We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
Eric Cora has been working for Community Action Pioneer Valley as the Program Manager of their Family Center in Greenfield for the past three years. Most of his duties involves developing and implementing community based programs for families and youth. Eric takes pride in the strength-based & family-centered approach he and his team use to work together with families.
When Eric completed his Social Work degree at Elms College, he was interested in two things: business and social work. When he learned about the opportunity at the Family Center in Greenfield, he knew this is where his professional future would take him. Eric has supported efforts that strengthen families and communities by setting a collaborative tone to build trust between systems of care and community members.
In his spare time, Eric enjoys reading sci-fi novels and cooking. He lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts with his wife Sadie, daughter Alice, and their pet Star the cat.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
Press Release: Make-It Springfield Names Roberta Wilmore as First Executive Director
SPRINGFIELD, MA, June 10, 2020 — Make-It Springfield, the downtown Springfield community makerspace, announced that it has hired Roberta Wilmore as its first Executive Director. Wilmore joins an already growing staff and will lead the organization into its next phase of growth, including a transition to a larger space.
“Roberta joins us with decades of experience in nonprofits, commercial real estate, creative entrepreneurship, and the equity and inclusion work that is so fundamental to our mission. Make-It will certainly benefit from Roberta’s veteran leadership, but Springfield at-large will benefit as well,” said Laura Masulis, co-founder of the makerspace.
Specifically, Wilmore’s consulting and training practice specializes in conflict management, board development, employee management, transition planning, and social justice. She has served as a trusted advisor, executive coach, and Board member for dozens of nonprofit organizations throughout the region, ranging from creative arts organizations, to academic institutions and philanthropic organizations. Additionally, in 2001, Wilmore founded the Children’s Equestrian Center, connecting under-served families and children of color to the world of equestrian sports.
“The search committee was especially impressed by Roberta’s deliberate and thoughtful approach to leadership, team-building and partnerships. We believe Roberta will lead Make-It Springfield forward and skillfully navigate the COVID crisis and any other challenges we might face in the future,” said Michael DiPasquale, another co-founder.
Wilmore said, “It is incredibly exciting to see that Make-It Springfield has outgrown its original location. I am honored to join them and to be part of growing this resource for the benefit of the city and its residents.”
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
Ray Berry is the founder of White Lion Brewing Company in Springfield. He was one of the recipients of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts – Massachusetts Next Century Award for 2021. He is a member of the first class of Leadership Pioneer Valley 2011-2012.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
‘I Wanted To Be On Land’: A Conversation With Urban Farmer Kafi Dixon
Kafi Dixon is a farmer in Boston. A “backhoe-operating, tractor-driving, Hi-Lo-shifting, plant-seed-in-the-ground farmer,” as she puts it.
Dixon founded the Common Good Cooperative, an urban farm in Dorchester where women of color learn about agriculture, entrepreneurship, food sovereignty, and access to green space. Last year, during the pandemic, Dixon’s cooperative grew 500 pounds of produce and donated it to local families and senior living facilities.
Dixon and her work are featured in a new documentary “A Reckoning in Boston,” which premieres in New England on May 7. WBUR spoke with Dixon about the challenges of being a Black farmer, inequity in Boston and the joy of tinkering. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Last year during the pandemic, it was like everyone suddenly discovered the value of green space. But you were way ahead of that game; how did you get started in urban farming?
I started this back in 2015, based on what I knew the women in my community were going through — the women I grew up with in Upham’s Corner and Mattapan and Dorchester.
All of the women I’ve grown up with have lost either sons or their children’s fathers or brothers. And you know, we understood the violence of the city and just continued to exist in it.
But I knew that there were other spaces that were much more peaceful, and I had seen those places, lived on them, worked on them. I had benefited from healthy space and healthy conversations. And what better way to integrate women into self-designed green space that is for their health — mental and physical — than to found an urban farm?
How do you actually start an urban farm in Boston?
You create a cooperative. You know, you may not have the power and privilege of affluent networks, so one of the ways to address the resources that are missing is to come together as the many.
I just realized that a lot of communities around this country — and oddly here in Boston, too — they were designing for rather than with. And you realize that there is not just an inequality, but there’s an inequity in that design.
