It’s 8:30 on a Tuesday morning and the Midtown Mall is coming awake with activity.  Pedestrians walk through to go from Front Street to Mechanic Street.  A young woman stops in front of the window of the clothing store with prom dresses.  She is waiting for the store to open.  Already, a line of customers are queuing up in front of the Ahenfie (meaning “palace” in Twi, one of the languages of Ghana) Barber Shop.  After almost five years in business, George Opoku has a loyal customer base.  His place is hopping and he says he rarely can sit down.  He never stops working.  After he shuts the doors of the barber shop, he follows his other love for music.  He works as a disc jockey, spinning music at parties and hosts  his own international music radio show broadcast from Los Angeles and reaching all the way back to his native Ghana.

I first met Dante in 2011 in the CityLab of the urban studies department at Worcester State University.  At this time, I was teaching and he was a WSU student, passionate about learning how cities work so he could be a more effective change maker in Worcester.  We both bonded over our work as community organizers.  Dante is what social network theorists might refer to as a “hub”, a main source of connection and communication for those working to make a better city.   Who has over 2500 facebook “friends”?  A troubled adolescence led him to his deep commitment to community work including his efforts in reaching out to youth-at-risk.  He has worn many hats in his active career – political consultant and campaign manager, neighborhood organizer for the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network, founder of Worcester Local First and now co-owner of a juice bar with his partner, Martha Assefa.  He makes me a juice.  We sit down and talk for several hours interrupted at times by his serving customers who enter the store.