The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) recently awarded a nearly $1.5 million multi-year grant to Somerville Public Schools (SPS) to expand access, and align and improve quality of its local early education system through strategic partnerships between the school district and EEC-licensed early education programs in the Somerville community. The Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI) targets children who will be eligible for kindergarten by September 2020 through a public-private model that meets the needs of local families. Somerville was awarded just over $283,000 during the first period of the grant (through June 30, 2019), and is slated to receive just over $600,000 for each of the next two years pending project state funding availability. Other CPPI grant awardees were Boston, Springfield, New Bedford, North Adams, and Lowell.

— Photo courtesy of Somerville Fire Department

UPDATE: An arrest has been made in the March 12 fire at the Partners Healthcare parking garage. Somerville Police placed Aniel Wilson, of Boston, under arrest on multiple counts of burning personal property, vandalism, and furnishing false identification.

Wilson was arraigned in Somerville District Court later that same day and was ordered to submit to a mental health evaluation.

By Jim Clark

Somerville Police officers were dispatched to the Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store at Assembly Row on reports of a shoplifter in the store.

Upon arrival, the female suspect had just fled with perfume and a journal totaling $147, according to the store’s manager. The officers checked the area but could not locate the suspect.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

As we get ready for a slew of construction and detours, it’s a well-known fact that a lot of us “old timers” lament over “the way it used to be” here in our beloved city. In the name of progress, we say goodbye to the old and whether we like it or not, try to get used to the new changes.

On Saturday, March 2, a sold-out room of more than 70 attendees and nine breweries raised a pint and funds for the Mass Brewers Guild during Meet the Brewers Freshman Class of 2019.

The Mass Brewers Guild is the state’s nonprofit organization that works to protect and promote the interest of craft brewers. The intimate, roundtable style tasting event featured the state’s newly launched breweries and offered ticket holders unique access to brewers.

The number of applicants for affordable rental units in Massachusetts far exceeds the supply and is rapidly growing, one of the many issues addressed by the Section 8 Housing Choice Mobile Voucher Program.

By Jim Clark

A resolution to urge the city’s Congressional Delegation to sponsor the Universal Housing budget amendment was put forward at the latest meeting of the Somerville City Council.

Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen said that the resolution was submitted in collaboration with a number of affordable housing activists in the community, in support of fully funding the Section 8 Housing Choice Mobile Voucher Program.

Linda Schlossberg writes fiction and teaches literature and creative writing at Harvard.

By JT Thompson

Linda Schlossberg grew up in San Francisco, initially in the Haight Ashbury district, then in the suburbs, and came to Boston as an undergraduate at Brandeis. She then earned a PhD at Harvard in English and American literature, and is now Assistant Director of Studies for Harvard’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. She was thrilled to be awarded a 2019 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council/Mass Cultural Council, as well as the 2016 Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Writer’s Center in Maryland.

On Sunday, March 17, 3:00 p.m. at Sally O’Brien’s, 335 Somerville Ave., owner Liam Mannion and Rob McWatters invite everyone to hoist a pint of Guinness. Enjoy some Irish music and nosh on some corned beef and cabbage at Sally’s, the best Irish pub in the city.

The Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC), with active members from Somerville, Cambridge, and other adjoining communities, joined with allies from six other elder advocacy organizations to lobby lawmakers on life-saving reforms seniors say they need to protect their health, wellbeing and dignity as they age. MSAC is the only elder organization in Massachusetts that is run by its senior members.

Somerville Media Center (SMC) hosted its 2019 SMC Honors Gala at Arts At The Armory on Friday, March 8. This night recognized the best facets of community-made media shared in greater Somerville.