Today is the first day of Black History Month and we’re excited to share with you an initiative we’ll be engaging in all month long. In our teen programming and on our social media channels, we’ll be celebrating the rich (and complicated) history of being black in Boston. We’re calling the project #BostonBlackHistory and we would like you to be a part of it.
Getting involved is really quite simple — we’ll be posting images and stories from leaders, activists, and change agents in our city’s black history throughout the month of February to Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and our website. However, there’s absolutely zero chance that we can do justice to about four centuries of black history by ourselves; that’s where you come in.
We’re hoping you’ll join us in using the hashtag #BostonBlackHistory and posting stories and memories to your own social media profiles or to the profile of your school, company, or organization. What stories have you lived — whether they’re about you, or your family, your friends, your community? What stories or heroes from this city’s history have inspired you? Maybe you remember when Martin Luther King, Jr., led thousands in a march from Roxbury to the Boston Common to protest school segregation. Maybe you went to Burke High School with Donna Summer. Maybe your own mom or dad or grandmother is a part of #BostonBlackHistory. We want to hear your stories.
Subscribe to our emails to make sure you don’t miss anything — we’ll be sending a few updates on the project throughout the month.
We’re looking forward to digging into our city’s rich history with you.
Jack Connors was a founding partner of Boston marketing firm Hill Holliday, but it’s his work in his “retirement years” as chairman of the nonprofit Camp Harbor View that he’s more excited to talk about these days.
BOSTON (CBS) – It was a summer camp surprise like no other when Big Papi visited Camp Harbor View, inspiring and encouraging the young people there. The camp works with at-risk kids from Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods. The message David Ortiz brought was perfect.
The kids roared their welcome for the former Red Sox slugger. They had no idea he would visit the camp on Long Island in Boston Harbor Thursday.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – Sitting near the shore on a bucolic Boston Harbor island, 17-year-old Lereca Rodrigues thought back to when a cousin was shot last year in an inexplicable act of violence.
“He didn’t have that camp, or that support from somebody else behind him, or family to keep him off the streets,” the high school student from Dorchester said.
Rodrigues, however, has that support: Camp Harbor View on Long Island, which she has attended since she was 11. She was among 100 former campers who have returned to become leaders in training, spending the summer learning how to mentor the next generation of Boston youths in civic engagement and community action.
BOSTON (WBZ-TV) – They are city kids learning real life business skills, while making money for college. It’s happening on Hannah Farm, on Long Island in Boston Harbor.
The innovative program is preparing young people for the future, and making fresh, local food available in Boston neighborhoods.
Every day kids from Camp Harbor View work the one-acre field of Hannah Farm, helping plant, grow and harvest.
[gdlr_button href=”https://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/08/15/camp-harorview-boston-farm-teens/” target=”_blank” size=”large” background=”#ea7423″ color=”#ffffff”]Watch the Video[/gdlr_button]
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – In the midst of serene Boston Harbor, the sounds from one vessel punctuated the waters as 450 young passengers, many with tear-stained cheeks, made emotional farewells.
They sobbed, cheered, laughed, and shouted. They made bold declarations — “I’m going to miss you guys!” one camper announced into a can of Pringles converted into a megaphone — and vowed to stay in touch as the Provincetown II sailed away from Long Island on Thursday.
What could justify such varied, frenzied emotions?
It was the last day of summer camp.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – CAMP HARBOR VIEW is beginning our 11th season this week. In the past 10 years, we have learned a lot about operating Camp Harbor View. We know that we need 20,000 gallons of drinking water and 8,000 hot dogs for each summer session, and that we can expect to teach about 50 kids to swim for the first time in their lives.
BOSTON (WBZ Radio) – Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month, WBZ Cares is focusing on Camp Harbor View, a summer camp on Boston’s Long Island that provides underserved youth in the city with unique experiences meant to build confidence and broaden horizons.
Although founded a decade ago, the camp’s inspiration started from a childhood memory of Jack Connors, a retired businessman.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – Even before the bus pulled up on Olney Street in Dorchester that morning nine summers ago and Jamal Grant climbed aboard with his younger brother, he had tears rolling down his cheeks.
“I didn’t want to go,’’ he said. “I didn’t want to go at all. I was crying. First year. First day. First session. I was literally crying on the bus.’’
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – TWO WEEKS AGO, 700 people gathered at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in the Seaport District to support the work of Camp Harbor View, a summer camp and year-round program for inner-city kids between the ages of 11 and 17. It was an outpouring of immense generosity, and the proceeds of the evening will ensure that Camp Harbor View’s programs endure — this year, our 10th, and beyond.
As is the case with many nonprofits, our benefactors are generous and enlightened. They also lead lives of relative privilege. They have access — to educational and career opportunities for themselves and their families, to comfortable housing, healthy food, quality health care, and many other components of a secure future. They deserve all that they have, and they share the benefits of their success in many wonderful ways.
