Mel King Institute Yearbook 2024 by mkimacdc

June 25. 2024 | Artists for Humanity

GOOD SUPPORTS

Eastern Bank is committed to recognizing the good in our communities and celebrating the work of the

MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS

We proudly support the 15TH ANNUAL

15TH ANNIVERSARY MEL KING INSTITUTE

Breakfast Agenda

JUNE 25, 2024 | 9AM – 11:30AM | ARTISTS

FOR HUMANITY

Breakfast, Networking, Frugal Books, Boston Music Project

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!

Founding Organizations

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 TorresCullinane

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.

Struggle

POEM BY MEL KING

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

Being In Harmony

POEM BY MEL KING

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

Chain of Change

BREAKFAST POET

Joliné Brito

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.

About the Mel King Institute

MISSION AND VISION

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.

Program Map

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

Program Partners

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

Steering Committee

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

Resident Leadership Academy

Public Housing Training Program

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.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Annette Duke — Mass Law Reform Institute

Ben Echevarria — Mass Union of Public Housing Tenants

Ben Stone — EOHLC

FY24 IMPACT DATA

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

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.