Somerville has long been a city of immigrants and this year one of the key groups in the city working to support that community is celebrating is 25th anniversary. The Welcome Project was started in the late 1980s to aid in … Continue reading
Groundwork Somerville may be part of a national organization, but the work it does is hyper-local. From farming in empty parking lots and hiring local kids to maintain those farms to planting gardens at the city’s schools and stocking the Somerville … Continue reading
Forty years ago, four women in Somerville opened their homes as safe houses for women fleeing domestic violence. In doing so, they created RESPOND Inc., the first domestic violence agency in New England. Four decades later, RESPOND is now the … Continue reading
When Mark Alston-Follansbee first moved to Boston nearly 30 years ago, he knew little about homelessness. After realizing that many of the people who asked him for money were veterans like himself, Alston-Follansbee began volunteering and eventually working for local governments … Continue reading
It’s easy to get wrapped up in our culture’s current obsession with food and forget that many people in our community still go hungry. While most of us can go to the local farmers market or hot new restaurant when … Continue reading
Yoga studios around Somerville kicked off 2014 by hosting special classes where the proceeds went to local nonprofits and time was set aside for community-building. Upward Facing Somerville was created by Chandra Cantor, a yoga teacher and Somerville resident who … Continue reading
Community Cooks has grown immensely since its humble beginnings in Somerville 23 years ago, but its grassroots, direct approach to helping the hungry hasn’t changed a bit. What started as a few neighbors cooking hot meals for the Somerville Homeless … Continue reading
Many of us have great intentions about volunteering or giving back to the community, but ultimately feel stretched too thin to make a real difference. Somerville resident and yoga instructor Chandra Cantor is out to change all that with Upward … Continue reading
The Boys & Girls Club of Middlesex County is celebrating its 40th year as an organization in 2013, and while it now serves several communities in the area, the Club’s roots are in Somerville. The Somerville Boys Club opened its … Continue reading
Somerville may only take up about four square miles, but within its borders, you can eat Ethiopian ingera bread, Turkish stuffed grape leaves and Portuguese linguica sausage. Dozens of Somerville’s many excellent restaurants serve food rooted in places thousands of … Continue reading
