On Saturday, August 27th, the City of Cambridge held its annual Community Fair outside Cambridge Street Upper School. This event brought together communities across the city in a day full of resources, activities, and inclusivity. To get to know the people who made the Community Fair happen, the Register Forum interviewed several individuals at the event who strive to provide resources to students and families across Cambridge.

Register Forum: Would you tell us a little bit about which organization you’re representing, what you do, and how it feels to be at the Community Fair?

Amanda Rivera, Food and Nutrition Services: We provide all school breakfasts and school meals to kids in Cambridge Public Schools. This year is super exciting because school meals continue to be free for all kids, so we’re out here trying to get the word out and hear from the community … I think [being at the fair] is a really good opportunity to connect with families and to have a visibility because oftentimes, resources like this are forgotten and people don’t even know they exist.

Nancy Tauber, Find It Cambridge: Find It Cambridge is a one-stop shop where you can find resources and activities in Cambridge. You can go to the website and get information, but you can also call, email, or text us, and we’ll give you personal support in finding what you’re looking for. It’s great that we have these resource fairs and this 24/7 opportunity for folks to learn about what’s happening in Cambridge.

Shova Thapa, Let’s Talk!: We have different categories of books—all readers, picture books, chapter books—and we’re providing these books for free. We talk about reading, screen time, and visits. We also participate in every program in the city; everywhere, we have our table and we have books there. All the books are new and free. We’re so happy to be here because we’re almost all out of books and it’s nice to see [people reading more].

Drucilla Edwards, Cambridge Carnival International: We have an upcoming event right now on September 11th … It’s an annual event … and right now we are here doing some outreach, trying to get vendors and volunteers. We also have a parade and a group … that will be representing and participating in the Carnival. We’re telling people that if they would like to be part of the parade, they can sign up and participate. Cambridge Carnival is a small committee, but it’s a large event and we usually get over quite a few thousand people coming every year.

Jordan Harvey, Tutoring Plus: We’re here gearing up for back to school stuff. We’re starting registration for new students and new families. We’re going to get them onboarded for our program starting in the first week of October.

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui: My office has been organizing these fairs for the past two years. It’s great to be with the community and see all our partners, district leaders from Cambridge Public Schools, and the School Committee. The whole goal is to be a resource for our families.

This piece also appears in our September 2022 print edition.