Community Spotlight

Haverhill Public Library Presents ‘Owls Up Close’ Saturday

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Marcia and Mark Wilson from Eyes On Owls present their live owl program, “Owls Up Close” tomorrow. For young audiences, the show starts with an interactive reading of a big book version of “Owl Babies.” Adult and older youth groups begin with a slide program that’s followed by the live owls. Attendees sees each of six live owls up close, as they perch safely on Marcia’s glove near the audience. The Wilsons highlight the owls’ unique adaptations, habitats and behaviors in the wild, while sharing tips on how one may find signs of owls around them. Shows run 45 – 60 minutes.

Education

Boston Fed’s Collins Singles Out Community Colleges as Providing Opportunities for Everyone

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Editor’s Note: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan M. Collins’ visit last week to a community college provides some insight into the Fed’s thinking about the role of community colleges, such as Northern Essex Community College, in the larger economy. By Jay Lindsay, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

The first college visit of Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan M. Collins’ tenure came last Thursday at a community college—a choice she said she made to highlight the economic importance of such schools. Collins’ visit to Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick came about 11 months after she began as president and CEO of the Boston Fed. “It’s really essential to me that our economy does provide opportunities for everyone, not just for some,” she said told the students. “That makes community colleges like CCRI really important in the higher education landscape.”

Collins—a former university professor, dean and provost—said she’s been asked recently to speak at numerous educational institutions.

Election Central

Every Haverhill Ward Has at Least One Council Candidate with Ferreira Entrance; Grannemann for Schools

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Tuesday is the day of Haverhill’s special election, but interest is also building for this fall’s first ward-based city elections. As it stands now, only four of seven ward council seats are contested. Devan Ferreira, known for her activism around education and agriculture, ensured there would be at least one candidate for every ward by taking out nomination papers recently to run for Ward 3 councilor. Ferreira lobbied unsuccessfully in 2017 to keep the charter of the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School, but helped convince the City Council in 2019 to form a Haverhill Agricultural Commission. Of sitting city councilors, only incumbent Joseph J. Bevilacqua has yet to take nomination papers from the Haverhill city clerk’s office.

Haverhill

Podcast: On WHAV, DA Tucker Names Mental Health Among First Responders, Public a Top Concern

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Essex County District Attorney Paul F. Tucker has made taking care of first responders one of his office’s priorities. The district attorney, appearing on WHAV’s “Win for Breakfast” program Wednesday, discussed the importance of paying attention to mental health issues, saying he looks at it in two ways. “I will say Chief (Robert P.) Pistone in Haverhill has does an excellent job with a very, very good department. I look at the mental health issue through two lenses…when I was the police chief in Salem, we actually created something called ‘The Community Impact Unit,’ where we brought mental health clinicians to ride with the police officers. This was back in 2009.

Community Spotlight

Whittier Birthplace Celebrates Art and History Saturday Along its Freeman Trail

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Whittier Birthplace celebrates art and history this Saturday with Cultural Arts Day on the Freeman Trail. The birthplace of famed poet John Greenleaf Whittier offers a celebration of cultural arts at each of the 13 stops along the half mile Donald C. Freeman Memorial Trail with experienced poets, musicians, visual artists and more outside Saturday, June 3, from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m., outside at Whittier Birthplace, 305 Whittier Road, Haverhill. The attractions add to passages at each station from either Whittier’s own poetry or from the prose of one of his many biographers. Freeman was a former trustee and Haverhill Public School teacher, principal and superintendent.

Business Bulletin

MakeIT Haverhill Receives $90,000 Grant from Cummings Foundation

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Haverhill-based Community Action is one of 150 nonprofits to receive grants through Cummings Foundation’s “$30 Million Grant Program.”

Community Action, chosen from more than 630 applicants during a competitive review process, will use the $90,000 grant to bolster its MakeIT Haverhill program with workforce development programming, including job fairs, digital literacy and equity workshops and English language learner courses and supports. “It will be a true game-changer for individuals and families,” said MakeIT Haverhill founder Keith Boucher. Community Action President Kerri Sheeran Perry added, “Cummings funding will support the work at MakeIT Haverhill to help stabilize families by increasing access to living-wage jobs, English language supports and digital literacy skills.”

Community Action is the largest anti-poverty agency in the lower Merrimack Valley, providing assistance to low-income individuals and families in the Greater Haverhill and Newburyport Seacoast areas.

Education

Haverhill YMCA Suggests New Fitness and Learning Center at Northern Essex; Housing Downtown

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The Haverhill YMCA would enter into a 99-year lease at Northern Essex Community College, build a new building and athletic fields and “repurpose” its downtown Haverhill building into housing if it is ultimately selected to redevelop part of the college’s Haverhill campus. As only WHAV reported in March, Northern Essex Community College is turning to the private sector to potentially address about $9 million in deferred maintenance at its more than 50-year-old Sports and Fitness Center and surrounding athletic fields at its Haverhill campus. Similarly, YMCA officials say, “…our Y can’t do all that it needs to do to meet the needs of our community, due to our current location and outdated facility.”

“Partnering with Northern Essex Community College to build the new Haverhill YMCA on their campus would enable us to meet this objective and strongly support NECC’s objectives as well,” reads a portion of the Y’s response to a state request for information. It said planning and subsequent construction could be completed within three years. Plans would build on an existing relationship where the Haverhill YMCA and college partner on a childcare center.

Community Spotlight

Haverhill Art Walk This Saturday Brings Music, Art, Pub Walk and Various Activities

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Haverhill Art Walk returns to the downtown Riverfront Cultural District this Saturday, highlighting underused spaces and featuring local businesses with an alleyway artist market, live music and a “Pub Walk.”

It all takes place June 3, from 1-7 p.m., along Washington and Wingate Streets and the alleys in between, from Railroad Square to Washington Square. The “Pub Walk” takes place from 4-7 p.m. with Casa Blanca, G’s, Barking Dog, The Tap, Keon’s and Peddler’s Daughter each hosting a featured artist and offering a drink or food special. Destination Downtown Haverhill hosts the Art Walk toast at 6 p.m. at Casa Blanca. Programs include hula hooping, an interactive paint tent and henna, activating Columbus Park from 1-5 p.m., with the neighboring alleyways host to the Array of Trades Artist Market and acoustic music by Conor Hennessy, Ben Werth, Wilda Mendez and the Andover Choral Society. Youth bands of Be Imagine Music Studio kick off the live music at Washington Square beginning at 1 p.m., with Jonee Earthquake curating a lineup of musicians from 3-6 p.m.

SJ Art Consulting, 43 Washington St., holds a closing reception of its current exhibition by Marc Mannheimer: Consciousness Revealed.