The Harvard Press is headed this Saturday to the Devens Celebration of Service, where we’ll join 25 other local organizations and more than a dozen food trucks on Rogers Field. We’re looking forward to the annual event, which is a celebration of both the present Fort Devens and the larger Devens community.
Harvard, Ayer, and Shirley are linked to Devens by the ties of history and shared citizenship. The Devens residents who live on historical Harvard land are legally citizens of the town of Harvard and have a right to participate in our municipal elections and to vote here in state and federal elections. But they do not have a direct say in the governance of their own community, an issue that grows more problematic each year. (See story)
Among Devens residents themselves, however, there is a growing sense of community and desire for greater involvement in the decisions that affect them. Devens Connect is a relatively new resident organization that seeks to provide a forum for its opt-in members and a shared email network for communication. The elected Devens Committee and the Devens Educational Advisory Committee have the attention of MassDevelopment and the Devens Enterprise Commission—as well as the Harvard Public Schools, which are contracted to educate Devens children.
The Harvard Press is paying attention as well. Our goal is to be the best source of independent news for readers in both Harvard and Devens.
If you’re a Devens resident, please stop by our table Saturday. We’d like to hear your ideas for improving our coverage of your community. Perhaps you’d like to join the Press as a community correspondent. And if you’re not already a subscriber, we’re offering a free, three-month trial subscription to our paper, confident that once you become a regular reader you won’t want to quit.
