Longtime community leader and lawyer Herb Gleason participated in one of NPi’s earliest community dialogues in December 2008 alongside Bay State Banner founder, Mel Miller, and Codman Square Health Center founder, Bill Walczak. This dialogue focused on Boston’s unique social justice history, paying particular attention to the community health center movement as well as race and education (and the issue of busing) in the 60s and 70s.

In this video, Herb Gleason shares lessons on leadership and community organizing, discusses his time working with community activist Mel King while at United South End Settlements, and tells the story of the founding of one of Boston’s first community health centers (one of the most energizing decisions he says he’s ever been involved with).

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In November, Carrie Fitzimmons of The Cloud Foundation participated in NPi’s dialogue on innovative youth programs and initiatives to speak about the Boston 100K ArtScience Innovation Prize. The Cloud Foundation aims to foster confidence and hope in urban teens through artistic creation and cross-cultural expression. The ArtScience Prize provides opportunities for teens to develop breakthrough ideas in the arts and design at the frontier of scientific knowledge.

NPi contributor Aaron Devine recently visited Cloud Place to speak with Carrie and the rest of her team about the program. Full print interview with Carrie Fitzsimmons  coming soon.

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On August 6th, 2009, Dave McLaughlin, Joseph Porcelli, and Doris Sommer participated in NPi’s community dialogue, “Building Community Online and Offline” at City Year. In this video, taken shortly after the event wrapped up, we asked Dave and Joe to share their thoughts on the conversation that had just taken place.

NPi’s next community dialogue will focus on Innovative Youth Programs and Initiatives and will take place November 5th, 2009 at Cloud Place in Boston. Click here for more information and visit Community Events to learn about past events and hear from past attendees.

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The New Prosperity Initiative interviews Bill Walczak of Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Codman Square Health Center serves as a resource for improving the physical, mental and social well-being of the Boston community. The Health Center was conceived by a group of neighborhood activists in the 1970s, including co-founder Bill Walczak, who joined together to improve the neighborhood and deliver badly needed health care services.

Click here to learn more about CSHC’s history, programs, and services. Click here to read NPi’s separate, full interview with Bill Walczak.

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Thanks to everyone who made it out to our event earlier this month, “Building Community Online and Offline” at City Year’s headquarters in Boston.

Speakers at this event were Dave McLaughlin, Executive Director of Boston World Partnerships; Joseph Porcelli, Founder and Chief Neighbor at Neighbors for Neighbors; and Doris Sommer, Faculty Director at Cultural Agents. After speaking briefly about each of their organizations, they went on to discuss the significance of online tools in the work that they do as well as the value of face-to-face conversations. They told stories of online and on-the-ground organizing and shared lessons they’ve learned over the years as leaders in their communities.

VIDEO:

Joseph Porcelli also live streamed most of the event. Click here to watch Video 1 and here to watch Video 2. Excerpts and podcasts from the event are coming soon. Below are a few photos.

More information about the organizations:

Boston World Partnerships is a nonprofit organization, created by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, to raise global awareness of Boston as one of the world’s foremost centers of intellectual capital and innovation, offering tremendous competitive advantages to growth-minded businesses. It’s mission is to inform business leaders worldwide about the competitive advantages that Boston offers, and connects them with the resources they need to grow here. BWP also works to strengthen the general business climate and to help existing Boston businesses achieve sustainable success. Read more here.

Neighbors for Neighbors, a Boston Based 501c3, led by a former Boston Police Neighborhood Watch Organizer, provides neighborhood-centric community-generated social networks for Boston Neighborhoods that serve as a soundboard for voices and a springboard for action. Unlike facebook, Neighbors for Neighbors connects people who live, work and serve in a particular neighborhood to others who they don’t already know and helps them discover and organize around common interests. Read more here.

Cultural Agents, based at Harvard University, brings together artists, educators, and community leaders in innovative collaborations that revitalize civic life both locally and internationally. The mission of Cultural Agents is to promote the arts and humanities as social resourecs. Cultural Agents fosters creativity and scholarship that measurably contribute to the education and development of communities worldwide. Identifying creative agents of change, reflecting on best practices, and inspiring their replication, Cultural Agents shows that creativity sustains healthy democracies by developing the moral imagination and resourcefulness in citizens. Read more here.

With its roots firmly set in both the American Civil Rights Movement and Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Young People’s Project (YPP) promotes social justice using math literacy. Its programs have spread nationwide, teaching high school students to teach themselves and instilling in college students the value of giving back. YPP’s philosophy is that in math is opportunity and inside every young person is a world of difference, a building block of our shared community.

To read the full YPP interview click here

Interview & film by: Aaron Devine
Film editing by: Austin Briggs

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Learn more about FAMILY Movement and its vision to empower young moms, women, and men in homeless shelters and transitional living by providing self-worth and family values.

Click here to read NPi’s separate, full interview with Lakenya Johnson.

If you value this content, please consider making a donation. We aim to keep our content free and easily accessible, but we also depend on the support of those individuals and organizations who can afford to support us. Any donation, large or small, is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our event last week.

Our speakers Hilary Allen of the Boston Center for Community & Justice; David Crowley of Social Capital Inc.; and Kaia Stern of the Pathways Home Project at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School shared stories on how rebuilding lives after incarceration, creating community within diverse neighborhoods, and supporting socially responsible leaders can have a positive impact on our communities.

Click on the video below to hear NPi Co-Founder Jeanne Dasaro describe the purpose of NPi’s community dialogues and listen to each speaker talk a little bit about the work they do.

Podcast by Shantel Hansen: http://www.shantelhansen.com/

Below are a few photos from the event.

Photos by Rachel Distler.

Watch Bill Walczak, CEO of Codman Square Health Center and Co-Founder of Codman Academy Charter Public School in Dorchester, Massachusetts speak about Busing in Boston in the 1970s and it’s lasting impact today. From NPi’s December 11, 2008 event Community Building in Boston: Leaders Share Their Stories held at the Boston Public Library.

Video by Nishima Chudasama.

Thanks to everyone who turned out (in spite of the rain) for last night’s event at the Boston Public Library.

Video by Nishima Chudasama.

We enjoyed hearing our three speakers Herbert Gleason, lawyer and former corporation counsel for the City of Boston, 1968-1979; Melvin B. Miller, Editor and Publisher of the Bay State Banner; and Bill Walczak, Co-Founder of Codman Academy Charter Public School, reflect on the lasting impacts Busing had on the City of Boston and discuss Boston’s current challenges and opportunities. Below are a few photos from the event.

Photos by Rachel Distler.