MTA Human & Civil Rights Awards

MTA Human and Civil Rights Awards

The MTA Human Relations Committee is hosting the 2024 MTA Human and Civil Rights Awards, which honor individuals and groups for showing extraordinary dedication to civil rights and human relations. The awards ceremony will be held on Friday, June 14, 2024 at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester.

The awards, established in 1983, recognize individuals or groups who advance civil rights or human relations and are presented by the MTA Human Relations Committee.

Kathleen Roberts Creative Leadership Award Recipients:

2021

• Alice Arena, President of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station
• Arlington High School Asian American Coalition
• New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools

2020

• Sutton High School Connections Program
• Black Student Union of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School

Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award Recipients:

2021

• CEA Educators of Color Coalition Leadership Team
• Mareatha Wallace, Northampton Association of School Employees

2020

• Candace Shivers, Mass. Community College Council

Celebrating Juneteenth

Juneteenth marks the date in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to ensure that all enslaved people were freed. That act, two-and-a-half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, effectively marked the end of slavery in the U.S.

As part of the MTA’s ongoing efforts to promote antiracism in public education, our division of Teaching and Professional Learning is making two books available for free to members, one for children and the second for adults. Sign up for a copy of either book. There is a limited number, so distribution will be on a first-come, first-served basis.