Bonnie Bastien is the Community Building Manager at the Somerville Community Corporation. She leads SCC’s community building efforts and supports the work of SCC in the City of Somerville. SCC’s Community Building Program builds social capital by creating opportunities for person-to-person and people-to-place relationships, developing the skill and will of resident leaders to take on leadership roles at SCC and in their community, encouraging civic engagement and activism to promote approaches and policies that stop displacement and preserve economic, social, ethnic, and racial diversity.
Outside of SCC, Bonnie is an activist working for racial justice, housing justice, and public safety rooted in systems of care, healing, and community self-determination in Brookline. She is also an elected Town Meeting Member in Brookline’s Precinct 5 where she works in community to write and pass progressive legislation in Brookline.
Prior to SCC, Bonnie was the Senior Tenant Organizer for the Brookline Community Development Corporation and co-launched Mutual Aid Brookline in 2020 to address unmet critical needs in the area as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Bonnie has a BFA in Illustration from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Art and creativity is of critical importance to her work and personal life and lives at the heart of everything she does.