Happy to report that Frankenstorm caused little damage in my immediate neighborhood or on my running path but this downed tree is evidence of Hurricane Sandy’s force, last night.
—Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and blogger in Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a strategic publications and online marketing firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge.
Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) and Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) , both based in Cambridge, have together raised more than $50,000 for vital summer youth programs, according to a recent communique from BTGB.
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation, the Giving Common Challenge was a 36-hour online event running from 8:00 a.m. on October 10 through 8:00 p.m. on October 11, 2012. More than 500 Massachusetts nonprofits competed for donations and more than $100,000 in time-based and grand prizes based on both the number and amount of unique gifts were given out. Both PBHA and Breakthrough took home major prizes.
Cambridge’s PBHA won the “most unique donors” grand prize of $25,000, with 379 supporters contributing $17,102 to the organization. PBHA also won one of the $2,000 “happy hour” prizes, awarded to the first 10 nonprofits to receive 50 unique gifts between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. on October 10. Combining the amount raised from donors with the two prizes, PBHA raised a total of $44,102.
Breakthrough Greater Boston, also based in Cambridge, finished in 9th place in unique donors, after rising as high as 4th. With its 137 gifts, as well as a $2,000 “lunch time” prize similar to PBHA’s “happy hour” prize, Breakthrough Greater Boston netted close to $15,000.
The funds raised by PBHA will support more than 80 community-service programs led by 1,600 college students in the areas of adult services; advocacy, organizing, housing, and health; after-school and in-school; mentoring; and summer.
PBHA executive director Maria Dominguez Gray noted, “The breadth and support of the individual donors, from former teen participants to volunteer alumni, was overwhelming. The additional funding we were able to raise through this important community effort is especially important in light of recent government cuts to high-impact services, including PBHA’s Harvard Square and St. James homeless shelters as well as the Summer Urban Program.” PBHA’s student president Carolyn Chou confirmed, “This money will allow us not only to continue providing quality services but imagine an exciting future for PBHA. The dedication and support of our donors is a testament to the work we do, and it will allow us to keep going despite a tough financial environment for nonprofits.”
The impact on Breakthrough Greater Boston’s out-of-school time and teacher training programming will be equally great, according to Breakthrough’s executive director, Elissa Spelman.
“As we continue to work on bridging the education gap in Greater Boston, we rely on the generosity of our supporters. Placing 9th in the Giving Common Challenge is not only an honor for our organization but a testament to the dedication of the broader Breakthrough community that made our success over the past 36 hours possible,” she said. “Breakthrough Greater Boston is in the midst of an exciting expansion from Cambridge into Boston, so the awareness and visibility of our organization within Boston’s philanthropic community couldn’t come at a better time. We extend our sincerest gratitude to all who supported us.”
According to the BGTB communique: For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism while developing real, meaningful community partnerships. PBHA strives to create change on multiple levels in Boston and Cambridge. For 20 years BTGB has been working to transform urban education for students and teachers.. Through six years of intensive, tuition-free, out of school time programming, Breakthrough changes students’ academic trajectories and supports them along the path to four-year college. Simultaneously, BTGB builds the next generation of teachers through competitive recruitment, research-based training, and coaching from master teachers.
–Posted by Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and online marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.
Dropped by last night’s opening at the Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson, NY, where former Cantabridgians Karen Davis and Mark Orton featured photographers John Chervinsy, John Cyr, Elaine Mayes, and David Torcoletti –each making powerful statements about photography, art, perception, human emotion and the passage of time.
In “Studio Physics,” Chervinsky’s images challenge traditional photography by depicting not a single instant, but the passage of time. He begins by composing and photographing a still life. Then, he crops a subset of the image sends it as a file digitally to a painting factory in China, waits weeks for an anonymous artist in China to complete an oil painting of the cropped section and send it back in the mail, and, finally, he reinserts the painting into the original setup and rephotographs.
According to the Davis-Orton Website, “Chervinsky is interested in the tensions expressed in the comparison between reality vs. representation while adding, in this series, an unusual collaboration process with an anonymous artist half way around the world and subtle changes over time that we might otherwise take for granted.”
John Cyr’s photos of developer trays memorialize the specific, tangible tools used by photographer for a century–before the advent of digital media.
By titling each tray with its owner’s name–some quite renowned–” Cyr references the historical significance of these objects in a minimal manner that evokes thoughts about the images that have passed through each artist’s tray.”
While a few of the photographed trays appear relatively clean and empty, others frame beautiful abstract patterns and formations.
Elaine Mayes, former chair of the photography department at New York University, takes photos of artistic and advertising images in their context–usually through glass–to include not only the surrounding scene but also environmental particulars of the world beyond as reflected in the glass.
