Roxbury Main Streets
June Newsletter
2023
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From the Desk of Executive Director
Robert George
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Wow. What a show.
On May 13, Roxbury Main Streets welcomed about 100 residents, community partners and small business owners to our ‘Bury Funny Stand-Up Comedy Fundraiser. It was our third time hosting the show, but this year was unlike ever before — The crowd was filled with individuals from all walks of life, yet we shared laughs I will remember forever. It was truly a special night, and I am already looking forward to next year.
Thank you to Roxbury Main Streets’ event sponsors, especially our gold sponsors, The New Commonwealth Fund and Madison Park Development Corporation, and our silver sponsors, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Richard Taylor of Nubian Square Ascends. Continue reading this newsletter to see photos from the show, and reach out if you are interested in supporting the fundraiser next year, including volunteering, sponsoring or cracking some jokes on stage.
And just a few days later, we walked down Washington Street to celebrate the grand opening of Nubian Markets! The community gathering space is welcoming, and the café and market are full of nourishing and diverse cultural foods. It was a wonderful day of celebrating the accomplishments of Nubian Markets’ founders, Yusuf Yassin and Ismail Samad. The market is now fully open, and you can read more about it in this newsletter.
Earlier that same day, Roxbury Main Streets’ communications and community relations specialist, Delaney Murray, accompanied the executive director of community relations for Boston University’s medical campus, Valeda Britton, to Casa Myrna’s 14th Annual Community of Conscience Breakfast. The event helped raise awareness about domestic violence, and we cannot thank Casa Myrna enough for its phenomenal service to Boston communities. Thank you, Valeda, for bringing Roxbury Main Streets as your guest. Continue reading for more details about the breakfast.
Later in the month, Roxbury Main Streets partnered with The American City Coalition for the second month of Savor the Square. May’s book fair helped provide young people and families in Roxbury with literature. Check out Savor the Square’s next date below.
Even with the warmer weather, we are seeing environmental improvements in Nubian Square thanks to our city partners in public health, public works, police, inspectional services and transit police, as well as community organizations. Warmer weather brings more people, but our community organizations are ready to provide each and every individual with the resources they need. We’d love to show you around — If you would like to help revitalize Roxbury’s commercial district, community partners are welcome to join our weekly Nubian Square walkthroughs on Thursdays, starting at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Nubian Square bus terminal Dunkin’.
And more developments are on the way. Roxbury Main Streets is dedicated to cultivating a mixed-income economy for Roxbury, which will provide more jobs for the community, generate growth for small businesses, create opportunities for residents to build generational wealth and more.
Thank you to the community, our partners and the Roxbury Main Streets board of directors for your dedication and commitment to our organization and Roxbury as a whole. Revitalizing Nubian Square takes a village, but our collective efforts have proven invaluable. I am excited for what the summer will bring.
Until next month.
Sincerely,
Robert M. George, Executive Director of Roxbury Main Streets
#RoxburyLove
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The Cannabis Empowerment Series
June 12 and more
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Rooted In and the City of Boston are hosting the FREE Cannabis Empowerment Series from June 12 to 18!
RSVP to gain the knowledge and tools to succeed in the rapidly-growing cannabis industry.
Speakers will include City officials and industry experts.
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Rodent Control Virtual Conference
Wednesday, June 14
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The City of Boston's Office of Inspectional Services is hosting a Zoom conference to discuss best practices for rodent control. Join on June 14 at 6:00 p.m.
The conference is designed to empower Boston residents and business owners to reduce and prevent rodent activity.
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Savor the Square 2023
June 24 and more
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Savor the Square is Nubian Square’s seasonal open-air marketplace.
Savor the Square 2023 features seven themed events, expanded hours and a broad selection of Black and Brown vendors for food, music/ entertainment, locally-grown produce, arts/crafts, pop-up events and civic resources.
Click below for more information.
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Thank you, The American City Coalition, for bringing Roxbury Main Streets on as a partner for this event! |
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Open Streets Roxbury
Saturday, July 15
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is making Nubian Square pedestrian-friendly for the second annual Open Streets!
Blue Hill Avenue will be closed from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for the Roxbury community and visitors to bike, walk, roll and connect with each other and small businesses.
Click here for more information.
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Women's Entrepreneurial Breakfast
Thursday, September 21
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Save the date!
On Thursday, September 21, Roxbury Main Streets will host its annual Women's Entrepreneurial Breakfast.
Special speakers will include president of the NAACP Boston Branch, Tanisha Sullivan, and the City of Boston's director of small business, Aliesha Porcena.
