|
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7th
"ALVIN PAIGE: REMEMBERING A LIFE"
Where: Griswold Theatre
American International College Springfield, MA
When:
7pm/FREE/For more information 413.205.3231 |
 He
spent 30 years sculpting the landscape of
American International College, and now the
college will celebrate the life and art of Alvin
Paige. The retired artist-in-residence will
return to the campus for the screening of a new
documentary,
"Alvin Paige:
The Retrospective, Remembering a Life."
|
SHEKADII WALAALO!
A COMMUNITY
EXPERIENCE
By Ayaan
Agane
|
As the leaves
change, the members of the Walaalo! Somali Sisters
Collective prepare for their performance,
Shekadii Walaalo! (Sister-Story), supported by
New WORLD Theater. The performance serves as the
culminating event of a community-based project that
aims to sustain and celebrate the Somali culture in
the Pioneer Valley’s Somali community.
The current situation in Somalia is widely
recognized as the greatest humanitarian crisis in
Africa and in the world. Without a central
government since 1991, Somalia has endured political
violence that has displaced over a million Somalis
within their country and dispersed more than 450,000
refugees worldwide.
Shekadii Walaalo! shares the experiences of
Somali men and women now living in the U.S. This
bilingual production (presented in English and
Somali) results from a series of workshops and
interviews with the members of the collective.
Combining poetry, live music, dance, storytelling,
and video, the production details the journey of
Somalis from a war-torn home to Massachusetts.
For those working on the project, sharing stories of
war and displacement has served as a constant
reminder of their experiences back home. “We all
feel homesick…We hear each story and we all get
sad,” remarks Sitey, a member of the Walaalo!
Collective. Bilan, another member, adds, “Every
Ramadan, we feel like it would be nice if we were
back home fasting with others.” During Ramadan in
Somalia, Nimco remarks, “People used to come and
they sing songs. They wake you up with the songs.
There’s nothing like that here.”
Cultural awareness accompanies this petition for
understanding. Bilan wants to educate the community
about the Somali Muslim culture. “How we dress, that
is culture…We’re not terrorists. People driving by
look at you and say, ‘Does she have a bomb?’”
The collective does not only have the non-Somali
community in mind. They also desire for the
performance to be appealing for Somalis not involved
in the project. Nasra wants the outer Somali
community to gain feelings of solidarity from the
performance. “We’re not just talking…about only us.
[We want the Somalis to know] that we are talking
and advocating for the Somalis overall as a
nation…and that we are striving hard [for] success
in this project…for our stories to be heard. That we
are all one and we are not here to be divided. That
we all are one community.”
Community is perhaps one of the most valuable
results of this project. The Walaalo! Somali Sisters
Collective has created a space for Somalis to
exchange their experiences and celebrate their
culture without the confines of tribalism or
cultural inequity. Shekadii Walaalo! will
take place in UMass’ Bowker Auditorium on Saturday,
November 22nd at 7pm. For tickets, please call the
UMass Fine Arts Center Box Office at 413-545-9591.
Nicole M. Young is on hiatus for the month of
November. She will return in December, beginning a
5-part series on race, activism and community
organizing within the Five Colleges System. Please
enjoy the article written by Ayaan Agane, first year
Dramaturgy graduate student at UMass Amherst, about
an upcoming event with the Walaalo! Somali Sisters
Collective.
Back
To Top |
|
|
Springfield,
Mass. – For the first time, UMass Men’s
Basketball is teaming with the World Champion
Boston Celtics and the Isenberg School of
Management to look for unsung heroes of the
Springfield community. The Key Players Project
will honor men of color who are positively
affecting children’s lives during a halftime
ceremony at the Celtics game on December 21st at
the TD Banknorth Garden and the UMass basketball
game on January 10th at the MassMutual Center.
The Key Players Project is a community service
learning collaboration that was developed in
2002 by the UMass Isenberg School of Management,
the Boston Celtics, and members of the
Springfield community. Every day hundreds of men
of color guide and mentor children in the
Springfield community, yet they go largely
unnoticed for their diligent work. The mission
of the Key Players is to reward and empower
these men who are nominated by young people
(ages 8-24) of Springfield.
Isenberg students in the Sport Management
Department are the liaison between the Celtics
and the Springfield community. Students will
manage and market the nomination and selection
process, raise funds, and plan the reception.
Students have re-launched the newly improved
website (www.keyplayersproject.org) where the
nominations will also be accepted.
