New President / New Position Formed

Loretta “Lee” Blake was installed as the president at our last annual meeting. Joan Beaubian, is passing the baton of leadership to Loretta “Lee” Blake. After many years as President of the New Bedford Historical Society, Joan is moving into the new position of Executive Director.

Lee has been serving as Vice President for four years. In this time, Lee has written grants that have garnered almost $200,00.00 and as chairperson of the programming committee, she established the annual Frederick Douglass Read-a-thon, the Hidden History programs for local students and was responsible for most of the lectures, book signings and teacher workshops offered by the Society.

Lee, a native of New Bedford is a consultant for the Connecting Oceans Academy. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in African American and Women’s Studies from the University of Massachusetts and is working toward a Masters in Urban Policy. She has been an education administrator and teacher for 30 years and has taught at the high school and university level. She was the Director of Educational Services for the Cityof New York, serving in the office of Mayor David Dinkins.

Currently, Lee is the Director of the SouthCoast Educational Compact at University of MA at Dartmouth , a school, university and business partnership working to support public education in New Bedford.