ICYMI: Springfield citizen makes a difference while juggling two lives

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ICYMI: Springfield citizen makes a difference while juggling two lives

 BY Saqib Saleem Qureshi 


SPRINGFIELD, MASS,  A Springfield Creative City Collective community organizer’s efforts to raise money for Springfield has been a challenging one due to having to balance between work and family.


The Springfield Creative City Collective aims to transform and revitalize the Springfield cultural and creative economy by implementing sustainable and culturally competent initiatives that include advocacy, racial equity, social justice, professional development, and strategic resources. 



Desperate, exhausted and discouraged….,” are the three words Tiffany Allecia used to describe her experience as a mother living a dual life between work and taking care of her three sons on her own.


“My life was and in many parts is overwhelmed by the intersecting reality of being a Black single mother in America,” she said, “it’s emotionally painful and often physically unbearable to experience systemic trauma while trying to solve each intersecting inequity maintaining it. Somehow the oppressed have become responsible for dismantling the system that is oppressing us. Somehow in between past due bills, navigating food insecurity, battling the housing crisis, being gentle and active parents, maintaining our spirituality and working full time and more, we’re supposed to find the time and emotional capacity to dismantle and replace centuries of systemic racism and its institutionalized consequences.”


In the last 20 days, she had to navigate a variety of challenges such as managing her continued stress of the divorce process and co-parenting through separation experience. “We often are convinced to not share the realities of our personal life, but I have learned that there is healing in discussing the parts of life that are difficult. This truth helps me authentically connect to the work I do for the community. While applying to grants, meeting with varying organizations to strategize implementation and maintain the work of my full time job, I was under what continues to feel like insurmountable stress at home. “


The ancestral pain of never having enough to become the true masters of our own fate weighed heavy on my identity and behavior, but there’s no solutions in simply being engulfed in the pain of our reality. With this understanding, we used that raw energy to learn more about what we are experiencing and began collectively designing and supporting solutions to help create a community of peace and joy instead of the survival mode we’ve suffered under for as long as we can remember. I will always honor these initial feelings which ignited a movement for economic development and financial security for the greater Springfield community.”


Allecia mentioned that her current circumstances of being homeless, she had to move in with her parents who currently care for two school aged children and multiple college aged children who are frequently at home. “I struggle with housing and food insecurity on a daily basis. The depth of my personal exhaustion directly influences my motivation to provide economic solutions to our community. While o don’t have solutions for all challenges I’m currently facing, I know we have the expertise and capacity to build economic solutions that benefit us all. It is my hope that helping develop a more financial secure community will help to lesson some of life’s other intersecting problems.”


Allecia has three young boys, Adrian, Andre and Adonis, along with a daughter that came into her life 5 years ago, Geleydie. “I am blessed with a shared parenting schedule and a dynamic and supportive village that loves my children. I live in a multigenerational household that’s full of love, laughter and consistent meaningful support. My baby brothers drop off my son to school as often as my mother cooks diner etc. I am blessed in my current hardship to have a familial group that is functioning as an engaged and present support system.” 


In spite of the exhaustion of motherhood, Allecia knows that mothers can relate to creating change for the greater well-being of their children despite the exhaustion. Mothers have always been leaders in the fight for equity and Springfield continues to maintain this well known tradition, according to Allecia.


My children are my biggest inspiration in completing this work. I want their quality of life to be higher than my current wildest dreams. I don’t want them to struggle under the weight of systemic oppression in their adulthood. I want them to experience true freedom. That is the foundation of my work. My children are brilliant and often attend my programs and events,” Allecia said, “the boys lead an organization called Dem Porter Boyz and they have lots of ideas on how to make the community better. My daughter is a fashionista and has a heart for providing creative opportunities for our community. I believe in youth voice and support their creative development; that work is essential in my parenthood as well.”


She added, “it feels fulfilling to begin securing the necessary resources to heal and develop Springfield. Our community deserves a fair chance at sustainable growth and strategic investment. Our community deserves to be prioritized and financially liberated. I’m proud to play a role in ensuring there is resources specifically available to help solve the depth of our interconnecting complex issues.

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