roxbury

After Martin Luther King Jr. had settled in for his studies at Boston University in the fall of 1951, one of his priority non-academic tasks was to make three vital contacts in Roxbury.

On Saturday, Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m., Hibernian Hall in Nubian Square will come alive with the age-old sound of storytelling. “Roxbury Roots II: You Don’t Know My Story,” is the second of these live storytelling events, designed to bring the community together and foster connectivity.

The park next to the Hawthorne Youth and Community Center in Roxbury’s Highland Park will once again come to life with the calming glow of lights this season.

There is a limited availability of housing in Boston. Roxbury is geographically a prime location. There is no reason for Roxbury homeowners who have survived during economically unrewarding times to be prevented from developing their real estate at prevailing rates without suffering lost values because of affordable housing restrictions.

DREAM Collaborative and New Atlantic Development have broken ground on a 74-unit housing complex in Nubian Square that will combine affordable and market-rate housing with artists’ studios, retail space and a new retail location for the Haley House’s cafe, which currently occupies the parcel at 2147 Washington St.

The mural of Enoch Woodhouse II at Logan Airport informs visitors of the unique character of Roxbury’s aging generation of Black men who are now in their 80s and 90s or have already made the final trip home. Woodhouse, 95, is a stalwart patriot with an unshakeable awareness of the right to his place in the world.

Despite a pledge last year to spread throughout the city housing and addiction treatment services for the homeless population concentrated in the area around Mass and Cass, Mayor Michelle Wu is not opposing a proposed 400-unit housing shelter that would be built at the site of the Shattuck Hospital in Franklin Park.

There is inadequate housing available for those now living at Mass and Cass without creating a social problem in Roxbury and other Black communities. The solution lies in finding a way to utilize the City of Boston facilities at Long Island in Boston harbor.

After months of internal discussion and debate, one development team has now secured the endorsement of the guiding Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee (RSMPOC) to transform a long-vacant parcel into affordable housing, lab and commercial space.

When city workers dismantled the tents in the streets around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard last December, city officials and civic leaders stressed the importance of a regional approach that would distribute the drug treatment programs and transitional housing from the area to neighborhoods throughout the city and throughout the region.

Residents and community members in Boston’s predominantly Black Roxbury neighborhood are demanding answers regarding the school system’s long-term plan for the newly shuttered James P. Timilty Middle School building, calling the lack of communication frustrating.

Celebrating a return to normalcy after several years of canceled or modified events, the 49th annual Caribbean Carnival returned to Blue Hill Avenue with music, costumes and a slew of food vendors in Franklin Park.