As much as the city and this region claims to be progressive — or likes to see themselves as progressive — there are still a lot of spaces that are thought of as spaces welcoming to Black women, that by design are not.
Can you give me an example?
Agriculture. Most of those spaces are not reflective of Black women enough for Black women to feel like they’re safe space for them to integrate into. Just look at the city of Boston, right? We can look at whether or not this is the first urban farm founded by a woman of color. Right? We can interrogate that question. We can interrogate how many women of color contractors there are. Right? We can interrogate how many women of color, especially African American women, are homeowners in the city. Right? We can look at diversity in upper management in some of the largest fiber 501(c)(3)’s in Boston. We can look at women of color and startup industries in the city of Boston, and look at the diminishing numbers of women who are in the startup field.
The census says that the African American community is the only demographic that’s being lost in the city of Boston. That’s the federal government saying that there are a people, for whatever reason, that are not existing as a culture in a professed progressive city.
If we are branching out into different spaces, into different sectors, and we don’t have a reflection of our community that’s in those spaces, then you can perceive that as an unwelcoming space. I’m fighting to be in a space that’s no longer integrated for Black women.
Have you always had a knack for farming and growing things?
I wish! I’m a woman with little standard academic education — maybe the eighth grade was the highest grade I completed — which was the reason I became a small business entrepreneur very early. It was because it didn’t require a high school diploma. Right? And nobody questioned my adequacy as far as education.
And I decided to go work on other people’s farms from upstate New York to Virginia to Mississippi. I was working in a very blue collar job, so I would save up my money and I would leave for a month and go work on farms. And then I went through rural farm training and certification.
Kafi Dixon on her Boston farm. (Courtesy Lost Nation Pictures)
Wait, you saved up your money and took all your vacation time to work on farms? Most people would save up for, you know, a cruise.
Or a really nice car?
Right! So what drove you spend all your free time working on farms?
I had just decided that I wanted to be on land. And I knew how to grow food. I had run produce markets, but I’d always purchased from somebody else. So who am I not to be able to go grow my own food and sell into markets? So this was, in my mind, my retirement plan.
So, yes, it was something I had to save up for because all business enterprises require a little bit of research — I wanted to make sure that as I was thinking about investing in land that it wasn’t a fantasy, that it was something that I felt capable to do.
How did you finally make the transition to professional farmer?
There’s no such thing as a professional farmer! You can ask any farmer, there’s no such thing.
And I say that because there’s still this burden that I, as a Black woman, carry around, like, “what experience do you have as a farmer?” And that’s used to marginalize people, like, “I don’t think she can do it.” But then we romanticize the failing farming couple, right? The greenhorns of the world, who are out there on land and are not able to survive. Because without question, it was the space and not any question about their aptitude.
But when Black women or men of color — especially here in the Northeast, which is weird — talk about moving into agricultural enterprises we’re put to a test that most people aren’t put through when they decide to, you know, quit graduate school at Harvard and to take a loan out and buy land somewhere in New Hampshire.
What do you like best about faming?
One of the things that attracts me to agriculture — actually a lot of farmers don’t admit this — but they are low-key tinkerers. Farming and agriculture requires you to be constantly problem-solving. And it’s easier to solve the problem of a tomato hornworm than affordable housing, or Section 8. It’s easier to purchase a high quality packet of nematodes to deal with certain beetles that attack your crops. It’s easier to get your soil tested and to get into the science of weed reduction and land remediation — right? — than it is to look at some of the socially systemic problems that are generational. So, yeah, thinking about agriculture, you know, I’m up for it. It’s easier than the other side of this.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
Travis Coe (He/Him/His) has been working with Double Edge Theatre since 2016. He has taken on several roles including actor, solo performer, co-creator, video director, and marketing. Coe pushes his desires and dreams forward unapologetically through work that speaks to his identity, his culture, and his perspective as the youngest member of the DE Ensemble. He created and performed the role of the Hyena in Leonora, la maga y la maestra and premiered his solo performance SUGA in 2019. He also performed in DE’s Fall Spectacle Leonora’s World, and in DE’s recent Summer Spectacles. In addition to directing DE’s documentary filmmaking, he is the head of enrollments and co-leader of Art Justice at DE.
