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Piers Park Sailing Center (PPSC) was founded March 10, 1998 as an integral part of Piers Park, an open community green space on the East Boston Waterfront. PPSC’s docks and building were constructed by the Massachusetts Port Authority and are ADA compliant at all points of the tide cycle. We are a community based organization – our Board Chair and 100% of our leadership staff grew up in our programs as youth.
For the last two decades PPSC has been providing unique educational opportunities for youth and adults, and serving as a gateway to the harbor and its islands.
Piers Park Sailing Center’s Statement of Values
Piers Park Sailing Center’s mission is to foster inclusive empowerment through marine science and community sailing.
PPSC provides inclusive and accessible recreational, educational, and personal growth opportunities for people of all ages, abilities, and identities. PPSC empowers participants to become stewards of a stronger community, advocates for a healthy Boston Harbor, and leaders of individual and family wellness.
Our vision is to be the premier organization utilizing the marine environment and maritime industry to deliver accessible, high-impact programs to people of all ages, abilities, and identities in an inclusive, enriching, and empowering environment. PPSC envisions a unique and diverse community that is engaged in the local environment and based in mentorship and deep ties to our neighborhood and landscape.
Through mentorship and education in marine science and community sailing, we empower future generations of leaders through these four impact areas:
- Social: Increased esteem and confidence with broadened perspectives as a result of our programming.
- Civic: Strengthened commitment to the local community.
- Environmental: New advocates for a healthier environment.
- Leadership: Students join the Future Leader program, Future Leaders become Instructors, and Instructors become stewards of a connected community.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice
To realize our vision of a community engaged in the local environment we foster a workplace and programs that are intentionally equitable, diverse, inclusive, and just. At PPSC we know that what we model within allows us to achieve these outward goals, and we recognize this as a continual process. PPSC recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes based on these definitions and places value on merit rather than heredity or wealth. The strength and longevity of our programs stems from bringing together diverse people to create healthy communities for everyone.
At PPSC equity is a highly valued concept and is used to dismantle systems that privilege some groups and individuals and disadvantage others based on their identity.
Equity ensures equal opportunity to thrive and participate in the programs PPSC offers. We acknowledge that because of systems of oppression and privilege, individuals and groups have different access to resources. To achieve equity, we must balance that disparity, which may mean dividing and sharing resources unequally in order for each person or group to have access to the same opportunity.
At PPSC diversity reflects the psychological, physical, social, and cultural differences that occur in all individuals within the PPSC community, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, education, age, marital status, gender identity, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, self-expression, and mental and physical ability. These varieties of characteristics exist in the PPSC community at large and add value to our work.
At PPSC inclusion is the act of creating a community in which any individual or group is welcomed, respected, and valued, while being supported to fully participate without barriers based on identity. PPSC’s work environment embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people, working to diminish the cultures of elitism and white supremacy that are so prevalent in the sailing world.
At PPSC justice is a commitment to challenging social, emotional, cultural, environmental, and economic inequalities imposed on individuals from any distribution of power, access to resources, and privilege in the larger society.
Social Justice: In order to achieve our goals of fostering a culture of anti-elitism and anti-racism, bridging the gaps in diversity and academic achievement in STEM, creating equal opportunities for youth to develop healthfully we must take into account our society’s systematic inequalities, including those based on race, class, gender identity, ability. At PPSC, we know representation matters. We promote social justice for employees and students, which means we do not discriminate based on systematic inequalities. We foster a safe environment for social-emotional growth and development. Systemic racism and class bias have caused neighborhood fragmentation. As a result, people of color, people living with low-income, and immigrant families suffer health disparities due to a lack of affordable and accessible recreational and educational options.
Environmental Justice: Surrounded by massive commercial usage from an international airport, a major shipping channel entering Chelsea creek, Global and Gulf oil facilities, and infrastructure from the Big Dig, East Boston and the neighborhoods we serve are without a doubt environmental justice communities. PPSC seeks to mitigate the burden of environmental injustice by not only acting as an access point to green space and open space on the water–the few spaces away from main sources of air, noise, and light pollution–but by creating a healthy atmosphere for the growth and development of our students.
To continue our commitment to challenging inequities in the sailing community, we put together a working document of resources. Part of continuing conversations around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is to educate ourselves.
Piers Park Sailing Center’s Anti-Racism Resource Document.
