Rotary Newton in the Community - Mayor's Prayer Breakfast

A wonderful article from the Newton Tab about the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast and the awarding of the Rotary Club of Newton scholarships:

A celebration of Newton’s legacy of education, tolerance and eliminating barriers to opportunity took center stage in Chestnut Hill last May.

Well over 500 people gathered May 20 inside the McElroy Commons at Boston College for the annual Mayor’s Community Prayer Breakfast, a tradition started 41 years ago by Ted Mann. From 1972 until he died in office in 1994, Mann was the city’s longest-serving mayor. Known for his candor and hands-on approach to leadership, the event has since been named in his honor.

Mayor Setti Warren presented Mayor Mann Community Service Awards to education and civil rights activists Hubie and Katherine Jones, longtime Newton residents.

“This is one of the rare days in Newton when we come together not around politics or policy, but to recommit to the values of our community… to break down barriers and provide opportunity for all,” Warren said.

The mayor recounted how Mann sought his assistance during a time of racial discord at Newton North when he was a junior in high school.

“I was scared to be sitting in the man’s office,” he said.

Mann asked the teenager who would two decades later succeed him at City Hall to do his best to ease the friction between black and white students.

“We live in a complex world…there is ugliness,” he said. “But there is a playbook in this room, written by people, some who have passed away like Ted Mann. We can espouse these values and do the really hard work to bring people together.”

Award Recipients: Mathena Abramson - METCO - Attending Smith College, Andrew DeNucci - NNHS - Attending MIT and Hyunnew Choi - NSHS - Attending Princeto.  Shown with Rotary Club of Newton member Tony Bibbo.Wicked Local Photo/Ayrika Whitney

School Superintendent David Fleishman presented Newton Rotary Anthony J. Bibbo Scholarships to Mathena Abramson, Hyunnew Choi and Andrew DeNucci. Abramson, a METCO student at Newton North and representative to the School Committee, will attend Smith College in the fall. Choi will attend Princeton University after graduating from Newton South. DeNucci, a captain of the Newton North football and lacrosse teams, will attend MIT.

Attorney General Maura Healey, the morning’s featured speaker, spoke about her priorities since taking office five months ago.

“When I ran to be the people’s lawyer and to run the people’s law firm, it was to fight for everyone in the state,” she said.

Pledging to fight for equal access to education, employment and health care and to pursue criminal justice reform, Healey touted her office’s recently announced Division of Community Engagement, which seeks to “see life through the eyes of others and to meet people where they live.” The new division responded earlier this month to reports of racial tension in Worcester, she said.