matters – and it matters how you represent your community when you are entrusted with that care.

In addition, as the MCSW Vice-Chair of the MCSW Finance Committee, I support the commission’s financial stewardship, recognizing the importance of financial literacy and economic security in these unprecedented yet historically familiar times. As we moved beyond the 2020 Commission report which studied the Impact of COVID-19 and Related Policy On Massachusetts Women and Girls, we revisited with a follow up listening session and the data remains consistent that it is Black and brown women and girls being the most impacted across every sector we can think of – housing, healthcare, food insecurity, child and elder care, and more.

I view the world through a lens of social justice and equity, inviting others to examine spaces of injustice and inequity both in my local community of Springfield and across the state. This crucial work of fighting to dismantle systems, institutions, and policies that cause us harm is for all of us – from our longest serving emerita, to our current regional and state commissioners, to the next generation of young leaders in our Girls Empowerment Leadership Initiative (GELI). Leadership isn’t about creating followers; it’s about building more leaders – and that is what GELI does.

Registration for the 2026 GELI Summit at UMass Amherst is now open. Join us for a one-of-a-kind day-long summit to welcome our next cohort of future leaders. Register now or share the informational flyer available in English or Spanish with a young person in your life!

Only by centering the voices and needs of the most marginalized can we ensure all of us can thrive. Here at the MCSW, we use our listening sessions to create safe spaces for those voices to share deep truths that reflect the spaces where we have work to do. I invite you to visit our website for details on our upcoming listening session where we are focusing on the needs of trans women and girls. Black trans women have contributed so much to society, are often excluded from the narrative of history, and experience the highest rates of extreme violence, both past and present.

As we make progress on our path towards equity for women and girls across the Commonwealth, this remains true. Only by working together and hearing all voices can we rebuild systems that work for real people and meet the needs of the modern age.

Your stories and lived experiences directly inform the policy priorities of the MCSW, allowing us to make change to the systemic issues that impact us all.

Black History is American History.

In Solidarity,
Tanisha Arena
Vice Chair of the MCSW Finance Committee
Executive Director, Arise for Social Justice

Tanisha Arena was appointed to the Commission by the MA Caucus of Women Legislators in November 2021. Tanisha Arena is a Black woman in community leadership as the Executive Director of ARISE for Social Justice, occupying the world’s messiest intersection, the space where race, gender, culture, identity, politics, and the law all collide. She has a passion for social justice and transparent, authentic leadership. She is the host of the award-winning podcast, Unapologetic, bringing the hard truths of our social issues to the forefront. She is a guest commentator on Vaya Con Munoz, a weekly radio show airing on 101.5 WHMP that focuses on local and national political issues. She is also a consultant for Growing A New Heart, training on Holding Space: holding affinity, anti-racism, self-education, support groups and on Dialogues Across Differences of social location, including race and ethnicity. She has deep roots in the field of anti-violence work. Prior to that, Tanisha worked in the private sector, during which time she was a mentor at True Colors, a support and advocacy organization for sexual minority youth in Hartford, CT. Tanisha holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University and a Master’s Degree in Non Profit Management from Bay Path University and recently completed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Certificate Program through the University of South Florida. She is a published author, public speaker, and freelance writer.