Terry Alves-Hunter is a Cape Cod local, mother to one, and dedicated community advocate for racial trauma training in the Falmouth Public School system. 

After adopting her son from foster care, Terry enrolled him in the Massachusetts public schools. Within this school system, her son was racially attacked, harassed, and marginalized. Years later, in the Falmouth Public Schools, the racial discrimination continued. She took it upon herself to meet with the administration, and explain that bullying and racial discrimination are separate issues, and this presence of racial prejudice needed to be addressed. She saw the problem of racial trauma in the school system, and got to work to make a difference. 

In December of 2022, Nieisha Deed was awarded the Vital Village Innovation Award for her pioneering work for black mental health in Boston and unfaltering drive to improve the community’s well being.

Nieisha Deed is a Boston native, educated at Howard University, with over fifteen years of experience as a corporate accounting professional. Due to her personal and familial struggles with mental health, including living with bipolar disorder and surviving a suicide attempt in 2017, Nieisha decided a change was due. She redirected her skills and drive to helping black Bostonians with their mental health and wellbeing. In September of 2021, born out of her passion to help others, Nieisha launched PureSpark.

In December of 2022, Dominique Bellegarde was awarded the Servant Leadership Award for her unwavering and exceptional service to the Boston community to promote family wellbeing. 

Miss Dominique Bellegarde is one of four daughters to Haitian immigrants who came to America “to have a better life.” Being raised in Boston surrounded by Haitian culture and speaking Haitian Creole, Dominique developed a nurturing, supportive role within her family and local community. She tutored her cousins, worked as a nanny, became a lifeguard, and has always focused on the wellbeing of children and families, even as a child herself. And she not only fell into a role of service, but has always wanted to serve others, as exemplified by her childhood aspiration to become a teacher or a nurse.

Miss Dominique Bellegarde is inspired by her role as a mother to be an example for her children. She is a person of her word, making things happen using her send of purpose and people skills to continually serve others. She said she doesn't want her aspirations to die with her, but to leave behind a legacy of open love.

In December of 2022 Maria McKnight was awarded the Unsung Hero Award for her exceptional service to the Boston community to promote child and family wellbeing. 

Maria McKnight is a Boston native, mother, and former corporate worker turned curator of joy. She had a hobby of making art pieces such as fairy gardens in public parks. This passion grew during the peak of Covid due to having more time stuck inside and a child with severe anxiety who found peace and joy working with his mother to create these nuggets of joy and inspiration for the community. During this time, Maria transitioned to focus full-time on her organization 2 Birds No Stones where she organizes and develops public art installations, education stations, community sensory playdates, healing sessions, and more. Maria has set up mini outdoor yoga studios and violin play stations for locals to come and enjoy, learn, and heal. She has developed wellness trees full of free seed packets with information pamphlets on agriculture, recipes, and SNAP application instructions. She has transformed parks to host community-wide sensory playdates to bring together families with children on the autism spectrum. Where we might see a simple tree stump, Maria sees an opportunity to create something new to bring the community together around her beacons of joy. With her focus on community harmony, collective growth, and drawing people to the outdoors, Maria is using her creative passions and leadership skills to improve the Boston community.

Being a librarian these days goes beyond wandering among stocked books and beyond the library walls. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Children's Librarians across Boston Public Library neighborhood branches have dedicated their time and efforts to creating an outlet for children and families to come together for book readings, songs and activities focused on Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) with Children's Mental Health Storytimes.