Come join us in celebrating 11 years of Ayni and the opening of our new training center!

Screenshot 2024-01-31 at 1.48.05 PM ([link removed] )

Dear ,

Last year in Ayni, we accomplished two milestones as an Institute:

- We turned 11 years old and reached over 12,000 people trained!
- And (maybe) biggest of all, we purchased a building!!!

We have done trainings in churches, community spaces, parks, retreat centers, and even once in an office room inside a local community clinic.

Only people that organize multi-day events understand the logistics that go into it. I feel pride and exhaustion remembering our largest 4-day training with over 200 people. Ayni has been on quite a journey!

In 2021 we began searching for a property that could be our home and a sacred place of learning. We looked in my beloved neighborhood of East Boston, where we have always been rooted. A year later, after looking exhaustively and being surprised with how expensive real estate has become, we found a building that exceeded our expectations: it was in Revere, our sister city; it was walking distance from the Revere Beach train station; it had two stories and a garage; it could fit up to 75 people on each floor; and it had a parking lot in the back.

Building pic ([link removed] )

After visiting the site and doing an inspection, we were sold!

Sadly, as is the case in so many places, gentrification and its culture has imposed itself in my neighborhood as well. Out of the four families (in my extended family) that migrated to this neighborhood in 1998, we are the only ones left. Because of the real threat of our own little Institute being displaced, we felt that if we had a chance to stay, we needed to take action. So we decided to try to purchase the building before someone else could scoop it up first. We scrambled to learn the process and hired all the help we would need (shout out to CoEverything). We also began an arduous fundraising campaign.

After months of learning, examining, researching, outreaching, and fundraising, we kept feeling the building was right for us, AND we had enough financial commitments to purchase.

In May, 2023 with the partnership of our sister organization Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE), we signed the closing documents!!!

Since purchasing, we have been focused on doing repairs and weatherproofing for many years to come. We are still in the process of settling in, but we are excited to announce the grand opening of our Training Center on June 21st, 2024!

Find out more here!
([link removed] )

We know that this major accomplishment stands on the shoulders of all of the Ayni work over the last decade. We would not have been able to do it without all the people who believe in the work we are doing; who have attended trainings and shared about them with others; who have worked with us so we could be a small but solid organization; and who have risked with us - innovating, funding us, trying out new concepts and ideas, and experimenting with us.

That is why we want to celebrate with you. To celebrate this new chapter in our history; to welcome a new decade.

You have been a part of our journey along the way and our accomplishments now would not have been possible without all of our past work with you. You, yes you, are invited to our Training Center Inauguration on June 21st from 6-9pm in Revere, MA. We will have an Ayni party to welcome you to our Center and celebrate our Institute’s 11th Anniversary. You can click here or the button below to let us know you are coming.

RSVP Here!
([link removed] )

If you’ve been to an Ayni party before, you know you will enjoy great food, live music and have fun gathering with our social change community. We hope you can join us!

In reciprocity,

Carlos Saavedra and the Ayni Team

Add this event to your calendar!
([link removed] )

Ayni Institute, Maverick Square, East Boston, MA

Unsubscribe ([link removed] )
Manage preferences ([link removed] )