Black business group gets $1.5 million
Back in June, Boston was emerging from months of lockdown that saw joblessness rise and businesses close. All the while, weekly protests over police shootings helped drive a wide-ranging public discussion of racial inequities in Boston and across the nation.

Year 2020 marked by pandemic and protests
When 2020 dawned, the coronavirus wasn’t yet considered a pandemic. A few experts were eyeing it as a worrisome development in China. The first U.S. case wouldn’t be confirmed until late January. By March, however, much of the nation ground to a halt as local governments geared up for a fight against an unfamiliar adversary.

Blacks eye Biden admin. with caution
Black voters were President Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s most loyal supporters throughout the 2020 White House campaign, rescuing his bid from the graveyard during the primaries and delivering big numbers to the Democratic nominee in the final election. Now they count among his most cautious skeptics.

Muslim political activism increased in last four years
President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has announced that one of his first acts in office will be to reverse the Muslim ban, a travel and immigration restriction that outgoing President Donald Trump implemented via executive order just one week into his term in January 2017.

DHS restrictions hit international scholars
The sun had already set in Ghana, but medical student Jeffery Owusu Boateng was wide awake, working the night shift in the gynecology department of a local hospital. During his shift, a woman was rushed through the door. She was disoriented and bloody, shivering in a cold sweat from a fever onset by infection that would quickly escalate to sepsis.

A winning attitude
Economic progress has come painfully slow for Blacks. As expected, the media have blamed Black reticence or incompetence. Racial discrimination is not ordinarily cited as the cause. However, one can hardly believe that a well-managed Black business in the South would be permitted to cause a white competitor to fail.

2021 priorities for the Legislature
The Black Mass. Coalition, a group of nearly a dozen Black- and Indigenous-led organizations that convened to develop a blueprint for achieving equity in Massachusetts, is closely monitoring updates regarding the departure of House Speaker Robert DeLeo.

Pelton brings equity lens to foundation work
One of the largest community foundations in the nation, the Boston Foundation has $1.3 billion in net assets. In its 2020 fiscal year, the foundation received nearly $166 million in contributions and, along with its donors, paid $215 million in grants to nonprofit organizations.

A year that transformed policing in Mass.
For decades, Black elected officials and community activists sought reforms to Massachusetts police departments they said discriminated against Black and Latino people by engaging in racial profiling, acts of police brutality and violations of public trust.

A new year for women in Jazz
Along with Carrington, among JENX 2021’s highlights featuring women in jazz, you’ll find “From Jim Crow to Black Lives Matter: Vocal Jazz Protest Music” on Jan. 6, presented by Jessica Boykin-Settles; “Sisters in Jazz,” on Jan. 7, presented by Ingrid Jensen; “Saxophone Masterclass with Tia Fuller” on Jan.

Bobbitt to lead Mass. Cultural Council
Michael J. Bobbitt, a lifetime artist and arts leader who has served as the artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre since March 2019, will serve as the next executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, effective Feb. 1, 2021.

‘Imagination is precious’
Candelaria Norma Silva is a creative powerhouse. A community arts and culture advocate, consultant and writer, the Dorchester resident has been crafting children’s stories for years. The 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns finally gave her the time and headspace she needed to publish her first standalone children’s book, “Stacey Became a Frog One Day.