LEAF’s Elevate Small Business team’s theory of change is that stable businesses help create financially stable communities. And to be a financially stable business, you need: access to capital, access to advisory services, and access to customers to buy their goods. Boston’s largest neighborhood has amazing restaurants, beaches and parks, and even a presidential library, but until now lacked a bookstore. Fortunately, Boston’s former poet laureate, Porsha Olayiwola and Bing Broderick founded Just Book-ish. Bing Broderick said, “Just Book-ish is a complicated model–a business and a non-profit bookshop. Chris (from LEAF’s Elevate team) was able to work with us patiently through the financials. We appreciate LEAF’s ongoing commitment to help us create a sustainable business model within these constraints.”
Just Book-ish is a literary gathering space where “leisure and fun and joy are a kind of political act,” Olayiwold said. (Boston Globe, Julian Sorapuru, 2025)
Olayiwola and Broderick write that “Every person is like a book: Judge not by the cover, but by the content, remember each person has a unique story, and always take good care of your spine.”
Photo by Boston Arts Review