Urban Edge Honors Social Justice
Leaders at Start of 30th Year

December 15, 2003 -- Urban Edge, a Boston NeighborWorks organization, kicked off its 30th year last month with a Leadership Gala and Annual Meeting. The event drew close to a 1,000 participants, a diverse cross-section of public officials, corporate supporters, investors and community development leaders, young activists, African dance performers and local Roxbury and Jamaica Plain residents.

The evening’s theme was Building Community, a simple idea that reflects Urban Edge's mission -- that is, developing and sustaining stable, healthy and diverse communities in Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and surrounding areas.

In addition, Urban Edge used the occasion to honor individuals whose vision and leadership on issues of social and economic justice has helped to build strong, inclusive communities in the city of Boston and beyond.

Mossik Hacobian, Urban Edge executive director, officially kick off the organization’s 30th year in his remarks touching on several upcoming projects and initiatives including:

Development in Jackson Square - The Boston Redevelopment Authority will issue a request for proposals for development of more than six acres of land in Jackson Square, providing an enormous opportunity for development within the Urban Edge service area. Urban Edge has been in discussions with several community-based organizations and private sector entities and is prepared to partner with them to build community in Jackson Square.

Commonwealth Housing Task Force - Urban Edge and a diverse group of advocates, business, public sector, philanthropic and community representatives capped two years of effort to announce a plan to produce 33,000 more housing units in Massachusetts and to generate nearly $700 million in new state funding for affordable housing over the next 10 years.

BostonDialogue - Urban Edge is joining the Urban League in a citywide effort to make faster progress in overcoming barriers of race and class. The Urban Edge community is prepared to engage in a public and honest dialogue about race, no matter how challenging the dialogue may become.

But the highlight a speech from Congressman John Lewis, a recipient of the Urban Edge Lifetime of Civic Leadership Award. Lewis addressed the ballroom with humorous anecdotes from his childhood, part of which were spent in a "tin roof, shot gun house" as well as poignant and at times, painful recollections of the Civil Rights movement. He encouraged individuals as well as organizations like Urban Edge to continue working towards building what calls "the beloved community". Comparing the neighborhood to a tin roofed, shotgun house, where everyone, regardless of race, class or color is a resident of this house, Lewis admonished everyone to support Urban Edge and similar organizations to maintain the "house" and protect it from deterioration. His remarks echoed an excerpt from his autobiography, Walking in the Wind:

"The alternative to reaching out is to allow the gaps between us to grow, and this is something we cannot afford to do. We live together in the same house – different rooms perhaps, but under the same roof and within the same walls. If one section of our house begins to rot – a basement, a back room, a closed-off closet – the entire structure is in danger of collapsing."

The Urban Edge "Building Community Awards" are given annually to a select group of individuals and organizations whose contributions and service to others through leadership on critical issues facing urban communities has changed many lives. Their commitment to social and economic justice reflects and exemplifies our goal to develop sustainable and inclusive communities for people from all walks of life.

Awardee List
Ed DeMore, Boston Digital Bridge Foundation
Betty Greene, Roxbury Activist
Marian Heard, United Way of Massachusetts Bay
Hyde Square Task Force Youth Organization
Jackie Jenkins-Scott, Dimock Community Health Center
Carl Kurz, Bikes Not Bombs
Margaret Noce, JP Tree of Life Coalition
Latoya Odlum, Local Youth Leader and Resident

For more information on Urban Edge, visit, http://www.urbanedge.org.

For more information on NeighborWorks network organizations, visit, www.nw.org.

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