In budget bind, Brockton pares schools’ equity, diversity and inclusion office
This June, her office will undergo a cost-saving restructuring. In Heywood’s place, a new director and family engagement specialist will carry on. Deputy Superintendent Sharon Wolder estimated two to three teachers — a necessity — can be funded with the cost savings.

N.E. nursing homes face closures
A question haunted the month-long fight for the Edgar Benjamin Healthcare Center that ended recently with the ousting of the center’s administrator: Would the Mission Hill facility be able to continue operations even as the center’s leadership claimed that it needed to shutter due to financial challenges?.

Boston celebrates the Celtics
As Celtic players made their way through the streets on their duck boats, the crowd electrically chanted for their champions, screaming “Boston,” “Different Here,” “What they gonna say now,” and “Let’s go Celtics!” Coach Joe Mazzulla came in with a bang.

As summer travel heats up, migrant families still shelter at Logan Airport
Even as summer travel is in full swing, the space in the airport’s international arrivals section remains a sleeping spot for the migrant families — the majority of them Haitian — who have yet to find a spot in one of Massachusetts’ at-capacity shelters.

‘Belonging’ at the center of Embrace Ideas Festival 2024
“When Juneteenth became an official holiday, we knew that it was an opportunity — especially when it happened during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd — to create some customs and rituals around this holiday for Boston...

Mass. state prison health care scrutinized
Wellpath, whose agreement goes to the end of this month, has faced concerns that it was failing to provide adequate care to individuals incarcerated in the state, with delayed or denied care, inadequate staffing and failure to following physician treatment plans.

Biden vs. Trump: The choice is clear
As the presidential election looms closer, it’s time to see the two candidates face each other in a debate, and this year that debate is more important than ever. Over the years, debates have helped and hurt candidates.

“The Father Figure takes on The Felon.”
“The Father Figure takes on The Felon.”.

Investing in climate solutions: A path to economic growth and environmental sustainability
While the climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, it does not register with the average voter, who is reasonably more concerned with being able to put food on the table and raise their family while costs for the basics continue to skyrocket.

How internalized racism shapes the Black dating experience
Is it any surprise, then, that dating apps like BLK and Black- PeopleMeet have found an audience? Black daters turn to these apps because the mainstream alternatives, such as Tinder and Bumble, so often fail them.

IN THE NEWS
The appointment of Dr. Maria del Guadalupe Davidson as the next Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at University of Massachusetts Amherst, effective July 1, 2024, marks an exciting new chapter for the college spearheaded by a distinguished professional committed to changing the landscape of higher education.

Restructuring at Reggie Lewis – a deeper dive
In a statement on behalf of Roxbury Community College, a representative called the move a “retrenchment,” part of an organizational restructuring to eliminate overlapping responsibilities in the four roles — those of manager, assistant manager and daytime and evening fieldhouse supervisors — and “ensure operational efficiency.

Opioid overdose death rates in communities of color continue to climb
Statewide, confirmed deaths due to opioid overdoses dropped by 232, since 2022 — that year saw 2,357 fatal opioid-related overdoses, a record for the state. The drop, about a 10% change, was the largest decline in the space of a single year since 2010.

Nearing the end of her term, Boston’s poet laureate reflects on her journey
The 36-year-old poet and educator said she’s a “little sad because there’s always so much more work to do.” But she’s also excited to have more time to dedicate to her craft.

BPS concludes 10-school pilot of AP African American Studies
The College Board, which is a non-profit academic entity, develops and administers standardized tests and curricula used by K-12 schools nationwide as a way of promoting college readiness.

After 50 years, Judge Garrity’s orders in Boston school case still defended
Federal judge W. Arthur Garrity, hailed as a hero or denounced as a villain, had no choice but to order the desegregation of Boston’s public schools in 1974 and deploy yellow buses to remedy a wanton violation of the Constitution, legal analysts involved with the epic case say.

Boston ranked 2nd happiest city in the U.S., according to new study
The index ranks 250 cities globally, categorizing them into golden, silver, and bronze tiers. The top 37, considered some of the happiest locations in the world, includes Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the only U.S. city at spot No. 18. Boston, which holds the 38th spot, leads the silver tier that includes cities ranked 38-100.

