June 25. 2024 | Artists for Humanity


June 25. 2024 | Artists for Humanity
Eastern Bank is committed to recognizing the good in our communities and celebrating the work of the
We proudly support the 15TH ANNUAL
15TH ANNIVERSARY MEL KING INSTITUTE
JUNE 25, 2024 | 9AM – 11:30AM | ARTISTS
Breakfast, Networking, Frugal Books, Boston Music Project
MC
OPENING POETRY
WELCOME
PRESENTING
Emily Cullinane Torres, Chief of Community Engagement, Massachusetts AGO
Joliné Brito, Spoken Word Poet, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
Jason Talbot, Co-founder /Managing Director of Programs, Artists for Humanity
Rahn Dorsey, Chief Impact Officer, Eastern Bank SPONSOR
FOUNDING
Libby Hayes, Director of Housing Stability, PARTNER Mass Housing
PROGRAM Sean Mock, Program Associate, TESTIMONIAL The Neighborhood Developers, Community Development Mentoring Program
PROGRAM UPDATE
COMMUNITY
Shirronda Almeida, Director of The Mel King Institute
Emma Caviness, Mel King Institute BUILDING Program Associate
PROGRAM
Sugey Rondón Reyes, Family Organizer TESTIMONIAL Coordinator, Saint Stephen’s Youth Program Senior Organizing Series
FOUNDING PARTNER
AMERICORPS
Gustavo Quiroga, Executive Director, LISC MA
Camille Charles, Financial Capabilities Officer, TESTIMONIAL Urban Edge
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
POETRY
CLOSING REMARKS
Imari Paris Jefferies, CEO, Embrace Boston
Joliné Brito, Spoken Word Poet, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción
Emily Haber, President and CEO, MACDC
Networking, Frugal Books, and Boston Music Project.
Breakfast Sponsors — Thank you!
Presenting Sponsor
Eastern Bank
Platinum
Bank of America | First Citizens Bank | JPMorgan Chase
Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation
Massachusetts Housing Partnership
NeighborWorks America | Santander
The Boston Foundation | United Way of Massachusetts Bay
The Kuehn Charitable Foundation
Gold
Capital One | CEDAC | M&T Bank
Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp
NAIOP Massachusetts | Needham Bank | Rockland Trust
Silver
CHAPA | Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston
Preservation of Affordable Housing
Bronze
Ann Silverman
Franklin County CDC
IBA
Leader Bank
Licata Risk Advisors
Maria Latimore Group
Munkenbeck Consulting
Promoting Good, LLC
TD Bank
The Life Initiative
At JPMorgan Chase, we are committed to our communities and work with a diverse group of partners to provide innovative solutions that foster community development, address affordable housing needs and drive inclusive economic growth.
We are proud to participate in these efforts and support the Mel King Institute. Happy 15th!
jpmorganchase.com/impact
Emily Torres-Cullinane served on the Steering Committee for the Mel King Institute for a decade and taught the Community Engagement course. She has nearly two decades of experience in municipal and federal government, community engagement and political strategic planning in Greater Boston. She cares deeply about the empowerment of people, particularly with the goals of amplifying diverse voices, building civic social infrastructure and increasing the capacity of decision makers to have stronger connections with the communities they represent. She is a proud first-generation Latina with Colombian roots and a lifelong resident of Massachusetts raising a young family in the Greater Boston area.
She currently serves as the Chief of the Community Engagement Division in the Executive Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO). Prior to joining the AGO, Ms. Torres-Cullinane was the Director of Community Engagement at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council where she developed its engagement practice over the course of 12 years and was a founding member of the Massachusetts Municipal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Coalition.
She is an Interaction Institute for Social Change certified facilitator and a graduate of YW Boston’s LeadBoston Program, the Commonwealth Seminar and the Initiative for Diversity in Civic Leadership. Additionally, she serves on the Town of Canton’s Energy Advisory Committee as Vice Chair.
It’s a struggle
Developing Solidarity.
It’s a struggle Being Positive
It’s a struggle Making Common Unity. It’s a struggle LIVING.
It’s a struggle
Because it’s slow But if we Struggle At Developing Solidarity, Being Positive
Shaping Reality, Making Common Unity, We will all Grow.
Because to struggle Is to work for Change, and Change is the focus of Education, and Education is the Basis of Knowledge, and Knowledge is the Basis for Growth and Growth is the Basis for Being Positive and Being Positive is the Basis for Building Solidarity
Building solidarity is a way to shape Reality and Shaping Reality is Living and Living is Loving, So Struggle
To feel, to think, to wonder being in awe of the majesty of it all to sigh, to laugh to cry and as important to wonder why
being human is floating with the clouds and flying with the birds sailing with the fish savoring the honey of the bee the sweetness of the water feeling the energy of the sun in the richness of the soil
being a poet making up words seeing the museum in the sky being human is to be able to smile to sing, to feel to bring out the gifts of creation to sing in the rain to think out loud to feel inside
being in love and knowing you can love being
This fall we will launch a book club initiative revisiting the Chain of Change. Join us by purchasing your book today from Frugal Books!
