Month: April 2015

Sacred Retreat at Blue Shutters – April 24 to April 25

Fri. Apr 24 – Sun. Apr 26.  Join Robin Clare and Colleen Morgan on retreat at the beautiful Blue Shutters Inn across from Good Harbor Beach, a sacred portal in Gloucester, Ma. All-inclusive with ocean view room and home-made vegan and gluten free meals. Robin & Colleen will take you on a journey to discover: Who You Think You Are…Who You Really Are…Who You Want To Be.

To register: https://beingrealretreatapril2015.eventbrite.com

The High Cost of Affordable Housing on the North Shore

Harborlight Community Partners’, Andrew DeFranza, to Speak at April 19 GDCC Meeting

The Gloucester Democratic City Committee’s monthly meeting at the Gloucester House on Thursday, April 9^th will feature Andrew DeFranza, Executive Director of Harborlight Community Partners, a local nonprofit affordable housing organization.

It has been widely reported over recent years that Massachusetts faces a shortage of affordable housing, increasing numbers of low and middle income families facing homelessness, and a rapidly growing aging population with supportive housing needs. DeFranza will discuss reasons why area affordable housing development is so costly and slow to produce; Harborlight Community Partners’ efforts to preserve and create contextually sensitive affordable housing for low income seniors and families; and how the organization works together with municipalities to meet our growing need for decent, permanent affordable housing. Currently, Harborlight Community Partners supports housing for over 500 people in 371 units located in 8 North Shore Communities including Gloucester, and Rockport. 

This event will begin with an informal gathering at 7:00pm; business meeting at 7:30; and speaker program, 8:00-9:00. Members and Democratic friends are welcome to attend.

Havana Curvevall is GDCC April Film Series Feature

Showing April 27 at the Cape Ann cinema & Stage

Monday, April 27, the GDCC and Cape Ann Cinema & Stage will co-sponsor  “Havana Curveball,” another in a series of films on social and policy issues. For fifty years the United States has imposed an economic embargo on Cuba. Finally that relationship is beginning to thaw. This month’s documentary gives us a glimpse of that change. It’s the story of a 13 year-old American boy who, to “help heal the world,” wants to collect baseball equipment to send to Cuba. That island country had sheltered his grandfather during the Holocaust.

The special ticket price for GDCC members is $7.50. (If you buy on line for the regular $10.50, you will have a $3 credit at the concession stand.) Doors open at 7pm. The film will screen at 7:30pm.

Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Gloucester Youth Council Receives Statewide Award at 20th Annual Kick Butts Day at the Massachusetts State House.

Gloucester High School Senior Kelly Hurd is recognized with Statewide Youth Leadership Award

Gloucester, MA – On March 18th, 2015, ten members of the Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Gloucester Youth Council took part in the 20th annual Kick Butts Day at the Massachusetts State House. The 84 Movement, which is a statewide youth movement that fights Big Tobacco Companies, runs the annual Kick Butts Day event. Chapters from across the state come together to raise awareness regarding the sneaky tactics big tobacco companies use to target youth. 

The 84 Movement represents the 84% teens in Massachusetts who do not smoke. Since the launch of the movement in 2007, that statistic has increased to 89%. Gloucester High School senior Kelly Hurd, a founding member of the Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Gloucester Youth Council, was presented with the Statewide Youth Leadership Award. This award is presented to a high school student that has demonstrated excellence in youth leadership and advocacy community and statewide to prevent tobacco use. She was chosen out of hundreds of other students and made a speech before an audience of more than 400 attendees at the State House during the award ceremony. She was also presented with an official citation from Senator Bruce Tarr. 

More than 200 high school students participated in the day’s activities. The Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Gloucester Youth Council had meetings with Senator Bruce Tarr and Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante in which they discussed local policies and issues pertaining to tobacco. Both legislators were extremely supportive and engaged with the students and the issue. The day ended with a ceremony, where the Healthy Gloucester Collaborative Gloucester Youth Council was awarded The Statewide Chapter of the Year for the second consecutive year. This award is based on the number and quality of activities the group had completed during the 2014- 2015 school year thus far.