Welcome to the Taste of Cambridge!

The Cambridge Licensee Advisory Board (www.clab.org) invites you to join us for the Eleventh Annual Taste of Cambridge, the city’s premier food festival. The 2013 event will feature over 100 Cambridge restaurants and drink purveyors in our green and gorgeous expanded location on Sidney Street and University Common Park.

The Taste of Cambridge (TOC) is a celebration of this historic city’s exceptionally diverse dining scene. The 2012 Taste of Cambridge features tastes from some of our most popular restaurants. Enhanced by a beautiful outdoor park setting, live music, and a great crowd, the TOC is one of Cambridge’s most anticipated annual events.

The TOC is organized and run by CLAB, a volunteer organization that works year-round to prevent underage drinking and to educate and support liquor license holders in their efforts to prohibit sales to minors. The CLAB mission and its community minded focus is at the heart of the Taste of Cambridge.

Proceeds from the TOC benefit non-profit partners chosen for to their alignment with the CLAB mission. On behalf of the entire planning committee and the Cambridge business community, we thank you for your support, and hope you’ll enjoy the 2012 Taste of Cambridge.

Sincerely,

Taste of Cambridge Co-Chairs, 2013

Robin Lapidus, Central Square Business Association
Garrett Tingle, Tommy Doyle’s, CLAB President
Juliana Lyman, Savenor's Butcher & Market
Elizabeth Cerrato-Venatas, Bukowski Tavern
Elizabeth Lint, Cambridge License Commission

This year’s esteemed beneficiaries will be announced soon:

Our 2012 event beneffited the following programs!

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House: The KEEP IT KOOL program is a new initiative to encourage young teens to be mentors and leaders in addressing issues of drugs and drinking in the Area IV Community of Cambridge. The target populations are young teens (13 to 16 years) and youth (8-12). Teens will participate in a series of workshops and peer discussions focusing on the realities of drinking and drugs. “Reality checks” will include learning about the power to choose for oneself and the power of peer pressure. Teens will share their discoveries and conclusions with younger youth through skits, presentations, and discussions that they will lead. Parents and the community will share in a celebration and commitment to take a stand against drugs and alcohol. KEEP IT KOOL will involve 30 to 40 Area IV youth over 26 weeks during the summer and fall of 2012. Workshops/discussions will be held bi-monthly and will be an integral part of our Young Leaders in Training Project. It is anticipated that there will be 12 workshops, and 2 to 3 “sharing and teaching sessions” with the younger children. Parents and others will be encouraged to participate as the project closes. The new curriculum will be shared, and we the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House will provide support and encouragement to other Cambridge Youth and School Age Programs that would like to implement KEEP IT KOOL.

Cambridge Community Television (CCTV):
Teens Making Media that Matters: Exploring the Alcohol-Related Issues Faced by Teens. A diverse group of Cambridge teens will work together to produce television programming for their peers, focused on alcohol education. The programs will be shared with the broader Cambridge community on CCTV’s cable channels, featured at a public screening, and shown at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. The programs will also be uploaded to the CCTV website, and shared using social media outlets.

Caspar:
First Step Community Outreach Program team provides person-to-person contact with unsheltered homeless people on the streets, in the parks, in doorways, on benches, in the subway, in the business district, by the river, on the railroad tracks - wherever homeless individuals tend to hang out or hide out – in order to engage them into any of the alcohol and substance abuse services available in the city of Cambridge and “bringing them out” of the elements into a safer environment.

Institute for Health and Recovery, Inc. (IHR):
Outpatient Services target families, youth and young adults who have experienced a disruption to their family, housing and work stability or personal safety as a result of their alcohol/drug use and/or mental health disorders.

On The Rise (OTR):
Substance abuse is a major cause and consequence of homelessness, and often co-exists with other conditions, especially trauma. Of the 390 women whom OTR worked with last year, over 44% self report substance abuse and/or addiction as a major challenge. OTR knows that this number is an understatement, as many women need time to build trusting relationships before addressing or sharing challenges like substance abuse/addiction. OTR specializes in trauma informed care. All 6 community advocates on staff, led by a Program Director and supported by three interns, work with homeless and recently housed women to overcome many challenges, including substance abuse and addiction within a Safe Haven and out in the community six days a week, all year long.