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Network members' voices bring good news and share highlights from
around our community.
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This year's theme is CRAFTING OUR LEGACY: Collaborative Action for Love, Liberation and Joy. This is a space where you can connect with resident leaders, organizers, and community-based organizations around the nation and reflect on our collective work promoting structural change.
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Do you have a story of community leadership that you'd like to share with the Vital Village Community? We invite you to submit an abstract for our annual Vital Village Summit Poster Program on October 18th and 19th.
Please complete the abstract submission form by September 30 at 11:59pm EST
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National Suicide Prevention Month is a time to promote suicidal prevention awareness among professionals and community members alike.
#BeThe1To is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s message for this month, to help bring a message of prevention. On the image are some suggestions, as well as linked in the buttons below.
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September Scholar Support Night |
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Boston Breastfeeding Coalition Meeting |
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A Public Town Hall
Wednesday, September 28
5pm - 6:30pm
Racial and ethnic inequities in maternal health continue to persist in the United States, with Black and Native individuals experiencing the worst outcomes, even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors. While many programs and initiatives aim to improve quality of care in the health system and enhance social support in the community, racism and lack of coordination continue to thwart equity in maternal health.
Vital Village Network, in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Ariadne Labs, and with the generous support of he Boston Foundation, has spent the last six months bringing together a design team of community members, public sector organizations, and community-based organizations to build the foundation for a cross-sectoral, community-led coalition. This coalition aims to transform the support structures needed for families to welcome little ones into their lives.
This event is free and open to the public. We will present an update on the work accomplished with the design team over the past six months, including the outputs of multiple community-led design workshops and community advisory board meetings.
Speakers
- Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD, Executive Director, Vital Village Networks (Moderator)
- Danubia Camargos Silva, Early Childhood Program Officer, The Boston Foundation
- Dolores Cox, Community Member, Lactation Consultant, Vital Village Peer Counselor
- Rose Molina, MD, MPH, Core Faculty, Ariadne Labs; OBGYN, The Dimock Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Additional speakers to be announced.
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Mattapan Hugs and Play
10:30am to 12:30pm
Held every other Wednesday (next group September 28th)
Join the Mattapan Family Engagement Network for Mattapan Hugs and Play, a parent/caregiver and child playgroup for infants and toddlers! Included will be circle time, story time, independent play, as well as education about child development for parents and caregivers.
Please email hugsandplay@gmail.com with any questions.
This event is held at the Mattapan Public Library at 1350 Blue Hill Ave, Mattapan MA 02126
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Tuesday, September 27th 2022
12 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Our "Equity & You" series this year explores how each of us can personally be an agent for change right where we are. We invite you to join this month's virtual town hall, Raising Anti-Racist Children, where we will discuss developmentally appropriate strategies for teaching children about racism, empowering them with tools to recognize and call it out no matter their age, and intentionally creating opportunities to build, exercise and support inclusivity and equity in their environments.
The program will include: A conversation between Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Dr. Eduardo Ochoa Jr. on Dr. Kendi's newest book, How to Raise an Antiracist and an opportunity to learn about strategies and tools for engaging children in antiracism with Tanya Nixon Silberg. Register below today!
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Free Wi-Fi Routers Available from the Boston Public Library
The Office of Housing Stability is partnering with the Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics and the Boston Public Library (BPL) to provide residents who need internet service with a free wi-fi router. BPL will also be able to provide free Chromebooks when funding is allocated.
To sign up, you will need to follow the instructions below:
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You will need an active and accessible email account. If you do not have an email account, you can sign up for a free Gmail account at www.gmail.com.
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You will need a Boston Public Library card number. If you do not have a BPL card/number, you may sign up for an e-card at bpl.org/ecard.
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Once you have your email and library card, go to bpl.org/long-term-lending to complete the request for a router and/or Chromebook.
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Pick up your router at the Office of Housing Stability, located at 43 Hawkins Street. Call (617) 635-0328 or email OHSIntake@boston.gov for more information.
If you do not have access to a device to complete the above steps, you may use a computer at a Boston Public Library.
The routers will have free connectivity at least until the end of June 2023 and are anticipated for longer. Act quickly! These devices are limited in number! After receiving devices, sign up for free computer and technology classes at www.bpl.org/computer-classes or call (617) 859-2323.
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JOBS:
This position will bring the voice of those with lived child welfare experience into program planning and implementation to improve outcomes for the children and families engaged in the Safe Babies Court TeamTM (SBCT) approach. If you are a parent with lived-experience in child welfare and are interested in being a parent leader, please complete this Interest Form.
TSNE (tsne.org) is working to build a more just, equitable society of belonging. TSNE does this by providing capacity building services, consulting and training services, and operational support to hundreds of nonprofits, foundations, community-based groups, and others working for social change. As part of its work, TSNE is hiring for a cohort learning program manager. The starting salary is 85K and TSNE is looking to hire as soon as possible. Apply here!
