Join us for a public conversation followed by a free public dinner.

This conversation will bring together Robert P. George and Cornel West, who represent divergent intellectual traditions, to explore the possibilities of meaningful discourse amid political fragmentation. Their friendship demonstrates a practice of democratic engagement that addresses disagreement without falling into simplistic political categories. Through their conversation, they will show how engagement across differences can illuminate our complex moral and political landscape. As polarization increases, George and West will offer a model of intellectual exchange that respects principled disagreement while maintaining a commitment to truth, a practice important for democratic vitality in challenging times.

Brandon M. Terry, the John Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University will introduce the event.

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has frequently been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. In addition to his academic service, Professor George has served as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He has also served on the President’s Council on Bioethics, as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and as the U.S. member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Science and Technology. He currently chairs the New Jersey Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. Professor

George is author of Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (Oxford U. Press), In Defense of Natural Law (Oxford U. Press), The Clash of Orthodoxies (ISI) and Conscience and Its Enemies (ISI). His most recent book, written with Cornel West, Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division (Post Hill Press). His book Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth: Law and Morality in Our Cultural Moment will be published later this year by Encounter Books.

Dr. Cornel West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. West teaches on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as courses in Philosophy of  Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects — including but by no means limited to, the classics, philosophy, politics, cultural theory, literature, and music. 

Dr. West is the former Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard  University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. Cornel West graduated  Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in  Philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. His most recent book, Black Prophetic Fire, offers an unflinching look at  nineteenth and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies. 

Dr. West is a frequent guest on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span and Democracy Now. He has a passion to communicate to a vast variety of publics in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.

Seating will be provided but please feel free to bring blankets in case the chairs fill.

The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is hosting the City’s two Ready Boston Field Days the first on September 13, 2025 at Walker Playground ( 550 Norfolk St, Mattapan, MA 02126) and the second on September 25, 2025 at City Hall Plaza ( 1 City Hall Sq, Boston, MA 02201). These family friendly events are open to all!   

• Learn CPR and first aid from Boston Emergency Medical Services through demonstrations and practice sessions.
• Get fire-safety tips from the Boston Fire Department.
• Participate in an emergency exercise with public safety professionals.
• Get an inside look at emergency vehicles: SWAT vehicles, ambulances, police cruisers, fire trucks, emergency management vehicles, and more.
• Build an emergency kit to help you and your family prepare for an emergency.
• Play preparedness games and collect giveaways!

Join us for a public conversation about Roxbury Rhapsody, a major commission by now well-known Boston artist, Napoleon Jones-Henderson in the Bolling Building.

A reception will follow where you as a community member can be interviewed and asked to share your story about the past, present and future of Roxbury.

All are welcome to this free and public event!

*This public conversation is part of the National Center of Afro-American Artists' new project, FINDING OURSELVES IN PUBLIC SPACES: An UnMonument Project, and it is funded by The Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture's Un-monument Initiative, supported by a grant from The Mellon Foundation.

Photo courtesy by National Center of Afro-American Artists

Join us for a public conversation and celebration at Roxbury's YMCA about one of the original murals from the early "Black Boston's Murals Movement".

All are welcome to this free and public event!

*This public conversation is part of the National Center of Afro-American Artists' new project, FINDING OURSELVES IN PUBLIC SPACES: An UnMonument Project, and it is funded by The Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture's Un-monument Initiative, supported by a grant from The Mellon Foundation.

Photo courtesy by National Center of Afro-American Artists

Whether you’re looking to generate extra income, or make space in your home for a loved one, an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) can help you support your household as it grows and changes. You have options for financing your ADU — and the City of Boston is ready to help you find out what option is best for you. 

Join the Boston Home Center for a free, virtual workshop on how to create a financing plan for your Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on August 5, 2025 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.. City of Boston experts will walk you through the financial side of the ADU process from start to finish. At this workshop, we’ll cover:

• How to assess your financial readiness by examining income, debt, credit, savings, and assets.
• Financing options, including the City’s ADU Financial Assistance Program.
• How to create a budget for your ADU project. 
• How to sustain your ADU with smart planning for ongoing expenses.

Join us for a panel discussion about the historic effort led by Chinese immigrant mothers to organize for educational rights as elementary school busing began in 1975. Accompanied by outdoor photo exhibit at Chin Park and a visit by the Boston Desegregation Mobile Museum.