The breakfast will be held at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Nubian Square from 8 to 10 a.m.
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Donate to
Roxbury Main Streets
Click below to make any level of donation.
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Other Events in the Community |
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Workshops for Personal Care Small Businesses
Until June 20
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Workshops for small businesses in personal care, beauty and salon practices are still in session!
The City of Boston's Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion is hosting these workshops virtually, featuring special guest presenters, to help personal care small businesses with budgeting, operating, marketing and more.
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Workshops for Fitness Small Businesses
Until June 22
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The City of Boston's Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion is hosting free virtual and in-person workshops for small businesses in the fitness or gym industry until the end of June! |
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GET LIT - WINKids Book Band Club
Monday, July 31
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Only one session left!
The Witherspoon Institute is hosting the GET LIT — WINKids Book Ban-d Club at the Nubian Square branch of the Boston Public Library! The last session is July 31.
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What a Night!
Stand-Up Comedy Fundraiser
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On May 13, Roxbury Main Streets welcomed 100 residents, community partners and small business owners to our third annual ‘Bury Funny Stand-Up Comedy Fundraiser! With your help, we raised funds to support small and minority-owned businesses in Nubian Square — the heart of Roxbury. |
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Boston-based comedians come together every year to help raise money for Roxbury Main Streets to put into the community. This year, the energy in Hibernian Hall on Dudley Street was vibrant — just like Nubian Square. |
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The audience was filled with a diverse group of supporters — from longtime Roxbury residents, to representatives from our sponsoring organizations and some students from neighboring colleges. The diverse crowd made the comedians nervous, but everyone came together and shared in rare, unrestrained and uniting laughter. |
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Host Corey Manning and comedians Kareem Green, Josh Gondelman, Mugga Pheonix and Marshall Brandon unified the crowd with every joke, including bits about the Black experience, the history of Nubian Square and longtime individuals in Roxbury. And of course, the comedians picked some of our board members and sponsors out of the crowd for some embarrassing, but hilarious, jokes. |
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Before the show, attendees grabbed some food and drinks around the Square, and the fun continued at the event’s after-party held at Suya Joint across the street, a small and Black-owned West African restaurant. Roxbury Main Streets hosts the comedy show every year in hopes that audience members will check out small businesses while visiting the Square — and they sure did!
The two-hour show flew by with participation from audience members. The comedians loved getting to know attendees from the stage, including a couple that has been married for 29 years, a 90-year-old lifelong Roxbury resident and a few self-proclaimed comedians sitting in the front row.
Manning was sure to pick on our silver sponsors, Wentworth Institute of Technology and Richard Taylor of Nubian Square Ascends, and gold sponsors, The New Commonwealth Fund and the Madison Park Development Corporation. Thank you, sponsors, for your contributions and for making the show extra special.
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Thank you to our team sponsors, BlueHub Capital, Boston University, City of Boston Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, Eastern Bank Foundation, Ella Howard (board member) and Urbanica Boston, and our supporter sponsors, BLOOM Architecture, Boston Main Streets Foundation, City of Boston Credit Union, Cruz Companies, Dorchester Bay EDC, Metro Credit Union, Northeastern University, Payne|Bouchier, Stamatos Property Management and UU Urban Ministry.
And we are extra appreciative of the community members who purchased a ticket to the show. We had a number of individuals choose to purchase a ticket at a higher price just so they could donate — It was truly touching.
If you would like to get involved with the comedy fundraiser next year, please reach out to us — We are always looking for volunteers, sponsors and, of course, comedians.
We hope you keep sharing laughs until next year’s comedy fundraiser. Stay tuned for a save-the-date!
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Congratulations to the Nubian Markets team!
On May 17, we joined dozens of Roxbury residents, community organizations and city partners to celebrate the grand opening of Nubian Markets at 2565 Washington Street. It was a joyous day filled with community, delicious food and remarks from special dignitaries, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, State Sen. Liz Miranda and representatives from the Boston Medical Center.
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The community was so thrilled to finally honor the founders of Nubian Markets, Ismail Samad and Yusuf Yassin, who expressed their love for community.
“This market and café is much more than my brotherhood with Ismail, more than a business — It’s a place for the Black community, owned by Black people,” Yassin said.
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Nubian Markets was largely funded by the Boston Medical Center. The hospital wanted to start preventing medical issues in communities, rather than react to them. Boston Medical Center noticed Nubian Square needed more grocery stores and healthy food options, so it allocated funding and support to create a culturally-competent market and café with nourishing foods for the Roxbury community. City offices, foundations and other funders jumped in to help.