Boston: A ‘title town’ in name and in spirit
For one very hot sticky beautiful day, Bostonians of all ages came together to celebrate their hometown heroes — players who have given back to the community and brought more than just a trophy to the city.

Boston English High School baseball captures first State Championship
It took a long year, coupled with growth, maturity and dedication to hard work by a group of young men to complete a historical milestone for Boston English High School’s first city team to win the MIAA Baseball title, since 1971. (South Boston prior to the creation of the MIAA in 1978.

Willie Mays, baseball legend, 93
The name “Willie Mays” rolls off one’s tongue with rhythmic quality and the melodic sound of great symphony music. Every time I have said his name since the days of my youth, I have thought of music produced by Beethoven, Mozart, Quincy Jones, and other great people who produced masterpieces of musical art that have stood the test of time.

Revolutionizing the music industry
“Leaving my job and the security that I was used to, we had to get to a certain point in our journey. March of last year, I called Tracy up and said, ‘This is it, I’m leaving,’” Robbie DeBarros recalled of her initial transition out of banking and into media.

Rep. Fluker Oakley: Mattapan should get to reshape its future
“I think the problem is: If we want folks to not drive their cars as often, we have to have a reliable alternative, and the MBTA has not shown itself to be that reliable option,” she said.

Smoothie King just got a lot cooler
Before his career as a rapper with the stage name 2 Chainz, Tauheed Epps played basketball for Alabama State University in the 1990s. He was part of the Atlanta-based hip-hop group Playaz Circle before launching a solo career in 2010 that has earned him acclaim and songs with Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Drake.

Jettison hate and create
Black accomplishments in particular, arts and culture, music, literature, dance, are a great model of pointed progressive artistic citizenry from these African diasporic deep culture roots, of ritual and reason which exemplify a broad range of social-cultural achievements that matter.

Banner [Virtual] Art Gallery and AAMARP host ‘Black Art in Afro-Centric Spaces’ roundtable
More than 75 Black art lovers gathered last month at AAMARP, the African American Master Artists-in-Residency Program, for an artist roundtable with the theme, “Black Art in Afro-Centric Spaces,” the second in the Banner [Virtual] Art Gallery Roundtable series.

BAMS Fest
Boston Art & Music Soul Festival (BAMS Fest), the only Boston music festival designed to specifically highlight Black and brown artists, is back this month with a lineup of national and local names featuring BJ the Chicago Kid, Rapsody, Xavier Omär, Elle Varner and many more.

Game changer
‘Challengers’ boosts interest in tennis and Black female representation in the sport

‘Sacred Jazz’ series will commemorate legendary drummer Max Roach
When Yoron Israel began pursuing a career as a professional drummer, he looked to trailblazing musician, composer and bandleader Max Roach for inspiration. Born in 1924, Roach was one of the pioneers of bebop, the fast-tempo jazz style that emerged in the 1940s.

RCC Center for Economic and Social Justice groundbreaking
(From left) Thomas Pappas, president, Cape Cod Builders; Kibebe Gizaw, president, McMillan-Stewart Foundation; Zac Rich, chief of program & evaluation at The New Commonwealth Racial Equity & Social Justice Fund; Luciano Ramos, executive director,...

OnyxGroup groundbreaking
Sen. Liz Miranda and OnyxGroup Development COO Shabnam Mashmasarmi with Kevin Powers and real estate developer Kyle Wilton (behind) celebrate the groundbreaking for the Walnut Knoll affordable senior living housing development..

New England Aquarium
African penguin chicks “Althea” and “Bunker” joined the colony on exhibit at the New England Aquarium last week..

NeighborHealth Art of Health Care Gala
Health equity leaders celebrated at NeighborHealth’s Art of Health Care Gala on June 12. Greg Wilmot (left), NeighborHealth president and CEO, and Ryan Boxill (right), NeighborHealth executive vice president and chief operating officer stand with...

Boys & Girls Clubs
Mazzulla (left) visited the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston’s Berkshire Blue Hill Partners Club on Talbot Avenue. He answered questions, took photos and let kids like Warren Carroll hold the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy..

RoxFilm Fest
Lisa Simmons, Roxbury International Film Festival artistic/executive director, welcomes guests to the opening night screening. For more info visit roxfilmfest.com..