Communities That Care Coalition
Promoting health, well-being, and equity among young people in Franklin County and the North Quabbin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunde_Adebimpe
Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe (pronunciationⓘ; born February 25, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known as a founding member and co-lead vocalist of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio, with whom he has recorded five studio albums. In April 2025, Adebimpe released his debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Yolande_Daniels
J. Yolande Daniels (born 1962) is an American architect, designer and educator. She is a founding principal of studioSUMO, an architecture firm that speaks to socio-cultural landscapes through design.[2]
Daniels came to find her voice as a black woman, the figure she often found “objectified or negated in the approach to architecture.”[5] The highlights of her earlier works and personal research focus on the critiques on the techniques of power – gender, sexuality and race – and how these social structures shape the built environment in the form of architecture.[citation neede
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesta_G._Procope
Ernesta Gertrude Procope (née Forster) (2 September 1923 – 30 November 2021) was an American investment banker and insurance executive who was the head of the largest insurance agency run by a Black woman.[1] Ernesta Gertrude Forster was born on Feb. 9, 1923, in Brooklyn and was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As a child, she played the piano and performed once at Carnegie Hall.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mama_Thornton
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984),[1] was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B.
The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul described Thornton by saying: “Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on”.[2]
On a trip to Comfort Kitchen, your palate is your passport. Partners Biplaw Rai and Kwasi Kwaa say the restaurant’s global food concept extends beyond the plates. Their goal is to not only tantalate taste buds, but also track the history behind their ingredients and celebrate spices and culture from the African diaspora. Kwaa has been listed as a semifinalist for a James Beard Award under the best chef in the Northeast category.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/nx-s1-5415596/ngugi-wa-thiongo-kenyan-writer-dead
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the Kenyan writer and novelist who critiqued colonial rule as well as the post-colonial Kenyan government, died Wednesday in a hospital in Buford, Georgia. He was 87 years old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Gaynor
Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943),[1][2][3] known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits “I Will Survive” (1978), “Let Me Know (I Have a Right)” (1979), “I Am What I Am” (1983), and her version of “Never Can Say Goodbye” (1974).[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Alexander
Archibald Alphonso Alexander (May 14, 1888 – January 4, 1958) was an American architect and engineer. He was an early African-American graduate of the University of Iowa and the first to graduate from the University of Iowa’s College of Engineering. He was also a governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
KanKouran, a beloved pillar of West African dance in Washington, D.C., returns to Jacob’s Pillow this summer after a thrilling Festival 2024 performance. Founded by Artistic Director Assane Konte and the late Abdou Kounta, the company brings together artists from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean to preserve and promote traditional West African culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Hara
Robert O’Hara (born c. 1970)[1] is an American playwright and director. He has written Insurrection: Holding History and Bootycandy.[2] Insurrection is a time traveling play exploring racial and sexual identity.[3] Bootycandy is a series of comedic scenes primarily following the character of Sutter, a gay African American man growing from adolescence to manhood.[4] It won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama.[5][6] O’Hara was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for his contribution to Slave Play.[7]