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Somerville students, agency honored for advocacy
Somerville
celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of human rights activism by
honoring a high school student and organization with the city's annual
awards at a Jan. 17 event.
Ninth-grader Joytika Bhargo received the individual award for her strides against substance abuse. Bhargo is a youth organizer with Somerville Cares About Prevention and a participant in the group's peer education team, according to Sonja Darai, city director of commissions.
Bhargo "always assists with any events that SCAP organizes and hosts ... She is very determined and wants the best for her friends and neighbors. She brings out the best in her coworkers and the best in the people she is around," Darai said at the event.
In addition, six students were honored for their submissions to a King-themed essay contest: fourth-grader Mariah Ortega and second-graders Kyla Cavanaugh, Aidan Blum Levine, Isaac Leib, Shiv Rattan, Max Scimemi, and Alena Thalput.
The Somerville-based Haitian Coalition won the organizational award after a hard year responding to the January 2010 earthquake, an event they observed with a Jan. 14 remembrance.
The challenges have been both emotional and practical, said executive director Franklin Dalembert. The group offers English and citizenship/civic engagement classes; helps newcomers navigate the system; and provides regular group therapy sessions for people affected by the earthquake with funding from the state and the United Way. Those with greater mental health needs are referred to the Cambridge Health Alliance for one-on-one counseling, Dalembert said.
Advocacy extended to the mother country as well. In April, the coalition sent volunteers to Port-au-Prince for two weeks to deliver mental health counseling and medical assistance, teach CPR to 60 women, and distribute supplies. The trip is detailed in a report on the coalition's website.
The award "is an honor for us," Dalembert said, that shows "we are doing something positive in the City of Somerville to improve the lives of the Haitian people as well as to improve the city at large."
"We Haitians, we are part of the fabric of Somerville."
Learn more at haitian-coalition.org.
Ninth-grader Joytika Bhargo received the individual award for her strides against substance abuse. Bhargo is a youth organizer with Somerville Cares About Prevention and a participant in the group's peer education team, according to Sonja Darai, city director of commissions.
Bhargo "always assists with any events that SCAP organizes and hosts ... She is very determined and wants the best for her friends and neighbors. She brings out the best in her coworkers and the best in the people she is around," Darai said at the event.
In addition, six students were honored for their submissions to a King-themed essay contest: fourth-grader Mariah Ortega and second-graders Kyla Cavanaugh, Aidan Blum Levine, Isaac Leib, Shiv Rattan, Max Scimemi, and Alena Thalput.
The Somerville-based Haitian Coalition won the organizational award after a hard year responding to the January 2010 earthquake, an event they observed with a Jan. 14 remembrance.
The challenges have been both emotional and practical, said executive director Franklin Dalembert. The group offers English and citizenship/civic engagement classes; helps newcomers navigate the system; and provides regular group therapy sessions for people affected by the earthquake with funding from the state and the United Way. Those with greater mental health needs are referred to the Cambridge Health Alliance for one-on-one counseling, Dalembert said.
Advocacy extended to the mother country as well. In April, the coalition sent volunteers to Port-au-Prince for two weeks to deliver mental health counseling and medical assistance, teach CPR to 60 women, and distribute supplies. The trip is detailed in a report on the coalition's website.
The award "is an honor for us," Dalembert said, that shows "we are doing something positive in the City of Somerville to improve the lives of the Haitian people as well as to improve the city at large."
"We Haitians, we are part of the fabric of Somerville."
Learn more at haitian-coalition.org.
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