Touring credits include United States of Amnesia (ROOM l 916: NEU/NOW Festival 2015: Amsterdam), Surrounded (Round Room Image: USA/Canada 2014 Tour) and Surrounded 2.0 (Round Room Image: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland & Prague Quadrennial 2015). Coe is a Co-Founder of Round Room Image and received his BA in Acting at Columbia College Chicago.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
By Kerri Lee Alexander, NWHM Fellow | 2018-2019
As a doctor, engineer, and NASA astronaut, Mae Jemison has always reached for the stars. In 1992, Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space. She has also written several books and appeared on many television programs including an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In addition to her many awards, Jemison has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.
Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama. The youngest of three children, her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father was a maintenance supervisor. A few years after she was born, Jemison and her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. In addition to her love for dance, Jemison knew that she wanted to study science at a very young age. Jemison grew up watching the Apollo airings on TV, but she was often upset that there were no female astronauts. However, Jemison was inspired by African American actress Nichelle Nichols who played Lieutenant Uhura on the Star Trek television show. Jemison was determined to one day travel in space. In 1973, she graduated from Morgan Park High School when she was 16 years old. Once she graduated, Jemison left Chicago to attend Stanford University in California.
As one of the only African American students in her class, Jemison experienced racial discrimination in school. She later served as president of the Black Student Union and choreographed a performing arts production called Out of the Shadows about the African American experience. Jemison graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and African-American studies. After graduating from Stanford University, Jemison attended Cornell Medical School. While in medical school, she traveled to Cuba to lead a study for the American Medical Student Association. She also worked at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. Jemison graduated from Cornell with a Doctorate in Medicine in 1981. Shortly after her graduation, she became an intern at the Los Angeles County Medical Center, and then went on to practice general medicine. Fluent in Russian, Japanese and Swahili, Jemison joined the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a medical officer for two years in Africa.
After working with the Peace Corps, Jemison opened a private practice as a doctor. However, once Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, Jemison decided to apply to the astronaut program at NASA. She applied in 1985, but after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA took a break from accepting new people. However, Jemison applied again in 1987 and was one of the 15 people chosen out of over 2,000 applications. She was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 12, which was the first group chosen after the Challenger explosion. After being selected, Jemison trained with NASA and worked on projects at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. She received her first mission on September 28, 1989 when she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a Mission Specialist. On September 12, 1992 Jemison and six other astronauts went into space on the space shuttle Endeavor. This voyage made Jemison the first African American woman in space. The team made 127 orbits around the Earth and returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 1992.
Jemison left NASA in 1993 after serving as an astronaut for six years in total. She started The Jemison Group, a consulting company that encourages science, technology, and social change. She also began teaching environmental studies at Dartmouth College and directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. After hearing that she was a fan of the Star Trek television show, actor LeVar Burton asked Jemison to appear in an episode. Jemison agreed and became the first real astronaut to be on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She played Lieutenant Palmer in the episode, “Second Chances.” In 1994, Jemison created an international space camp for students 12-16 years old called The Earth We Share (TEWS). She also created a nonprofit organization called the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. Jemison later accepted a position as the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University in 1999. She went on to write her first book in 2001, Find Where the Wind Goes, which was a children’s book about her life.
Currently, Jemison is leading the 100 Year Starship project through the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This project works to make sure human space travel to another star is possible within the next 100 years. She also serves on the Board of Directors for many organizations including; the Kimberly-Clark Corp., Scholastic, Inc., Valspar Corp., Morehouse College, Texas Medical Center, Texas State Product Development and Small Business Incubator, Greater Houston Partnership Disaster Planning and Recovery Task Force, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Jemison is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, and has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, National Medical Association Hall of Fame and Texas Science Hall of Fame. She has received multiple awards and honorary degrees including the National Organization for Women’s Intrepid Award and the Kilby Science Award. She currently lives in Houston, Texas.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
Lisa Markland is a graduate of Northeastern University, where she achieved a BS in Human Services. A former collegiate athlete at Northeastern, she competed in track and field and is a two time American East Champion, former New England Champion, and was a national ranked competitor.
Markland used her bachelor’s degree to work at the state level for the Department of Social Services as a social worker for several years. She then spent time as program coordinator for Roca’s Youth Star program, which helps disenfranchised young adults achieve their GED, enroll in community college, and gain life skills to function as productive citizens of society.