In addition to their work on the Key Players
Project, the students also volunteer on a weekly
basis with children at local schools and
community centers throughout Springfield. The
places are the Lion’s Den, Dunbar, Springfield
YMCA, the Family Center, and New North Gerena
School in the North End section of Springfield.
In the program’s seven-year history, students
have formed lasting relationships with the youth
and adults alike. According to former student
Chris Herman, “experiences through the class
really helped shape who I am and what I hope to
accomplish in life.” Herman is currently working
for the University of Hartford, helping to raise
scholarship money for inner-city children.
For more information, contact: Kevin Igo
(978-729-9044)
kigo@student.umass.edu
or Oleg Topic (413-559-1875)
otopic@student.umass.edu.
Back To Top
|
|
|
Filling out
the federal financial aid questionnaire is the
first step toward applying for most kinds of
financial assistance for college, yet the
process can be intimidating. The public is
invited to a free, one-hour information session
of advice and explanations of the financial aid
process on Wednesday evening, November 12
at Springfield Technical Community College.
Offered by STCC financial aid staff, the session
will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in
the theater of Scibelli Hall at STCC. Convenient
free parking is available. The Free Application
for Federal Student Financial Aid is available
online at
www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Back To Top
|
|
|
The widest
selection of health career preparation at a
community college in this region will be open for
visitors and potential students on Thursday
afternoon, November 13, at Springfield Technical
Community College. The event will be held throughout
building 20 at STCC from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Visitors can obtain a guide to the building and
participating departments at the first floor
entrance near Pearl Street
STCC’s nationally–recognized Virtual Hospital, an
extensive patient simulation center, will be open
for visitors to listen to heart and lung sounds, and
interact with the extremely lifelike simulation
units. SIMS Medical Center includes a four-bed Acute
Care Unit, Trauma Room, Surgical Suite, Basic Care
Unit, and the two-bed Berkshire Bank Critical Care
Unit. Students in many of the STCC health programs
get direct hands-on experience with patient
simulators placed in realistic medical settings. For
a virtual tour of the SIMS Medical Center, go to
health.stcc.edu.
Programs offered through STCC’s School of Health and
Patient Simulation include Clinical Lab Science,
Cosmetology, Dental Assistant, Dental Hygiene,
Medical Assistant, Massage Therapy, Occupational
Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant,
Respiratory Care, Nuclear Medicine, Sonography,
Radiography, and Surgical Technology. The
School
of Nursing offers STCC’s intensive RN nursing
program. The School of Business and Information
Technologies offers programs in Medical Coding and
Billing.
Back To Top |
|
MCDI TO TRANSITION AWAY FROM CITY SUBSIDY |
Springfield—The
Massachusetts Career Development Institute Inc. (MCDI),
the private non-profit workforce training entity,
will transition away from its partial subsidy from
the City of Springfield in an agreement made
official recently with the Finance Control Board.
Separation from the City, a mutual agreement between
MCDI and the Finance Control Board, will occur over
a four-year period and the organization will
continue to utilize major funding provided by the
federal Department of Housing and Urban Development,
the federal Workforce Investment Act, the Regional
Employment Board of Hampden County, the Department
of Labor and Workforce Development and Commonwealth
Corporation among other funding sources.
The City and MCDI have entered into a contract for
services to provide educational, vocational and
homeless programs for Springfield residents. The
period of transition will allow MCDI, a key player
in the workforce development continuum in the
region, to cultivate other funding sources and to
operate in a more entrepreneurial manner, according
to Tim Sneed, Executive Director of MCDI.
According to Sneed, “This transition away from some
City subsidy is good for the City of Springfield as
it continues to strengthen its financial posture
and, ultimately, will be good for MCDI as we engage
other partners in the critical work of workforce
development. MCDI has a key role to play in building
a better area workforce and this transition will
serve as an opportunity for us to tell our story to
a wider audience. This will also allow us to
establish collaborations with organizations and
educational institutions that have similar
missions.”
With an annual budget of approximately $5 million,
MCDI serves over 1,100 nontraditional students every
year in helping them gain the training needs to
enter the workforce. In addition to skills training,
all student participants are provided with related
support services, including admissions testing, case
management, supportive counseling, job readiness
training, motivational workshops and job placement
assistance.
Over the past 37 years, MCDI has transitioned more
than 18,000 men, women and youth into fulltime
employment. Services include Adult Basic Education,
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL),
Vocational training programs and related support
services. MCDI also has a cadre of programs for the
homeless, including transitional housing.
Back To Top
|
Back To Home
|
