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The state is hoping a new pilot program providing ESL classes to newly arrived immigrants staying in Massachusetts emergency shelters will help them achieve self sufficiency faster. The pilot is lead by the nonprofit English for New Bostonians, which has been teaching occupationally-focused language classes with the goal of providing students the skills and confidence to find employment, and continue improving their English in other settings.

Claudia Green, English for New Bostonians executive director, and Thaís Lobo, who heads the English Works Program for English for New Bostonians, join The Common to discuss the importance of language instruction for newly arrived immigrants and the future of the pilot program. 

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Today is the 20th anniversary of gay marriage becoming legal in Massachusetts. The right for same sex couples to marry was brought about by the Goodridge Decision, which made Massachusetts the first state in the country to secure marriage equality. Back in 2004, Arline Isaacson, Co-Chair of the Massachusetts GLBTQ Political Caucus (formerly known as the Mass Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus), was one of the advocates who worked to secure marriage equality in the Commonwealth.

Arline joins The Common to reflect on this anniversary, and discuss the ongoing efforts to improve the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Mass. today. 

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

When the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission launched its Social Equity Program, it promised a pathway for groups disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs into the newly legalized cannabis market. But today, social equity operators are finding that getting into the cannabis business is a far cry from the lucrative opportunity it once was, sometimes leaving them worse off than when they started the process. 

"CommonWealth Beacon" reporter Bhaamati Borkhetaria spoke with cannabis operators in the region who graduated from the state’s Social Equity Program, she joins The Common to discuss their experiences, and the barriers they continue to face getting established in the cannabis industry.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Colleges and universities across the country are gearing up for graduation, including here in Boston. Commencement comes at a very tense time on many campuses though, as student protest encampments in support of Palestinian people and school divestment from Israel have been dismantled by police at numerous schools, notably MIT and Emerson College. Tufts and Harvard Universities also had encampments that were recently disbanded by student protestors themselves.

WBUR Senior Education Reporter Carrie Jung joins The Common to discuss the mood among students as this tumultuous year comes to a close, and whether disruptions can be expected at graduation ceremonies over the next weeks.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Death of a loved one can bring with it a deep sense of loss. We miss that person's personality, their energy, and we honor that with our grief. But how do we as a society, respect their remains, the bodies they leave behind?

That question is at the center of the latest season of WBUR’s podcast Last Seen - which came out this month:  “Postmortem: The Stolen Bodies of Harvard.” 

The podcast follows a scandal at Harvard Medical School that made headlines last year, when a manager at the medical school morgue was accused of selling body parts donated to the school for scientific study.

Today on The Common, Darryl C. Murphy speaks with host and reporter Ally Jarmanning about her experience diving into the apparently flourishing underground market for human remains and her quest to answer the question: How should we treat the dead?

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.

Several weeks ago, WBUR published an investigation examining how police in Massachusetts handle reports of sexual assault and rape. The piece, which focused on alleged serial rapist Alvin Campbell (brother of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell), has garnered the attention of state lawmakers who wish to make changes to the Commonwealth's systems and protocols around such cases.

WBUR Statehouse Reporter Walter Wuthmann joins The Common once more to discuss reactions to the piece, and several potential solutions to this pressing issue that lawmakers are considering.

Greater Boston’s daily podcast where news and culture meet.