This is the first in a series of community profiles, expressing the stories, opinions and perspectives of Cambridge residents, in their own words.

Samuel Gebru, 18, Youth Leader

I was born in Sudan, in Khartoum, in 1991. My parents met up in Sudan. They were both Ethiopians--actually not refugees. They were there living, trying to improve their lives. She came to Sudan when she was 17 or 18 years old. She was young, my father was there too. So that’s when they met. My father with a relative of ours had a shoe shop. They would fix shoes, clean them, and they would do other things with the shoes. My mother was just a housewife, she lived home.

When I was born they came to America for better opportunities. I was 3 when I left. I’ve been back 5 times. I travel back every 2,3,4, years. I was back last year, 2008, and plan to go back this year again, in 2009. read more...

Last year's winning entry, by Jamie Cloutier from Bay Path Technical High School, on YouTube

Massachusetts High School students are invited to submit a 60-second "Prom Short" video by March 13th. The top prize of $1000 will go to the most effective video promoting safe, sober driving. Other prizes include a 10-person limo for prom night, $100 gift cards at Macy's and hairstyles by Dellaria Salon.

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the goal of the contest is to raise awareness among teens to the dangers faced by young drivers, especially around prom time. read more...

"What does the Obama Presidency Mean for Black America?"


This is the question on the minds of many, and President's Day, this Monday, seems like an good time to have this discussion.


The St. Paul AME Church (85 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge) will be hosting a lecture by Charles J. Ogletree Jr. on this topic. Prof. Ogletree is uniquely qualified as Chair of Charles Hamilton Houston Institute on Race and Justice at Harvard. He's the author of five books on race, including "From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America,(2006).


Prof. Ogletree was also Barack and Michelle Obama's law school professor.

There will also be a panel discussion. Among the panelists will be youth leader Samuel Gebru, 17, the Founder and Chairman of the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative and a Cambridge Rindge and Latin senior.

When: Monday, February 16, at 9:00 a.m.
Where: St. Paul AME Church
85 Bishop Richard Allen Drive, read more...

Parents of special needs children are isolated and in need of all kinds of support and services, learned Katherine Ellin, while she was in charge or a community support collaborative. A psychologist by training, Ellin realized that many parents were afraid to ask for help from friends and neighbors, for fear of being indebted for those favors, a concept she describes as being “one down”.

As she tried to find ways to help those families, she stumbled upon the work of Edgar Cahn, a social justice worker who in 1980 invented the idea of Time Banking. The concept was to capitalize on all individuals’ abilities. He wrote a book to explain called, “Time Dollars: The New Currency That Enables Americans to Turn Their Hidden Resource-Time-Into Personal Security and Community Renewal” (1992) and the concept caught on. Time Banks have worked successfully in 60 locations across the US and in 21 other countries. read more...

The Cambridge Time Trade Circle is up and running.

The concept of "time banking" was developed in the early 1980s when Edgar Cahn, a prominent lawyer and social activist, came up with an economic strategy for social change, "Time Banking" in which services were offered and received in exchange for "Time Dollars."

In Cambridge the Time Trade Circle now has about 150 members and is looking to increase it's size. "The bigger it gets the better it gets," says member and volunteer Carol Moses.

On offer this week on the group's website are Knitting/Tatting Lessons, Amateur Snow Shoveling, Disaster Preparedness Planning, Furniture Assembly and Ice Skating Lessons.

Some members requested Power Yoga Lessons, TV Box Installation Help, Tax Help and Employment.

To join, simply log on to the website http://timetradecircle.org/ and follow instructions. All new members are asked to attend a short orientation before their account is activated.
read more...

On a freezing cold day just after Thanksgiving, a hundred or so gay rights protesters huddle, singing an old Southern Hymm. “Ain’t we got a right, to the tree of life,” the lyrics go.

In the days following the Nov. 4 elections, disgruntled gay-rights advocates Amy Balliet and Willow Witte
posted a quick website calling for others to join them in protest to California's Proposition 8.

The site "went viral"... explains Massachusetts state organizer Ryan MacNeely, who is 21.

According to the New York Times, it was receiving 50,000 hits an hour, and after three days, it crashed.

Two servers later the website is back up and running under the sponsorship of the website company Wet Paint.

Through the use of its website plus social networking sites Tweeter and Facebook, Join the Impact managed to get thousands to attend protests all over the United States and in London, Amsterdam and Toronto. read more...

Munaf Khalifa waited patiently in a slow moving line Tuesday evening, the 4th of November, along with other new Americans. When he was asked for his name and address, he proudly unveiled a plastic covered copy of his shiny new citizenship document. It was his first time voting, and it wasn't clear he had even properly registered. A patient but weary poll work handed him a provisional ballot, like she had for more than 30 other voters whose names didn't appear on the list of registered voters. read more...