Lisa has spent 15 years working in the social justice arena as a facilitator for the Center for the Study of Sports in Society’s nationally accredited program Mentor’s in Violence Prevention (MVP). In June of 2016, Lisa came on the CSSS team full time as an Assistant Director of Training.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
D. Sean Dukes
Phoenixville, PA — Delmar Sean Dukes lived with reckless abandon and sucked all the juice out of life until his departure from this world on January 10, 2022. Born October 13, 1966 at Walson Army Hospital on Fort Dix, NJ, he was the competitive and over-achieving athlete-scholar in his warrior military (Air Force) family.
He is predeceased by his father, Paul E. Dukes. At his father’s memorial service he told the mourners, “Hey Dad, when I grow up, I want to be just like you. In a world where people say, ‘I don’t want to be anyone’s role model and would I still be your hero, if I never played sports?’ he told us all, “Don’t worry Charles [Barkley] and Mike [Michael Jordan], you never were, my Dad is.”
True to his word, Sean grew up to be like his Dad, his role model and hero, guided by his father’s philosophy:
Make no promises you can’t keep.
If you believe in something; live it.
Never do anything you’ll regret.
Apologize when you mess up.
Death walked with Sean through the course of his young adult life and Death was a constant companion who beat in his chest. Sean received his first heart transplant in 1986 and was able to live his first person singular, active voice, action verb life – well beyond age 19. He found his true love, had children, and he shared his life because someone had given him the gift of a heart. He was the Tin Man rooted with courage through his heart; Sean cherished life through his manner and BEing.
We are forever grateful to the family who gifted their son’s heart that beat steadfastly on until 2009, when Sean received his second heart transplant – another gift of life. The donors have lived on through Sean’s life, works, and deeds.
He continued to live his full life and he leaves behind his devoted wife of 26 years, Allison Barnett Dukes, and the lights of his life: his son, Cameron P. Dukes (25) and daughter, Avery L. Dukes (23). He also leaves behind his dear mother, Valerie J. Brooks, also known in her community as “Miss Val” and the “Flower Lady” (Shelburne, MA) and his Persistent, Charming, and Trickster sister, Cheryl L. Dukes, (Buckland, MA).
Sean lived for his family. Although his career kept him on the road quite often, he was happiest on the couch in his Dad jeans, watching a movie with his family. He put his family first and performed small acts of love each and every day. He was known to leave sweet notes for Allison in her car and on her bathroom mirror; he spent 2 summers with blue toenails, as Avery loved to polish them when she was a little girl. He loved to talk sports, cars, stocks, and work with Cameron. Sean was proud to coach Cameron’s various soccer teams over the years and loved being a “horse dad” for Avery. He delighted in traveling around the country to cheer her on at horse shows. He also supported Allison in all new endeavors she took on, but by far his proudest moments were watching Cameron graduate from the University of Oregon in 2018 and Avery graduate from the University of Southern California in 2021.
Sean received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and was a proud MIT Sloan Fellow, Class of 2005, where he received his MBA. Sean dedicated 25 years of his career working for Lockheed Martin, where he was a respected colleague and leader. Until 2014, he served as Director – A2100 Spacecraft Modernization Effort, Commercial Ventures, in Newtown, Pennsylvania and then finished his time with LM as Director of Quality & Mission Success, Integrated Fighter Group, in Fort Worth, Texas. He took such pride in building satellites and fighter jets throughout those years and loved pointing to a satellite, jet or tank and telling the kids “I made that.”
Upon his return to Pennsylvania, Sean served as Vice President of Performance Excellence for The Triumph Group in Berwyn, and worked most recently as the Vice President of Operational Excellence for the Platforms and Services sector at BAE Systems. Each of these roles were more than jobs for him; his work was his true passion and he made so many wonderful friends over the years. His hard work and talent were rewarded often; in 1999 he was awarded a Black Engineer of the Year STEM award (1 of 27 professionals recognized nationally for outstanding technical achievement), as well as many Lockheed Martin awards throughout the years. Upon learning of his passing, Sean’s colleagues described him as a “quiet, insightful leader”; “a true leader, manager and friend”; a leader who “made us better.”
