Communities That Care Coalition
Promoting health, well-being, and equity among young people in Franklin County and the North Quabbin
I currently work as a Story Producer for the KQED-affiliated podcast Snap Judgment. And in 2024, I served as a Series Producer for the Snap/Lemonada Media podcast Mind Your Own, hosted by Lupita Nyong’o.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nia_DaCosta
Nia DaCosta (born November 8, 1989) is an American filmmaker. She rose to prominence when she made her feature-length debut as a writer and director with the crime thriller film Little Woods (2018), winning the Nora Ephron Prize for Female Filmmakers at the Tribeca Film Festival.
After working on other projects, most notably directing two episodes of the British thriller series Top Boy in 2019, DaCosta became the first black female director to debut at No. 1 at the U.S. box office for the weekend opening of the horror film Candyman (2021). She then became the first black woman to direct a Marvel Comics film with The Marvels (2023), which, despite being a box-office bomb, became the highest-grossing film directed by a black woman.
https://dancemagazine.com/braylon-browner/#gsc.tab=0
Since finishing in the Top 8 of “So You Think You Can Dance” Season 18, Braylon Browner has continued to carve out a dynamic presence both on and off the stage. Currently a sophomore at University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, he’s balancing teaching opportunities at conventions and studios across the country with a growing online fanbase. His improvisational videos, often filmed in Kaufman’s sun-drenched studios, have become viral highlights on Instagram and TikTok. “People message me all the time to say how healing my videos have been for them,” Browner says. “I think they’re drawn to the authenticity of it.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artis_Stevens
Artis Stevens is an American executive and the president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and chief marketing officer at the National 4-H Council.
https://worldlisteningpost.com/2020/05/19/habib-koite-kharifa
If you seek wisdom in entertainment it’s useful to look beyond the market driven universe. A good place to start is with Habib Koité, the Malian singer-songwriter, born into a griot family of 17 siblings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Koit%C3%A9
Habib Koité (Bambara: ߤߊߓߌߓ ߞߎߥߊߕߍ, romanized: Habib Kuwatɛ, born 1958 in Thiès, Senegal) is a Senegalian-born Malian musician, singer, songwriter and griot based in Mali. His band, Bamada, was a supergroup of West African musicians, which included Kélétigui Diabaté on balafon.[1]
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/27/nx-s1-5587549/jack-dejohnette-obituary
Jack DeJohnette, one of the most daring and dynamic jazz drummers of the last 60 years, with a loose-limbed yet exacting beat that propelled a limitless range of adventurous music, died on Sunday October 26 at HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston, N.Y. He was 83.
DeJohnette had a singular voice at the drums: earthy and elastic, instantly recognizable. Rather than focus the articulation of tempo on his ride cymbal, he often distributed his emphasis around the drum set. He adapted this flowing approach from modern jazz innovators like Roy Haynes as well as avant-garde pioneers like Rashied Ali, devising what he called a multidirectional style.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette (August 9, 1942 – October 26, 2025) was an American jazz drummer, pianist and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, Alice Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, and John Scofield, DeJohnette was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2007.[1] He won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for six others.[2] The Times said that as a drummer “few could rival his virtuosity or his dynamism”.[3] He recorded more than 35 albums under his own name as a band leader.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_(rapper)
David Orobosa Michael Omoregie (born 5 June 1998), known professionally as Dave or Santan Dave, is a British rapper and actor. He is known for his socially conscious lyricism and wordplay. Dave released his debut extended play Six Paths in 2016, after the release of several successful singles including the grime song “Thiago Silva” (with AJ Tracey). That same year, Canadian rapper Drake premiered a remix of Dave’s song “Wanna Know” on the former’s OVO Sound Radio. Dave released his second EP Game Over in 2017. In 2018, his political song “Question Time”, which directed criticism towards the British government, won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song. Released that same year, his single “Funky Friday” (featuring Fredo), became his first number-one song on the UK singles chart and received triple platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5587831/dave-boy-who-played-the-harp-review
Of all the epic heroes to be namechecked in hip-hop lyrics, few are invoked more often than the shepherd David. The appeal of the Old Testament figure who conquered Jerusalem and felled Goliath could scarcely be more obvious: Rappers love warriors and kings, and he is both. He rose from the runt of the litter, faced long odds, silenced his haters and toppled a behemoth, literally becoming the stuff of legend. “If David could go against Goliath with a stone / I could go at Nas and Jigga both for the throne,” 50 Cent once rapped. David is not just an underdog for the ages — perhaps the underdog — but a symbol of faith moving the immovable object out of one’s path. And yet, there is much more to the Bethlemite’s character than giant-killing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915[1] – April 2, 2012)[3][4] was an American and Mexican sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience in the 20th century, which often focused on the female experience. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C., to parents working in education, and was the grandchild of formerly enslaved people. It was difficult for a black woman then to pursue a career as a working artist. Catlett devoted much of her career to teaching. However, a fellowship awarded to her in 1946 allowed her to travel to Mexico City, where she settled and worked with the Taller de Gráfica Popular for twenty years and became head of the sculpture department for the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. In the 1950s, her main means of artistic expression shifted from print to sculpture, though she never gave up the former.[citation need
https://www.nctm.org/president
Latrenda Knighten is President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), an international mathematics education organization with more than 25,000 members. She has been an educator for more than 30 years and recently retired as Mathematics Curriculum Supervisor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has been a classroom teacher, an elementary science specialist, an elementary mathematics coach, a district instructional coach, and a mathematics content trainer.
Everett Kelley is the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. He began his first term of service as national president in February 2020, was elected to another term during the 42nd National Convention in June 2022, and was reelected during the 43rd National Convention in August 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Kelley_(unionist)
Everett B. Kelley is an American labor union leader and president of the American Federation of Government Employees since 2020.
Born in Goodwater, Alabama, Kelley was educated at Sylacauga High School, then joined the United States Army, serving for three years, and then for a further eight in the reserve. After leaving the Army, he studied at Central Alabama Community College, Selma University, and then at Rushing Springs School of Theology. He then became a professor at Rushing Springs, and also at the Birmingham-Easonian Baptist Bible College. He became senior pastor at the St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lincoln, Alabama, serving for 31 years.[1][2]