Community Voices

The process of replacing Tommy Chang as Boston Public Schools superintendent is ending the way it began: hurriedly, secretively, and with little apparent consideration of either the desires of the BPS community or for the requirements of this job. The superintendent will directly impact the lives of tens of thousands of Boston’s next generation.

This Thursday, October 12-Saturday, October 14, 14 up-and-comers in the Boston area will take the stage alongside the likes of Mike Bloomberg, Fidelity’s Abby Johnson, Former Secretary of State John Kerry, Vice Chairman Anne Finucane, Malcolm Gladwell, Atul Gawande and dozens more at HUBweek’s ideas festival, Future Forum presented by MilliporeSigma. Here’s a glimpse at the stories and visions for the future they’ll share:

One year ago, artist Salvador Jimenez-Flores met with the fifth grade class of Boston’s Josiah Quincy Elementary School to talk about art and identity. After months of workshops and collaboration, the artist and the students have produced “Resilient Current,” a bold triptych reflecting their experience in the ever-gentrifying Chinatown neighborhood. The piece is on view through Oct. 21 at the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown’s One Greenway building, with an accompanying video showing the creation process.

The Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester has one of the largest concentrations of Vietnamese-Americans in Boston. A diverse group of local artists and neighbors set out recently to increase the visibility of this vibrant community with a mural outside of Pho Hoa Restaurant.

Whatever one’s views are about Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand and “properly acknowledge” the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” it might be helpful to read the following excerpt from the 3rd stanza of the “Star-Spangled Banner:” “No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,”

Nearly a week after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico as a category 4 with winds of 155 miles per hour, many Boston area Puerto Ricans are still struggling to make contact with family members on the island and send needed foodstuffs.

Don't miss the latest LOCAL EDITION: The BINJ Report from the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. This installment digs deep into developing local politics and the upcoming elections, and features Yawu Miller of the Bay State Banner ...

Lazy terms like “Methadone Mile” negatively brand an entire neighborhood. Describing men and women as “addicts” reduces them to their health struggles.

Last November public education activists fended off Ballot Question 2, which would have lifted the state-wide cap on charter school expansion and diverted funds from local school districts. Saturday, many of the same activists who fought for a “no” vote were among the estimated 4,000 people who turned out to the Boston Common for the Rally for Public Education event, sponsored by the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance.

A small portion of students account for the majority of the expenses in a transit department that has struggled to limit costs. Meanwhile, the school' s food department aims to increase the per-meal food expensive reimbursement it receives by improving entrees' appeal.

Travis Bristol is an assistant professor in English education at the Boston University School of Education who researches district- and school-based practices that support teachers of color; national, state, and local education policies that enable and constrain the workplace experiences and retention for teachers of color; the intersection of race and gender in schools.