Around Town

City Receives More Than 30 Applications for ARPA Funds

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The City of Watertown has $10.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that can be spent on a variety of areas as part of Pandemic recovery. The City Council requested proposals for use of the money and received 32 applications from City departments, community organizations, individuals, or a combination of those. The requests total nearly $24 million in funds, and include areas such as affordable housing, food pantries, and social workers. The City has several applications, including multiple for water infrastructure projects. The Watertown Library seeks to build another study/work room.

Around Town

Local Church Host Site for Global Leadership Summit

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Grace Chapel Watertown will be a host site for the Global Leadership Summit on Aug. 3-4, 2023. The speakers at this year’s summit include former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and founder of Sseko Designs and author Liz Bohannon. According to the Global Leadership Summit:

The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) is the largest leadership experience in the world which partners with local churches, ministries, and organizations to help leaders to grow and become a catalyst for change. With the partnership of industry-leading experts that represent the best of ministry wisdom with marketplace insights, GLS will inspire and equip you to lead boldly and wisely, no matter where you serve in the world!

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Watertown Rec: Beat the Heat on Waterslides, Family Movie Night, Street Hockey & Tennis

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Watertown Recreation has plenty going on for kids this summer, including a waterslide event at Victory Field on July 7, a Family Movie Night on the 14th, and the Cops N Rec Street Hockey program begins July 10. Register Online: www.recreation.watertown-ma.gov go to “Online Registration.” The following information was provided by the Watertown Recreation Department:

Special Events coming soon! We are hosting a waterslide event this Friday 7/7

Location: Victory Field Oval

Time: 10:00am – 3:00pm

Play video games on the Mobile Video Bus on Thur. 7/13

Location: Victory Field

Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm

See Puss and Boots: The Last Wish on Friday Night 7/14 – I have attached the flier for the movie night above!

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Find Out What Happened in Watertown on July 18 & 19 at a Historical Society Event

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Photo by Charlie BreitroseBob Childs of the Historical Society of Watertown reads the Declaration of Independence in 2016 from the same spot it was first read in 1776, the second floor of the Edmund Fowle House. This year’s event will be at the Senior Center

The Historical Society of Watertown’s celebration of Treaty Day returns in-person in 2023, with an event at the Senior Center on July 18. The Historical Society sent out the following announcement:

Join us in the air-conditioned, Watertown Senior Center for the story in words and pictures behind Watertown’s first public reading of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Watertown Treaty between the Mi’kmaq and St. John (aka Maliseet) in Canada and the newly formed United States. The Treaty ofWatertown was the first international U.S. treaty.

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Watertown Preparing to Form a Human Rights Commission, Working on Details of Group’s Role

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Charlie BreitroseWatertown City Hall

Watertown is on the verge of a milestone as it moves closer to establishing its first-ever Human Rights Commission. After a vote in the Subcommittee on Rules & Ordinances on June 5th, a final draft of the Human Rights Commission ordinance passed out of the committee and will move to a final vote in the Council. No one, it seems, expects it to meet much blow-back. “This is incredibly exciting and overdue,” said Bevin Croft, who was a member of the informal residents’ committee and a former member of Cambridge’s Human Rights Commission. “It’s exciting to see something that was so controversial before get another push and be met with almost no resistance.

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Watertown Girl Representing Mass. at JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress

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Watertown’s Kate Putnam will be a Massachusetts delegate at the JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress. Pictured are the delegates from the 2019 conference. (Photo courtesy of JDRF). The following information was provided by JDRF:

Kate Putnam, age 14 of Watertown, MA, was chosen by JDRF, the leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research, to join a delegation of her peers and celebrity advocates in Washington, D.C., this summer at JDRF 2023 Children’s Congress from July 9-11. Kate will join more than 160 other youth from across the country to meet with their Members of Congress and other key decisionmakers to inform them of the critical role they can play in supporting the T1D community. 

Throughout the event, these youth — ages 4 to 17 — will participate in leadership and character-building programming, interact with T1D role models, and engage in a number of activities on the Hill, including attending a Senate hearing to share personal testimonies that highlight the challenges of living with T1D and the need for continued Federal funding through the Special Diabetes Program, or SDP (www.jdrf.org/get-involved/advocacy/special-diabetes-program). 

“When it comes to my experience with type 1, I have been extremely lucky to get the care and support that I need, but I still deal with a high degree of stress.

Around Town

Wayside Youth & Family Network Appoints New President, CEO

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The following announcement was provided by Wayside Youth & Family Network, which has locations around Eastern Massachusetts, including in Watertown:

After an extensive search process, Sara McCabe, LICSW was unanimously appointed by the Board of Directors to be Wayside’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, replacing long time CEO Eric L. Masi, Ed.D as he retires. Sara began her career at Wayside in 2003 as a residential counselor and teacher at Wayside’s special education school, Wayside Academy. Since then, she’s held many roles including Assistant Director of Wayside Academy, Training and Risk Management Director and Campus Director. In 2017 Sara was promoted to Vice President of Campus Services responsible for overseeing six adolescent residential programs, the Wayside Academy, and the psychiatric day treatment program at the Framingham Campus. In addition to her role as Vice President, Sara also oversaw the Marketing and Development Department and led the Agency’s 2020 Strategic Planning process. In September 2021 Sara was promoted to the agency’s first Chief Operating Officer charged with positioning the agency for continued growth in Central, Eastern and Northeastern Massachusetts.