Medicinal Plant Walk (Central Square)
Join herbalist Mo Katz-Christy for a meander through the neighborhood to meet 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 Central Square Branch Library. Note this program begins at the library but will then walk throughout the neighborhood -- arriving late may mean you miss the group at the library and will not be able to catch up.
CPL Presents: Stephanie Foo, author of WHAT MY BONES KNOW (Main/Virtual)
Please join the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Stephanie Foo, the author of the bestselling memoir What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma, for a reading and discussion of her book. Called "a work of immense beauty" by Publisher's Weekly in a starred review, Foo's memoir about enduring C-PTSD has become an essential document for so many survivors and those that know them.
This is a hybrid event and registration is required.
Stand with Sudan: Teach-in with Transition Magazine (Main/Virtual)
Join the Cambridge Public Library for a Teach-In facilitated by the team of Transition Magazine. Contributors to the current issue on Sudan—Fatin Abbas, Alex De Waal, Nisrin Elamin, and Alden Young—as well as members of the local Sudanese community will speak and discuss the present-day conflict in Sudan, its roots, what stands to be lost, and how to move toward a lasting peace.
Free copies of the Sudan issue of Transition will be on hand. Registration is required for virtual attendance.
CPL Nature Club: Danehy Park Winter Plant Walk (O'Neill)
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
CANCELLED: Songs, Stories, and Conversation in Mandarin (Valente)
The Saturday, May 24 event has been cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience; please register and join us on June 14.
Join us for an hour of songs, stories, and social meet-up in Mandarin Chinese with JingJing and Chelsea, two local mothers and educators. This fun and interactive session brings families together in a warm, welcoming environment.
This event is for children and their caregivers. In the first half, listen to engaging stories and sing lively songs. In the second half, children will do an activity, and everyone will have an opportunity to socialize.
Park Sounds: Caribbean Heritage Month Edition with PanNeubean Steel
PanNeubean Steel is a dynamic steelpan guided ensemble delivering vibrant Caribbean rhythms with modern flair. Rooted in tradition and driven by innovation, the band brings energy, precision, and crowd-moving performances to every stage—celebrating culture, community, and the unmistakable sound of steel.
PARK SOUNDS 2026 brings free outdoor musical performances featuring local artists to the front lawn of the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. These events are all-ages. Bring a chair, food, and loved ones to celebrate the summer! Funding is provided by the CPL Foundation in memory of Janet Axelrod.
Summer Reading: Community Celebration and Community Build (O'Neill)
The original program scheduled for this day with Little Uprisings will be postponed. Please stay tuned for a new date.
The following description is for the program that will be on Saturday:
Join friends at the O'Neill Branch to build, build, BUILD your idea of a neighborhood and a community! Let your imagination run wild with LEGOs, Magna-Tiles and other building toys.
We will also have books about neighborhoods and a collaborative art project about our community.
For children ages 5 and up. Children under age 7 must be accompanied by a caregiver. LEGO pieces are choking hazards for young children.
Get Help Lowering Your Energy Bills
The City of Cambridge offers free, one-on-one help to residents looking to lower their energy bills. Through the Cambridge Energy Helpline (617-430-6230), callers get connected to a trained adviser who can explain cost-saving programs, from fuel assistance and discount utility rates to solar credits and no-cost energy assessments. Support is available to renters, homeowners, and landlords alike—regardless of building type.
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.
Multifamily Citywide
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.