Around Town

Watertown Cable Wins Two Hometown Media Awards

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WCA-TV is excited to announce that we have received two Hometown Media Awards from the Alliance for Community Media Foundation. The awards program was established to honor and promote community media, community radio, and local cable programs that are distributed on Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access cable television channels. Proceeds go to the ACM Foundation which is exclusively used for facilitating, preserving and promoting education in community media. WCA-TV news producer, Dan Hogan, has won the Community Event Activism/Rallies award for his coverage of the 2021 Unity Breakfast. This award recognizes excellence in coverage of community events such as rallies or other events that are intended to bring about social or political change.

Around Town

Local Pastor Honored with Award at Unity Breakfast, He and Others Reflect on Teachings of Martin Luther King Jr.

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Charlie BreitroseA mural created by Watertown High School students for the 2020 Unity Breakfast. The 2022 Watertown Unity Breakfast honored a pair of people who have contributed to their communities, and featured the words of two young residents who shared their winning pieces in the Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest. For the second year in a row, the annual MLK Day event had to be held virtually. The broadcast of the ceremony debuted on Monday, and this year’s theme was “choosing courage.” Unity Award

The annual Unity Award went to a pastor of a Watertown church who has made a difference since he arrived in town a few years ago.

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Watertown Unity Breakfast to be Held Virtually on MLK Jr. Day, Awards to be Given to Local Pastor & a Civil Rights Activist

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Charlie BreitroseA mural created by Watertown High School students for the 20th annual Unity Breakfast. The following announcement was provided by the Watertown Unity Breakfast organizers:

The annual Watertown Unity Breakfast will be hosted on January 17th – the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr – at 10 a.m.

Since 2000, Watertown residents have come together to honor civil rights leaders, past and present, and to recommit to the principles of racial, social and economic justice. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event will be virtual. Event registration is now open at www.unitybreakfast.org. The Unity Breakfast is sponsored by World In Watertown, a civic organization that was founded by concerned Watertown residents in 1999 to protect and promote non-discriminatory practices in the city. 

At this year’s event, organizers will announce the creation of a scholarship fund, to be awarded in 2023, designed to support extraordinary young people in the Watertown community who show immense promise as agents of change.

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Nominations Sought for the Watertown Unity Award to be Presented at MLK Day Breakfast

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Charlie BreitroseA mural created by Watertown High School students for the 20th annual Unity Breakfast. Dear Members of the Watertown Community,

We are pleased to announce that we are seeking nominees for this year’s Unity Award. The Unity Award is given each year at Watertown’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Unity Breakfast to honor individuals or groups who are making significant contributions to civic life in Watertown. We seek to honor community members who are furthering Dr. King’s vision of racial, social and economic justice in our community in concrete ways. We particularly encourage nominations of individuals and groups who identify as people of color or are led by people of color.

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Unity Breakfast Features Youthful Voices, Calls for Racial Justice Locally & Nationally

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Michael Bobbitt served as Honorary Host of the 2021 Watertown Unity Breakfast. He has been artistic director at New Rep Theatre and will be the executive director of the Mass. Cultural Council. The 2020 Watertown Unity Breakfast had a different feel from years past, with the calls for action to fight for equity and against racism were more urgent and closer to home. The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event hosted by World in Watertown was held virtually instead of the typical gathering at the Hellenic Cultural Center.

Around Town

Unity Breakfast Speaker Known for Environmental, Social Justice Work

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Rev. Mariama White-Hammond will be the keynote speaker at the 2021 Unity Breakfast. The following announcement was provided by the Unity Breakfast Planning Committee:

The Unity Breakfast proudly welcomes Rev. Mariama White-Hammond as its keynote speaker for this year’s event. Rev. Mariama is a noted leader working locally and nationally for environmental and social justice. In addition to her work as the founding pastor of New Roots AME Church in Dorchester, Rev. Mariama is a fellow with the Green Justice Coalition, a group of 8 social and environmental justice organizations from across the state. In 2017, Rev. Mariama was the MC for both the Boston Women’s March and Boston People’s Climate Mobilization.

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Recipient of the 2021 Watertown Unity Award Announced

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The Unity Breakfast committee will present the 2021 award to Rhode Moise, Program Director at the Watertown Boys & Girls Club, at the MLK Day Unity Breakfast on Jan. 18. The following announcement was provided by the Unity Award Committee:

A favorite annual tradition at each MLK Day Unity Breakfast is the presentation of the Unity Award. The Unity Award recognizes an individual or group that is furthering Dr. King’s vision of racial, social and economic justice right here in our town. The Unity Breakfast committee is honored to present this year’s award to Rhode Moise, Program Director at the Watertown Boys & Girls Club.

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Watertown Group Making Banners Celebrating Civil Rights for Unity Breakfast

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Members of Sunrise Watertown with one of the banners made for the 2021 Watertown Unity Breakfast. They invite others to make their own banners. The following announcement was provided by Sunrise Watertown:

The past three Sundays, Sunrise Watertown, Uplift Watertown, and the Kingian Response Team partnered to create art for the upcoming Unity Breakfast (January 18, 2021). At the event, they painted banners with quotes from past and present civil rights activists that will be used to decorate the town in January as part of their #readthestreets campaign. 

“The Kingian Response Team was formed to develop a united local response to the murder of George Floyd. Over the past few months, this team has developed and proposed an antiracist Listen-Learn-Grow-Act pledge for both individuals and institutions in our town, in particular for our educational and public safety institutions,” writes Ruth Henry, founder of the Kinging Response Team and teacher at Watertown Middle School.