Sean’s other passion in life was organ and tissue donation. Affectionately known as the “Tin Man”, Sean received the gift of life in the form of two heart transplants. He received his first in 1986, while a college student, and his second came in 2009. He was strong and stubborn, returning to work afterwards without missing a beat. He was a medal-winning athlete at the National Transplant Olympics in 1991, 1992 and 1994, but was a superstar in all aspects of life. He took great pride in being a part of the Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia, serving as the Vice Chair of the Gift of Life Governing and Medical Advisory Board and the Chair of the Investment Committee on the Board of Directors. Upon his death, he gave the ultimate gift of his corneas, giving 2 people the gift of sight.
Sean was a friend to anyone he met. You could be sure he was the smartest person in any room, but he was humble and unassuming. Usually so calm and serious that when he laughed, it just lit up the room. Sean would stop to help anyone at any time and was a particularly proud supporter of our military. He once gave up his seat in an airplane’s first class so an active Marine could have it in his place; that man gave Sean his Purple heart as a token of gratitude, and Sean cherished it. He was a proud donor to the Bob Woodruff Foundation and other non-profit organizations supporting the military.
There are simply too many stories of kindness and generosity to list. His friends have described him as “a gentle man with a kind heart”; “a true gentleman”; “a genuine person who cared about everyone”; “a legend”; and simply, “The Man.”
In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations may be made in Sean’s memory to Gift of Life Family House, 401 Callowhill St., Philadelphia, PA 19123 or online at www.GiftofLifeFamilyHouse.org
All arrangements are being handled by the R. Strunk Funeral Home. Condolences to his mother, Valerie J. Brooks can be sent to POB 173 Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. Online condolences to his family and a link to Gift of Life can be found at www.rstrunkfuneralhome.com.
It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death — ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us. (James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time) Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Jan. 26, 2022.
We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!
The prolific and trailblazing author, poet, feminist, cultural critic and professor bell hooks died Wednesday December 15 at age 69. Her death was first announced by her niece, Ebony Motley, who said that she had died at home surrounded by family and friends. No cause of death was reported, but Berea College in Kentucky, where hooks had taught since 2004, said in a news release that she had died after an extended illness.
Preferring to spell her name with no capital letters as a way of de-emphasizing her individual identity, bell hooks was born Gloria Jean Watkins as the fourth of seven children in Hopkinsville, Ky., on Sept. 25, 1952. Her pen name was a tribute to her maternal great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks.
She attended segregated schools in her native Christian County, Ky., before earning her undergraduate degree at Stanford University in California, a master’s degree in English at the University of Wisconsin and a doctorate in literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She taught at Stanford University, Yale University, Oberlin College in Ohio and the City College of New York before returning to Kentucky to teach at Berea College, which now houses the bell hooks center.
The author of more than three dozen wide-ranging books, hooks published her first title, the poetry collection And There We Wept, in 1978. Her influential book Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism followed in 1981. Three years later, her Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center explored and criticized the feminist movement’s propensity to center and privilege white women’s experiences.
Frequently, hooks’ work addressed the deep intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality and geographic place. She wrote about her native Appalachia and growing up there as a Black girl in the critical-essay collection Belonging: A Culture of Place and in the poetry collection Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place.
In a 2000 interview with All Things Considered, hooks spoke about the life-changing power of love — that is, the act of loving and how love is far broader than romantic sentiment. “I’m talking about a love that is transformative, that challenges us in both our private and our civic lives,” she said. “I’m so moved often when I think of the civil rights movement, because I see it as a great movement for social justice that was rooted in love and that politicized the notion of love, that said: Real love will change you.”
She went on: “Everywhere I go, people want to feel more connected. They want to feel more connected to their neighbors. They want to feel more connected to the world. And when we learn that through love we can have that connection, we can see the stranger as ourselves. And I think that it would be absolutely fantastic to have that sense of ‘Let’s return to kind of a utopian focus on love, not unlike the sort of hippie focus on love.’ Because I always say to people, you know, the ’60s’ focus on love had its stupid sentimental dimensions, but then it had these life-transforming dimensions. When I think of the love of justice that led three young people, two Jews and one African American Christian, to go to the South and fight for justice and give their lives — Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner — I think that’s a quality of love that’s awesome. … I tell this to young people, you know, that we can love in a deep and profound way that transforms the political world in which we live in.”
