Madison Czopek Jul 20, 2021
The Oak Grove School on Onset Avenue was built in 1913 and the vast majority of its students were Cape Verdean. Photos by: Chloe Shelford
After years of work, the Oak Grove School will house Onset’s Cape Verdean Cultural Center.
After more than 15 years of persistence and hard work, the Oak Grove Cape Verdean Cultural Center should be able to welcome visitors to its newly renovated space sometime in 2023, according to the community leaders behind the project.
The group has been working toward its goal of establishing a Cape Verdean Cultural Center at the Oak Grove School for years because of the location’s importance within the Cape Verdean community. The school, located at 314 Onset Ave., was built in 1913 and the vast majority of its students were Cape Verdean.
NEW BEDFORD The Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE, also known as WHALE, hosted a virtual community conversation on its Neighborhood Revitalization Program Wednesday night. Teri Bernert, executive director, said the meeting was a response, in part, to protests last summer against the auctioning of a property they are restoring. It kind of showed to us that our work does revitalize neighborhoods, but there s not a good understanding of the program and what it does, Bernert said. We need to do better community outreach. maybe we haven’t been doing enough of that because we’re too busy restoring the properties, but that s no excuse.