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Join us to celebrate Haiti's people, culture and history at the O'Neill Branch Library with local organization, Wee the People. We will celebrate one of Haiti's biggest national holidays -- Haitian Flag Day -- and explore the slave revolt that defeated Europe's most powerful armies. Families with children ages 5 and up will make Haitian Hero Shields with the colors of the Haitian flag. No registration required. Levez-vous ! Célébration de la révolution haïtienne de 1804 Rejoignez-nous pour célébrer le peuple, la culture et l'histoire d'Haïti avec l'organisation locale Wee the People. Pour les familles avec des enfants de 5 ans et plus. Aucune inscription n'est requise. Levé! Selebre Revolisyon 1804 Ayisyen an Rejwenn nou pou selebre pèp, kilti ak istwa Ayiti avèk òganizasyon lokal, Wee the People. Pou fanmi ki gen timoun ki gen laj 5 an oswa plis. Okenn enskripsyon pa obligatwa

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Brandon M. Terry—John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Codirector of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research—for a discussion of his new book Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement. He will be joined in conversation by Danielle Allen—James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School and Director of the Democratic Knowledge Project-Learn at the Harvard Graduate School of Education—and Michael Sandel—Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University and the bestselling author of The Tyranny of Merit and Democracy’s Discontent. Registration is required.

Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through Danehy park to meet wintertime city plants and explore their medicinal uses! We will explore weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs, and have lots of space for questions and conversation. Bring a notebook if you like, and meet us at the parking lot on Sherman Street (if you're late you should be able to find us -- we won't move too far too fast!). Registration is required. This event has been rescheduled from 2/27/25

Every year, June is proclaimed Month of Portuguese Heritage in Massachusetts. Join us for a free concert at the Main Library in celebration of Portuguese Heritage Month. The concert will feature a jazz quartet performing works by Carlos Paredes and other Portuguese composers. Carlos Paredes (1925 – 2004), the most renowned Portuguese guitar composer, maintained significant artistic dialogues with other musical genres. Amongst his most important collaborations was an album recorded together with jazz musician Charlie Haden. The concert will also be a tribute to Paredes’ work on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The band consists of Tim Pascoal on piano; Gen Yoshimura on Drums; and Youngchae on upright bass. The performance will also feature Francisco Pais Cardoso on Guitar. A reception with Portuguese pastries will follow the concert. This event is cosponsored by the Cambridge Public Library and the Consulate General of Portugal in Boston, with the support of Camoes – Institute for Cooperation and Language (Portugal). Registration is required.

The City of Cambridge urges residents planning to celebrate Halloween to follow the guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and to engage in only lower or moderate risk activities to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Halloween activities are subject to the current state gathering size limits as well as applicable any sector-specific workplace safety standards. Halloween activities are subject to the current state gathering size limits.

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.

Continued implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP) guides development of Cambridge’s tree assets and enables the City to expand the urban forest canopy and be more resilient to climate change. In FY22, Public Works reached the UFMP ecommendation of planting 1,000 trees annually. To increase long-term survival of newly planted trees, Public Works has improved pre-planting soil preparation and post-planting aftercare. In fall 2021, over 10 tons of soil from composted yard waste was used to plant 475 trees. Miyawaki Microforest.

In March 2024, the City Council passed Policy Order 2024 #37, which asked the Community Development Department “to work with the chairs of the Housing Committee to create zoning language that effectively promotes multifamily housing, including income-restricted affordable housing with the goal of having viable housing for everyone especially lower-income residents.” A series of Housing Committee meetings will be held to discuss the proposal throughout the summer and fall of 2024. Additional information will be posted here as the proposal is developed.

Beginning Thursday, July 1, the City of Cambridge will offer free COVID-19 testing one day per week on Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. inside the CambridgeSide Mall. No appointment is needed. Thursday testing at the CambridgeSide Mall will no longer be drive-through testing by motor vehicle but will become a walk-in testing site without appointments inside the CambridgeSide Mall on the 2nd Floor above the Food Court. The current drive-through testing in the garage will shut down.

The Community Development Department (CDD) produces a wide variety of maps for its own use and as a source of information for the public. Topics range over wide area, covering everything from the locations of farmers markets to parks to zoning. You will find a number of web maps built directly into the CDD web pages where you can go to locations of interest throughout the City, focus on a specific topic through one of these interactive maps, or you can use the map gallery links to PDFs and other documents.