The oldest child and daughter of immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic, Joliné Brito is a 17-year-old spoken word poet. She resides with her family in Grove Hall, in Roxbury, MA and is a junior at Fenway High School. Starting at 14 years-old, she writes about her love for her beautiful yet corrupt Caribbean Island, the generational curses and strengths from her Black and Latinx bloodlines, social justice, inequality, racism, sexism, and their impact on her. Her voice is a powerful representation of resilience, revolution, and resistance.
Since our launch in 2009, the Mel King Institute for Community Building has focused on supporting vibrant and thriving Massachusetts communities by advancing the skills, knowledge and leadership ability of professional practitioners and volunteer leaders in the community development field. We engage in partnerships with nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, state agencies and national community development groups that increase access, encourage innovation, and uplift successful strategies to transforming communities. Through the ongoing dialogue the Institute facilitates, organizations align their work towards the field’s common vision, and adapt to the changing world.
The Institute’s curriculum and programs enable Community Development Corporations, non-profit organizations and their partners to build more homes, create more jobs, grow more businesses, nurture more community leaders, and pursue more comprehensive community building strategies.
Professional Education
Certificate Cohort Program
LISC AmeriCorps Partnership Scholarships
Community Building Workshops, Trainings & Seminars
Resident Leadership Academy Board Member Training
Public Housing Training Program
Resident Leadership Training Collaborative
Intergenerational Organizers
Community Meditation Night Partnerships and Coalitions
Field Building
Core Competencies
Website Resources and Tools
Innovation Forums
Racial
Equity
Community Development Mentoring Program
Trainings and Scholarships
MACDC Racial Equity Pledge
COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Intergenerational Organizers with Micheal Jacoby Brown and Allentza Michel
MENTORING
• Building Connections Mentoring — NAIOP/ Builders of Color Coalition
• Community Development Mentoring — CHAPA
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
• Business Certificate — Cambridge College/ Mass Growth Capital Corporation
• Consortium for Housing and Asset Management (CHAM)
• LISC Massachusetts / AmeriCorps
• Senior Organizers Seminar Series — Rising Sun Consulting
• Training Space — Urban Edge
PUBLIC HOUSING TRAINING
• Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
• Mass Housing Partnership
• Mass Law Reform Institute
• Mass NAHRO
• Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants
Carol Roberts
Brockton Housing Authority
Emily Haber MACDC
Ezra Glenn MIT
Jose Iraheta
The Neighborhood Developers
Libby Hayes MassHousing
Lynn Peterson
NeighborWorks America
Madeline Nash CEDAC
Mathew Thall
Mathew Thall Consulting
Matt Wilson Campaign Consultant
Sarah Lamitie First Citizens Bank
Sarah Byrnes
Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants
Sasha Parodi
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Sharon Fosbury
The Neighborhood Developers
Shelly Goehring
Mass Housing Partnership
Tiana Lawrence Coalition for a Better Acre
17 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN THE CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
16 INSTRUCTORS AND PRESENTERS
157 HOURS OF TRAINING
For 8 years, the Mel King Institute has been training public housing residents through our partnership with Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, the Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants, Mass Law Reform Institute, MassNAHRO, and the Mass Housing Partnership.
Annette Duke — Mass Law Reform Institute
Ben Echevarria — Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants
Ben Stone — EOHLC
Total Resident Attendees 15 4 300
Training sessions offered Open Roundtables offered
Christine Devore — EOHLC
Dawn Brown — Mass NAHRO
Emily Haber — MACDC
Joyce Taylor — EOHLC
Laura Shufelt — Mass Housing
Nicole Beckles — Boston Housing Authority
Randi Parks — Greenfield Housing Authority
Sarah Byrnes — Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants
Shirronda Almeida — Mel King Institute
Tiana Lawrence — Coalition for a Better Acre
Imari K. Paris Jeffries, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of Embrace Boston, where he is leading a citywide racial equity transformation through The Embrace monument, the Embrace Center, and ongoing community organizing efforts. Imari brings a wealth of experience from the nonprofit management, racial equity, community activism, education reform, and social justice sectors and has served in executive roles at Parenting Journey, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of The Children. He currently serves as a Trustee of the UMass System, UMass Global, Mass Humanities, Boston Ballet, the Huntington Theatre and former Governor Baker’s Black Advisory Commission. Most recently, he was the Executive Director of Parenting Journey with other leadership stints as Chief Executive Officer of the Italian Home for Children, Chief Operating Officer of Jumpstart, interim CEO of Boston Rising, and Executive Director of Friends of the Children-Boston. Imari has extensive professional experience in public, national, and nonprofit leadership and has supplemented his work with volunteer service on boards. These have included Jumpstart, the African American Federation of Greater Boston, Save the Harbor, Save the Bay, the Elizabeth Peabody House, the Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership, the Edward Brooke Charter School, The Providers Council, and Third Sector New England.
Imari was recently named one of Boston’s most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journals Power 50. He is a four-time graduate of UMass Boston and received his Ph.D. through UMass Boston’s Higher Education Program in June 2023. An Army veteran, Imari served from 1991-1996. He currently lives in Hyde Park with his family.
JULY
Financial Fundamentals of Asset Management (CHAM)
SEPTEMBER
Planning 101 -Planning & Development at the Local Level
Program and Project Management
Health Equity and Community Development
OCTOBER
Planning 102 : How Racism & Classism Shaped Boston & Beyond
Planning 103: Putting the Community into Planning
Persuasive Presentations