Accompany Doula Care is looking for an Executive Director. This position is a full-time exempt employee, who is committed to addressing inequities in birth work and has the ability to support our diverse, dynamic, and growing organization. If you have a background in development and nonprofit management, an interest in working in a non-profit start-up environment, and a passion for maternal and child health or public health, we would like to meet you! Learn more here.
VOLUNTEER:
Leah Wing (Co-Founder of Social Justice Mediation Program/ UMass) is developing the Kapok app to improve efficiency and communication among medical responders working in disaster situations. Leah is looking to bring on a Program Manager (5-6 hrs per week) and a Mobile App Developer (5-10 hrs per week) who can help finalize and deploy the app.
Program Managers will lead a team of student developers and are required to have programming knowledge with Flutter and either Javascript, Java, Python, C or C++ Node.js.
Program Developers are required to have experience with Flutter and Dart; object-oriented programming languages; programming for Android or iOS; Firebase; and experience with remote data via REST and JSON.
Youth Transitions Task Force
The Youth Transitions Task Force plans to continue the conversation around early college and career alongside our current work on dropout prevention and re-engagement integrations.
Please contact Inanna.Pickering@bostonpic.org if you would like to be added to the calendar invitations for our monthly meetings on Thursdays from 9:00-10:30am.
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The authors write, "In collaboration with Tufts University and Harvard University student interns, we have also developed resources for students, teachers, and community members. These one-pagers offer the contact information of local mental health providers, suggestions for classroom teachers, as well as conversation starters and coping strategies anyone can use to support themselves and one another."
This is one of the pages, which provides tips for teachers on how to support their students' mental health in the classroom.
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Free Adult English Classes for Career & College Readiness
September 2022 - June 2023
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Community Choice Electricity provided by the City of Boston allows residents (renters and homeowners) to opt into 100% clean, renewable electricity through their normal utility provider while paying a lower rate. Similar programs are run through Somerville, Cambridge, Chelsea, and other MA cities.
Eversource is raising the cost of electricity from $0.15 to 0.17 per KwH for Boston residents on July 1. The Community Choice renewable electricity rates are 20-40% lower and are capped through December 2023.
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Find COVID-19 Testing Near You find your nearest testing site, including many with walk-in availability at boston.gov. Regular COVID-19 testing, both when sick and asymptomatic, can help prevent community spread of the virus, so we appreciate you taking advantage of these opportunities!
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For Children and Caregivers:
HandholdMA.org, is a family friendly website designed for parents of school-aged children in Massachusetts who are worried about their child’s mental health. Is your kid just being a kid, or is their behavior something to worry about? If so, what are the next steps you can take? HandHold will help you figure that out.
Sitters for Scholars, our volunteers are prepared to provide high-quality babysitting in person for children while parents pursue their education. To maintain the safest environment, both sitters and parents will be required to be vaccinated and boosted, and all individuals, including children two years and up, will also be required to wear a mask. You can sign up here, or see more information here.
Find your ideal therapist of color and boost your wellness journey with content written by and for people of color.
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Public transportation can reduce several health threats such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease by decreasing traffic crashes and air pollution, and improving access to medical care, healthy food, vital services, employment, and social connection. Limiting access to public transportation harms older adults, individuals with disabilities, commuters, younger adults, and low-income workers.
Many states and local governments have already taken important steps to improve better public transportation, public health goals, addressing issues such as access, convenience, and cost of transit between access to transportation and poverty.
Transportation was the second highest expense of American households in 2020, behind housing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American spends over 15% of their budgets on transportation costs. These are just some of the reasons that over 100 cities around the world, including Kansas City, MO and Lawrence, MA, have begun to make public transportation free.
Transportation activists have used data to advocate for improved reliability of MBTA services in Boston neighborhoods, especially with recent high profile Orange line closures and safety concerns on the Green Line. Transit Matters’ data dashboard shows travel time spent at stations (dwell time) or time between trains (headways) and when is the most slow time that is longer than benchmark.
If you want to get more involved with transportation equity work in the Village, please join the Community Data Workgroup and email Milan.Chuttani@bmc.org.
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The UPDATED Abundance Boston Food Access App 3.0.2 is now available! Abundance empowers Boston residents to easily access affordable, high-quality food resources. Download the FREE app today!
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The COVID-19 Resource Map now has updated addresses and hours of over 90 locations in Boston currently provide free breakfast, lunch or dinner for youth, and 10 free community fridges open to the public 24/7.
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CONtexts aims to promote positive outcomes between caregivers and children by sharing weekly resources through a FREE text service and interactive resource sharing map. These resources are ideal for anyone working with or caregivers of children ages 0-5.
To subscribe, text KIDS to 844-806-0616
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Our Mission
Vital Village is a network of residents and agencies committed to maximizing child, family, and community wellbeing.
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