FY23 Budget meeting: Final vote and year-end transfers meeting takes place Thursday, June 23, 6:00 p.m. Public meeting of the Finance Committee. View agenda, video stream, and minutes at https://somervillecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Default.aspx

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Laugh Garden! A Comedy Fundraiser for Groundwork Somerville, Friday June 24, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., 138 South St. Come for the fresh jokes and feel good about those laughs: your ticket purchase and donations will help support Groundwork Somerville’s education and food access programs. Featuring comedy from Tooky Kavanaugh, Sean Rosa, Angela Sawyer, and Zach Jones. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Please purchase on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/GroundworkSomerville.

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Celebrate the Nepali community at this year’s Nepal Festival. Join the Somerville Arts Council, the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and the Greater Boston Nepali Community – GBNC and enjoy Nepali cuisine, music, cultural dances, crafts, and much more. The Nepal Festival will take place Saturday, June 25, at 4:00 p.m. in Union Square Plaza, (rain date June 26). To learn more, visit: https://somervilleartscouncil.org/artsunion/2022/nepal

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Celebrating their birthdays this week: We wish a very happy birthday to a great person and longtime resident of Somerville, Paula LeBlanc. She is very committed to her work as a paralegal at attorney Sean O’Donovan’s law office. We wish her the very best. Happy birthday to a good guy, Jonathan Buck, who celebrates this week. We wish all of our Facebook friends, such as Dave Bertocchi, we wish him a great day, Kathi Mullins, Terra Yann, Kenneth Lonergan, Marie Kearns, Hugo A Volpe, John O’Rourke, Cory Mashburn, Mark Anthony Anderson, Diane Dee-Dee and Peter Tsairidie a very happy birthday. We hope everyone has a great day. To all the others we may have missed, we sincerely wish them the very best of birthdays.

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Our condolences go out to the family of Somerville Police officer Randy Isaacs who lost his life this week due to a medical emergency. Our thoughts are with his family and fellow officers. We will update our website when any arrangements are made.

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This Friday, take a free walking tour with Antonio Escobar, Somerville Arts Council Board Member. Discover the delicious diversity of Union Square and visit three international markets. You will end at Bow Market where you can enjoy tasty food at Nibble Kitchen. Friday, June 24, at 6:00 p.m. To sign up please send an email to nibblesomerville@gmail.com, OR fill out this form https://bit.ly/39qjdbX. Tours last 1.5 hours and are free, we just encourage you to buy a few things during the tour.

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The City of Somerville, the City of Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) invite you to a virtual public meeting to discuss ways to protect and improve our local water resources, including the Mystic River, the Alewife Brook, and the Charles River. The City of Somerville, the City of Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) invite you to a virtual public meeting to discuss ways to protect and improve our local water resources, including the Mystic River, the Alewife Brook, and the Charles River. The meeting will take place virtually on Wednesday, June 29, at 6 p.m. Interpretation will be available into Portuguese, Spanish, Amharic, and Bengali. The presentation materials and the recording will be made available in additional languages following the meeting. For more information and to register to attend, go to somervillema.gov/cso. 

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The Somerville Homeless Coalition needs snacks for their clients, and as the weather warms, up bottled water, sunscreen, and bug spray become essentials. All donations can be dropped off weekdays at 1 Davis Square office from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. for lunch. Visit their Facebook page to see a list of their client necessities: www.facebook.com/SomervilleHomelessCoalition.

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Stay protected against COVID-19. The Somerville Public Library (MA), 79 Highland Ave., will host a vaccine clinic on Wednesday July 13, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Pfizer vaccine and boosters will be available for all people five years and up. The clinics are free, regardless of immigration status or health insurance. Identification is not required. Appointments are required and can be made at: tinyurl.com/SomervilleVax. For more vaccination options visit somervillema.gov/vaccine. If you need assistance to pre-register or help with transportation, please contact 3-1-1 at 617-666-3311.

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This summer, the city is offering three spaces just for teens while efforts to identify a permanent Teen Center location continue. Temporary spaces include: Somerville Public Library, Central Branch, 79 Highland Ave.; Edgerly Education Center, 33 Cross St.; Powderhouse Park, 838 Broadway. Each space will provide activities, snacks, connections to services, and access to city social workers. For opening dates and more information, visit somervillema.gov/teencenter.

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The Somerville Museum along with the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) will be hosting a Reading Frederick Douglass Together event on Thursday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m. We invite all members of our community to join in this public reading and discussion of Douglass’ famous speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” This event was made possible by Mass Humanities. Learn more about RFDT and follow Mass Humanities to see the work they’re doing across the Commonwealth. https://masshumanities.org/programs/douglass/

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Starting July 13, a new Housing Stability Notification Act amendment will require landlords to provide tenants with information about their rights and resources at the start of all new housing rentals, rather than only when pursuing eviction. Anyone facing displacement or needing housing assistance is urged to contact the Office of Housing Stability at 617-625-6600 ext. 2581. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/ohs

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Serve and inspire this summer! Somerville Public Schools and community partners have many ways you can serve this summer. There are opportunities to engage in academics, arts, music, athletics, outdoor adventure, gardening, and much more. New to volunteering with SPS? Contact SPS Volunteer Coordinator Jen Capuano at JCapuano@k12.somerville.ma.us.

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The city’s Adopt-A-Tree program has officially launched. Newly planted trees can be found around Somerville, and now they need your help. Look for the colorful “Adopt Me!” tags and scan the QR code or visit tinyurl.com/somervilletree to find a tree in your neighborhood and go through the steps to adopt it. Name it, water it and even receive an adoption certificate. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/adoptatree.

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Don’t forget to visit Somerville’s farmers markets. Every Wednesday through November 23, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. visit the Davis Square Farmers Market, across from American Flatbread at 44 Day St. Visit: https://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/davis. Every Saturday through October 29, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., the Union Square Farmers Market takes place at 66-70 Union Sq. visit: https://www.unionsquaremain.org/2022-fmseason. Every Sunday through November 20, the East Somerville Farmers Market takes place at 115 Broadway, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Visit https://www.eastsomervillemainstreets.org/market. There is a $15 SNAP match at all Farmers Markets across Somerville.

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Somerville Public Library’s Chapter Chatter for ages 9-11 meets the last Wednesday of every month. The next great read and discussion will be of Mark Oshiro’s The Insiders on June 29. Meetings are held at the Central Library (79 Highland Ave.) from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. More details can be found at https://www.somervillepubliclibrary.org/kids/kids-book-clubs.

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