This June Mano en Mano celebrated Juneteenth and Fathers Day with community members and partner organizations!

Juneteenth commemorates June 19,1865, the day that Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were first told that they were freed from slavery, nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Alongside community partners and individuals including: MDI Racial Equity Working Group, Healthy Acadia, Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP, YWCA MDI, Downeast Diversity, The Exercise Design Lab, and Black Spirit 4 Life we helped to organize a Juneteenth Commemoration at Knowlton Park in Ellsworth.

The day's theme was, 'Illuminating the Continuum of the Black Experience in Maine' and featured live music, poets, speakers, authors, and local community organizations. The day served as an opportunity to recognize and highlight Black people in business and the arts who have been and continue to be central to the formation and growth of Maine. The day was also a celebration of the diversity that exists in our state as we’re reminded that the struggle for freedom and equality persists.

Mano en Mano organized activity tables for the event that included: A book activity featuring the story, Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan, and a community mural project focused on reflecting on the question: “What does Freedom mean to you?

This June we also celebrated all of the fathers and father figures in our lives!

Members of Nuestra Voz planned an outdoor celebration and soccer match for Fathers Day, bringing together families and friends for a day of outdoor fun.

In addition to soccer the event featured a raffle and some delicious barbeque!