Cambridge Life - Spring 2026
Our latest issue of Cambridge Life explores what are among our most valuable assets: the City’s parks and open spaces. They are essential to our community well being, environmental resilience, and the overall quality of urban life. From neighborhood tot lots to major destination parks, our valued green spaces provide residents with opportunities for recreation, relaxation, ecological learning, and connection with one another across all ages and backgrounds.
Federal Grants
CDBG, HOME and ESG entitlement grants for affordable housing, community development and homeless services.
Summer Reading: Tiny Gardens Everywhere (Main)
Uncover the radical roots of urban gardening with Kate Brown, author of Tiny Gardens Everywhere (2026).
The history of gardening in European and North American cities in the 20th century is a story about ordinary people working with each other—and with plants and microbes—to cultivate life in the unlikeliest of places. Using the deluge of nutrients that flow into cities, working class gardeners regenerated wasteland, built the first garden city communities, and engaged in the most productive agriculture in recorded human history. Following the plants and microbes, urban gardeners also built mutual aid societies that advocated for equity, social welfare, and rights—rights not to liberty and the pursuit of happiness (who can eat that?) but to food, fuel, and shelter; to well-being for all.
Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT. Her prize-winning books include Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (2019), Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (2013), and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (2004).
Presented in partnership with City of Cambridge Community Garden Program.
CPL Nature Club - Alewife Afternoon Nature Walk (O'Neill)
Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool.
The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places.
Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive.
In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled.
Registration is helpful but not required.
For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.
Cambridge Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant
The Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program is a complementary grant program to the city’s Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant. It is a special program helping Cambridge’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) eligible for-profit retail, food, personal services, and creative businesses with a grant up to $10,000 per brick and mortar business. The program provides short-term working capital assistance to support businesses with inventory purchases (perishable and non-perishable), Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) purchases or upgrades, and rent payments to enable businesses to open and ensure the retention of jobs after the severe interruption of business related to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
CPL Nature Club - Alewife Afternoon Nature Walk (O'Neill)
Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places.
The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. To view the location in Google Maps and get directions, click here.
Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive.
In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled.
Registration is helpful but not required.
For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.
CPL Nature Club - Alewife Afternoon Nature Walk (O'Neill)
Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places.
The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. To view the location in Google Maps and get directions, click here.
Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive.
In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled.
Registration is helpful but not required.
For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.
CPL Nature Club - Alewife Afternoon Nature Walk (O'Neill)
Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places.
The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. To view the location in Google Maps and get directions, click here.
Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive.
In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled.
Registration is helpful but not required.
For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.
CPL Nature Club - Alewife Afternoon Nature Walk (O'Neill)
Come explore the nature in our urban backyard! We will take a leisurely walk as we observe and learn together about the animals and plants at Alewife Reservation. You are welcome to bring binoculars, magnifying glasses or any other observational tool. The paths and boardwalks are well maintained but can be muddy in places.
The walk will meet at the stone benches by the wetland boardwalk. To view the location in Google Maps and get directions, click here.
Limited free parking is available in the Alewife Reservation lot on Acorn Drive.
In case of inclement weather, this event will be canceled.
Registration is helpful but not required.
For more information call the O’Neill Branch at 617-349-4023.