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4 weeks ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
Ceejay Renner-Thomas’ passion for art goes beyond his job as an art teacher at The Covenant School. Outside of his day job, Renner-Thomas runs Milk Glass, a mobile glassblowing studio that he created to better connect with others in Charlottesville. In winning $5,365 on Feb. 28 in a fundraising competition for Charlottesville artists, Renner-Thomas also came one step closer to reaching more people in central Virginia and introducing them to different forms and functions of glass making.
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1 month ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
When the avian flu— otherwise known as the bird flu or H5N1 virus — infected millions of poultry birds across the country earlier this year, many consumers were hit with high egg prices. The situation was also challenging for many bakeries as prices were high and supply was limited, making it difficult to keep their businesses running. But Christina Martin of bakernobakery, a pop-up bakery, had been in this situation before.
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1 month ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
The back porch of the house where Henry Hamilton used to propagate plants in recycled juice and milk containers. Virginia Hamilton’s church budget records, receipts and memo pads that once occupied a small desk in the house. Lovely dogwood tree blossoms — a sign of sacrifice and rebirth each spring — standing outside a window in the Hamilton’s home.
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2 months ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
“I am because we are.” The phrase reflects Ubuntu, an African philosophy that fosters the idea of how people can be connected to one another or display humanity toward others. Getting Word, the Black oral history department of Monticello, will host the Black Family History Lab on Feb. 21-22 at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center to explore the interconnectedness of Black families in the spirit of Ubuntu.
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2 months ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
Moments after the U.S. presidential election was called for Donald Trump last November, Ellie Picard knew that she had to act. As a transgender woman and co-founder of The Beautiful Idea, a queer bookstore and market located on the Downtown Mall, Picard wanted to prepare for the slew of anti-LGBTQ+ changes that Trump promised during his campaign.
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2 months ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
When Lorretta Johnson-Morgan was asked last June to sit for a portrait as part of an exhibit honoring Fluvanna County’s Black residents and their descendants, she thought carefully before responding. The interpretive art project, “Looking Back, Seeing Now,” would include her and 16 others sitting for portraits and sharing their Fluvanna family histories. Johnson-Morgan, 60, who was shy as a child, worried about the attention the project might attract.
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2 months ago | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
In November 2018, a piece of Colleen Rosenberry’s heart was stolen. Her youngest son, Michael Vest, lost control of his vehicle while driving home to Nelson County on Oct. 30. In critical condition, Vest was airlifted to University of Virginia Medical Center’s intensive care unit where he was declared brain dead a few days later. He was 24. Overcome with grief, Rosenberry, 61, was unsure how to continue her life without her son.
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Jan 22, 2025 | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
When James Dowell started running in 2019, he soon noticed that the running community in Charlottesville skewed white. Not wanting to be the only Black person running in the city’s streets, he knew change was needed. That same year, Dowell, along with Wes Bellamy and William Jones III, created Prolyfyck Run Crew, a Black-led running group that’s building a community for Black runners in Charlottesville. In the beginning, the Prolyfyck founders invited their friends to run with them.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
Several weeks before last November’s elections, dozens of students from Charlottesville and Albemarle County spent time thinking about how democracy shows up in their everyday lives and in the lives of their loved ones. The students also explored their hopes and dreams for democracy.
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Jan 3, 2025 | 
cvilletomorrow.org | Tamica Jean-Charles
Two months after the Monticello Area Community Action Agency (MACAA) board relinquished its federal Early Head Start and Head Start grant last January, MACAA closed its doors to hundreds of families and dozens of workers. The closing came after MACAA was cited for three federal deficiency conditions, which is the worst mark a Head Start provider can receive.
