Kingston teen and Lawrence educator win civil rights awards

A Kingston teen who founded an organization that funds education and community projects in Ethiopia and a greater Lawrence educator and community organizer who is active on many fronts in the fight for equitable access to public education are the 2026 recipients of the Human and Civil Rights Awards given annually by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Bendeshe Bonner received the Kathleen Roberts Creative Leadership Award and Marianela Rivera accepted the Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award in a July 27 ceremony at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Former U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman, a longtime public education advocate, was the keynote speaker at the event, organized by MTA members belonging to the union’s Human Relations Committee.

The awards are named after two longtime MTA leaders who championed the fair and just treatment of all, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.

Bonner earned the creative leadership award for his work with Bendeshe’s Village, a foundation he and friends launched in 2021 when he was just 12 years old. Bonner was born in the Ethiopian village of Wondo Genet. Before turning 1, he was adopted by a Massachusetts family. Bonner visited his home village in 2021 and saw the tremendous needs of its children. That inspired him to create a foundation that would support education and civics projects in Wondo Genet. So far, the village has been able to build a school, plant gardens and provide school supplies to children.

Bonner dedicated his award to his mother, saying her decision to adopt him changed his life.

“The older I get, the more I realize that’s all education is. It’s someone deciding you’re worth the investment,” Bonner said.  “I want to pass along the opportunities I have received. That is creative leadership, when a door opens for you, you spend your life trying to build a few more doors for others.”

Rivera received the Louise Gaskins Lifetime Civil Rights Award for her longtime activism as a community organizer, educator and member of the Lawrence School Committee.

Isa Perez and Jen Meagher, two Andover educators, nominated Rivera for the award. They cited her work to expose the failings of the state takeover of public schools in Lawrence and to organize community members during the Fund Our Future campaign that led to passage of the Student Opportunity Act — the first significant increase in state funding for education in decades. Rivera’s professional work at UMass Lowell to mentor students and support Education Support Professionals working toward a degree that would allow them to become licensed teachers also was noted in her nomination. Rivera, who earned a doctor of physical therapy degree, also co-founded HomePlace Collective, a nonprofit focused on training educators to design and adapt culturally responsive curriculum.

“All of the work I have done and will do is rooted in community,” Rivera said.

The MTA will make donations to the award winners’ organizations.

MTA President Matt Bach applauded Bonner and Rivera as inspirations at a time when the rights of so many are coming under attack.

“The work of our union is the work of human and civil rights, whether it’s winning thriving wages for ESPs and adjunct faculty, demanding recognition of our right to withhold our labor, preserving academic freedom and free speech, and ensuring all students feel safe and welcome in our classrooms — union work is human rights work,” Bach said.