“While thematically, the project is about how photographs and advertising imagery permeate our lives; it is also about how the flattening of space in a photograph can produce a collage filled with unexpected content. ”
Especially moving were David Torcoletti “Soldiers”, a small portion of hundreds photographs of U.S. soldiers that, during the Vietnam War, were mailed to a South Vietnamese radio and television personality known professionally as “Mai Lan.” For hours every day, Mai Lan broadcast to American troops stationed there. She also spent much time visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals all around the country. English was her second language, but she was able to communicate very directly with her audience Often the photos were inscribed with simple, touching and sincere declarations of appreciation for giving comfort to the subjects of the pictures. When the North overran South Vietnam, Mai Lan had to leave quickly; she chose a small box of photographs to bring along, leaving hundreds behind.
According to the Davis Orton Web site, ” Years later, Mai Lan, now Denise, and a colleague of David Torcoletti’s at a private school, showed him the images”–many of which were not well preserved. Torcoletti photographed all of the images and, with her permission, digitally adjusted twenty-four that he found most powerful for exposure, contrast, burning, dodging, color balance and saturation. All of these decisions were emotional and aesthetic. “For Torcoletti, the power of these objects was in the way they were disintegrating, barely holding on to the original image while becoming something else entirely. They were now less specific to the individuals depicted and more about war and hope and a peculiar, distant “love” that sustained these men in impossible circumstances.”
The show closes November 11, 2012.
–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a public relations and online marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.
Sorry I couldn’t make it to this year’s Global Cleantech Meetup but am pleased to post information provided by Harold Simansky about his company, 360 Chestnut , which provides resources for consumers and service providers in the home improvement market, and about WeFunder, a crowd investing platform for startups.
Both companies are headquartered at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square, where I share space, although I have not yet met either Simansky or WeFunder cofounder and President Mike Norman.
Simansky says the two companies “stole the show,” but I’ll bet they got a run for their money (so to speak) from my friend and informal PR client, Christine Adamow, who announced that her company, EuphorbUS, which has produced pure fuel oil from tree seeds in Africa since 2007, is setting up shop in Hawaii. [Link to Euphorbus release.]
Simansky writes that WeFunder is the premier crowd investing platform for startups, while 360Chestnut is growing into one of the largest home improvement sites on the web.
Both startups were featured presenters at the two day conference: Norman gave the keynote address to the more than 500 attendees and Simanski spoke on home improvement and sustainability.
Simansky points out that 360Chestnut is using the WeFunder platform to raise its most recent round of investment, and in his keynote, Norman called 360Chestnut an “ideal company” to use crowd investing to fund its growth.
Simansky describes WeFunder as “a crowd investing platform for startups.” Using the platform, crowd investors can purchase stock for as little as $100 in promising new businesses around the country. With the passage of the US JOBS Act in April, startups will soon be allowed to solicit investment from small, “unaccredited” investors and sell small stakes in their businesses online.
He says that 360Chestnut is “a no-cost, trusted source” where homeowners learn what to do to make their homes more healthy, energy-efficient and comfortable; connect with qualified service providers, and access the more than 5000 rebate and incentives that will pay for this type of work.
For service providers, 360Chestnut is “a constant source of educated, nurtured customers; marketing & sales support; easy-to-use software and applications; online training; financing options and more. Service providers pay to join and may purchase products and service son the site.
–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and online-marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.
Later today, I hope to attend the Clean-Tech Meetup–an event which, Gov. Deval Patrick, has said, “brings together innovative leaders from across the Commonwealth, the country and the globe to grow businesses, advance technologies and expand the adoption of clean energy sources.”
As described on the Clean Tech Meetup Web site, “through Clean Energy Week and the Conference on Clean Energy in Boston,” Massachusetts has been “steadily growing” a community of clean energy innovators and implementers. “Now, we’re using what we’ve learned to bring you an event focusing on connecting people in intimate settings—instead of panels or keynotes.”
Innovation Tour: The conference also includes a tour of “cool companies and organizations” that will be holding open houses”from Kendall Square to the Seaport Innovation District,” on Wednesday. View the Tour participants.
I’m pleased that my friend and informal client, Christine Adamow, President and CEO of EuphorbUS, announced today that her company, , a “tree-based” biofuel company that has operated in East Africa since 2007, will soon open its first operating site in North America in Hawaii.
The Meetup is pricey, with registration $400+ for participants and $500-$1000 for presenters, who are selected by the conference organizations. (Might say I was surprised that the organizers called the event a meetup– because most “meetups” I’ve heard of are free or nearly so). Held at the Boston Convention Center, it runs through Wednesday.
—Anita M. Harris