Author: Darrin Korte, Director of Out-of-School Time Programs, The Hip Hop Transformation Program Director

Last year I was lucky enough to be awarded a grant to run the program of my dreams at the Cambridge Community Center. It was a program that would combine my three biggest passions – social justice, youth work, and hip hop culture. The program was designed to teach teens in the Cambridge area about the history of hip hop culture and the role that it plays in their lives. Then we would teach them the art of hip hop music – how to write, record, and perform their own original music. 

Through this process we would develop conscious consumers who better understood the messages in the music they were listening to. We would develop teens that were comfortable exploring their talents and showcasing them in front of their community. We would combat the negative images often associated with hip hop music with the positive spirit that hip hop grew from. We would demystify the art of lyric writing and make this form of expression accessible to all of the program participants. We would connect them to positive role models in the local hip hop community. Through knowledge and experience we would inspire a transformation in the teens. The Hip Hop Transformation was born.

Author: Amelia Joselow, Director of Marketing and Outreach, Green Program Director, Cambridge Winter Farmers Market co-manager

Update!: Cambridge Winter Farmers Market now offers $15 SNAP matching (raised from $10), meaning SNAP users can exchange $15 SNAP for $30 in market tokens! More here!

Did you know that over 700,000 children and adults, more than one out of ten households, in Massachusetts deal with hunger on a daily basis? Did you also know that hunger and obesity are intricately tied? This is because families with lower incomes often make food choices based on "calories per dollar" in order to stretch their food budget and feed their families. Unfortunately, highly processed, high fat, high sugar, high sodium foods tend to be the cheapest, and therefore the most widely consumed by families who are fighting hunger.