But we have to support Nubian Markets for it to thrive. Move your grocery shopping to the brand-new market featuring Black-owned brands, grab some lunch while driving through Nubian Square and host your community meetings in the café with coffee and pastries.
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As Richard Taylor of Nubian Square Ascends — and vice president of the Roxbury Main Streets board of directors — said at the event, Nubian Markets is plural because its funding model will soon be replicated across the U.S. to improve health and economic equity in historically underserved neighborhoods. |
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Congratulations to the team — or really, family — at Nubian Markets. Check out their website here, and remember to shop in Nubian Square!
#RoxburyLove
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Congrats to our winning businesses!
Legacy Businesses Award Celebration
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Congratulations, Ideal Sub Shop and Silver Slipper Restaurant, for your legacy in Roxbury!
On May 22 at Faneuil Hall, the City of Boston celebrated businesses that have been integral to their communities for decades. The Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion described these businesses as "cultural anchors and repositories of community traditions and stories." Mayor Michelle Wu, Chief Segun Idowu, Small Business Director Aliesha Porcena and other officials awarded more than 25 businesses across Boston, including Roxbury's very own legacy businesses.
Stop by Ideal Sub Shop at 522 Dudley Street and Silver Slipper Restaurant at 2387 Washington Street to celebrate the long-time owners. And congratulations to our neighbors over at Latino Beauty Supply for their win!
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Thank You, Casa Myrna
Community of Conscience Breakfast
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Before sunrise on May 17, Roxbury Main Streets’ communications and community relations specialist, Delaney Murray, headed to Seaport to join Valeda Britton, the executive director of community relations for the Boston University medical campus, at Casa Myrna’s 14th Annual Community of Conscience Breakfast. This year’s theme was “resistance, persistence and perseverance.” |
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Casa Myrna is Boston’s largest provider of domestic violence awareness efforts, shelter and supportive services to survivors. The organization helps survivors — in multiple languages — recover from the trauma of abuse and begin to build sustainable self-sufficiency. The organization will be focusing its efforts more on housing and economic support for women and their families, because women without financial stability or shelter are less able to leave domestic violence situations.
Approximately 300 people attended the breakfast, from domestic violence survivors, to Casa Myrna’s sponsors and government dignitaries. The keynote speaker was Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, joined by Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll and Miss Boston 2023 Arcadia Ewell.
Casa Myrna’s CEO, Stephanie Brown, invited Zuleica to speak, a domestic violence survivor. She touched the hearts and minds of everyone in the audience, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
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Brown presented the Casa Myrna Ambassador Award to Nicky Bandera, the founder of Project Paulie. In 2020, Bandera started cooking and bringing meals to a few families in need. Ten families quickly became 100, then 500, now countless families. Bandera believes that “feeding each other” reaches beyond food to all kinds of support. So, she designs and sells hats and gives the proceeds to organizations that feed communities — including Casa Myrna.
Thank you to the entire Casa Myrna team for your phenomenal service. For more information on Casa Myrna, click here.
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GRANTS
for Small Businesses
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES
in Nubian Square
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HOUSING
Register Your Rental Unit!
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OUR MISSION
Roxbury Main Streets works hands-on with residents, local businesses, developers and government agencies to accomplish our mission of making Nubian Square — the heart of Roxbury — a vibrant and diverse commercial district that supports local and minority-owned businesses, creates jobs for local residents and engages the Roxbury community. Roxbury Main Streets takes action in a number of ways, from offering small businesses technical support and financial training, to helping local health agencies house the homeless and treat substance use. We help businesses in the Square adapt to the ever-changing market and our growing Roxbury community.
Revitalizing Nubian Square takes a village, and Roxbury Main Streets proudly brings together passionate partners who share our mission and help us make a long-lasting difference.
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GET YOUR BUSINESS CERTIFIED |
You can apply for certification with the City of Boston's Equity and Inclusion Office if your business meets certain qualifications.
Click here for more information.
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Roxbury Main Streets Board of Directors |
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Haris Hardaway, President
Richard Taylor, Vice President
Norvia Peña, Secretary
Carlos Castillo, Treasurer
Solmon Chowdury, Angela Yard, Brian Keith, Kamran Zahedi, Ella Howard, Toy Burton, Ronnette Taylor, Misha Thomas, Kai Philip, Monica Dean, William Watkins, Ted Lewis
Robert M. George, Executive Director
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