From The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race:
Photo Credit: Tracy Sham
The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race will host its highly anticipated annual gala and fundraiser, Celebrating Integration, Thursday, Oct. 17, at Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange. This year’s honorees – Ellen Davenport and Dr. Lori Brown Mirabal – have for decades dedicated their lives to fostering inclusion, equity and service in our towns. It will be a wonderful night bringing SOMA residents, leaders and supporters together for community, culture, food and drinks, featuring live music by Essex Funk Collective.
Davenport is a longtime Maplewood resident, having moved to the town with her husband in 1968. Formerly a fifth-grade teacher in Bloomfield, Davenport co-owned the Back of the Mill Plant Shop at Piersen’s Mill for 19 years. Her political career began as an appointed interim Essex County freeholder in 1988, followed by 11 years on the Maplewood Township Committee, where she became Maplewood’s first woman mayor, from 1994-1997. Davenport later worked as supervisor of bills and secretary of the New Jersey Senate. She was instrumental in leading efforts that ultimately spawned the Community Coalition on Race.
For nearly 15 years, Dr. Mirabal has been a major contributor to the Coalition’s Integration Through the Arts programs. She established Opera Soup Productions, LLC, where she wrote and performed original children’s adaptations of operas. Most recently, Dr. Mirabal shared with the community “Gabriel’s Daughter, The Life and Legacy of Clara Brown,” a documentary she co-produced that the Coalition proudly showcased on Juneteenth. Dr. Mirabal has been a primary school music teacher and choral director at Kent Place School for more than a decade.
“We look forward to this event every year because it’s a time to recognize the continued efforts of our community’s progress toward integration, and the work still ahead,” said Nancy Gagnier, executive director of the Coalition. “This is a moment where we can shine a light on the people who help to make the vision of an inclusive community a reality. Our honorees’ contributions have helped to create a more connected community through service and the arts, keeping SOMA on the path to integration and equity.”
This year’s gala theme is The Power of Inclusive Community, which reflects the Coalition’s mission to build a suburban community where people from all backgrounds, races and ethnicities thrive together in all aspects of community life.
Please join the Coalition in honoring these two incredible women of the South Orange/Maplewood community. Tickets and sponsorships for the event are available via communitycoalitiononrace.org. Business and personal ads in the program are due Friday, Oct. 4. RSVP to attend the gala by Monday, Oct. 7.
Photo Credit: Tracy Sham
Founded in 1996 by a diverse group of volunteers, the Coalition is a progressive, grassroots community group committed to racial integration. It creates strategies to support stably integrated residential neighborhoods, advocates for racial equity and excellence for all students in the schools, and brings the community together to learn, to build relationships across racial and cultural barriers, and to celebrate differences. Visit the website communitycoalitiononrace.org for more information.
