Why Jamii?

In Swahili, the word "Jamii" can be translated as "community." We are a Pan-African organization and shared multilingual communications team for movement organizations and movement work.

We provide interpreting, translation, language learning,  consulting & multilingual event planning support in 6 core languages: ASL, English, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish. Our work empowers movement workers to create impactful multilingual spaces in areas that have often operated using one dominant language.

In this community, we are fiercely pro-Black, pro-LGBTQ+ and work to create solidarity economies with our "client" partners.

Our Community: Organizations that frequently reach out to us often work in relation to: LGBTQIA+ and migrant rights, racial justice & Black solidarity, combatting gender-based violence, decolonization, abolition and anti-capitalism, gender and educational equity, political advocacy, voting rights, and more!

Our Vibe: Our day-to-day decisions are guided by our commitment to the WeGovern agreements by Resonance Network. We're a people-first, mission-second, and profit-third kind of organization working to grow an equitable solidarity economy for language workers. A central focus of our work includes promoting language learning in Black-centered spaces. We also prioritize bridging language barriers between Black US-born folx, Afro-Latines, Africans, Afro-Caribbeans, and other people of African descent via our flagship programs, Language & Diaspora and the Simultaneous Interpreting Clinic.

What We Do

We shift the "one-language-fits-all" approach to building movements for social justice while centering the needs of people of African descent.

Purpose-Driven

Our big vision, and purpose, is to create a multilingual, transnational community of Black, Pan-African and pro-Black people unified for collective liberation.

Values

• Community & Family. We prioritize people, freedom, and collective care.
• Freedom & Liberation: We co-create LGBTQIA+ affirming and liberatory networks rooted in abolition, decolonization, and Black Feminisms.
  
• Joy. We build multilingual communities as a joy-filled path to freedom.
  
• Cooperative Economics. We integrate mutual aid and solidarity economics for abundant growth and resource sharing.
• Pro-Black Solidarity. We believe that no oppressive system can withstand the liberation of all Black people. Our work transcends borders and identities, building a better world for everyone.
• Authentic Relationships. We co-create multilingual spaces to build trust and strengthen the bonds of human connection.

Our Impact

Our work is intentionally focused to create an impact in the following areas:

Transnational Black Solidarity

Multilingual Movement Building

Multilingual Education

Solidarity Economies & Cooperative Economics