SOMA Justice was first created as online community in 2016. SOMA native Khadijah Costley White initially made it as a facebook page for sharing resources to center the needs and issues impacting people of color in South Orange and Maplewood. The group quickly grew.  

SOMA Justice took its first steps towards becoming an organization when group members realized that children at local schools were receiving different meals based on their families’ lunch debts. Group members acted swiftly, organizing and raising funds to pay off the debts for every family in town. They also successfully lobbied the Superintendent of schools to eliminate different-tiered lunches for children and eradicating lunch debt for every student in the district. 

The work began to build – in response to the police assaulting Black teenagers after a town celebration, the group organized with others in the community to remove the chief of police. And then, SOMA Justice organized with the town and other local groups  to create the first suburban community police board in NJ. There were marches and rallies, film screenings, Know-Your-Rights Trainings, Kwanzaa celebrations, mutual aid efforts, book clubs for children and adults, high school scholarships, anti-racist lawn chats, and much more. 

The group expanded through online engagement, in-person meetings, community events, mutual aid, and volunteer support. Co-founding leaders like Shannon Kirk, Melissa Renny, Kasia Piekarz , and Susan Bergin helped turn SOMA Justice into a community 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2019.

Since that first start in 2016, SOMA Justice has:

- Delivered food or food assistance to families every month 

- Led a successful participatory budget proposal in 2019 to launch a free neighborhood WiFi pilot program, expanding internet access to over 100 households.

- Created a pre-k book club with our partnering organization, the Community Coalition on Race, to help create space for parents to learn how to tackle hard topics on identity and race with young children

- Supported the community fight to save green space and prevent the expansion of plastic turf fields in our towns, which led to a successful effort to protect a grass field in DeHart Park 

- Co-founded Cougar Cares at Columbia High School to support food-insecure students by providing weekend meals, maintaining snack stations, and responding to emergency needs in coordination with school staff.

- Donated over 2,000 masks to local schools during the beginning of the COVID epidemic

- Led healing circles, vigils, and spaces for grief in tragedies that impact community members 

- Started an Emergency Loan Program to offer zero-percent loans to help community members in need avoid predatory lenders

- Delivered food or food assistance to families every month 

- Organized the first Pride Party in Maplewood Village in 2021

- Partnered with the CHS parent association to ensure all seniors can participate in milestone events like prom and graduation, regardless of financial barriers

- Organized parents to deliver flowers and notes of gratitude to every staff member, teacher, and administrator in the district

- Created an Emergency aid fund  for students and community members

- Offered free swimming lessons for disabled, non-traditional, and less-resourced learners after the elimination of the towns’ public school swimming program

• Created semi-annual equity scorecard for our local Board of Education race that reached at least 2,000 voters – many of the high scorers have been elected 

• And much, much more.

For its work, activism, and contributions, SOMA Justice has been formally recognized by the Town of Maplewood, supported with funds by the Dodge Foundation, and featured nationally on Good Morning America.

We continue to support initiatives that strengthen connection and opportunity across the community.