Although George Washington and his contemporaries in military and political leadership are widely recognized and lauded for their accomplishments, it was the vast legions of ordinary people, women and Blacks chief among them, who fueled the engine of Revolution in Cambridge and beyond.

With its second year shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, the MetroHacks EmpowHer competition helped teens interact over science, technology, engineering and math topics while school was remote and they weren’t seeing peers face-to-face.

These looks at what’s on the big screen in the coming week include three works by or about groundbreaking women, including Ida Lupino, Harvard alum Jennifer Brea and Jamie Babbitt, as well as repertory fare from The Brattle and Somerville Theatre and reviews of “Fresh,” “Compartment Number 6” and “The Adam Project.”

Public meetings this week look at getting bike lane advice and finding solutions for homelessness; the aftermath of a student protest and appointing a permanent superintendent; and the future of Cambridge Street; and getting town-gown reports from Harvard, Hult, Lesley and MIT.

Christine Elow, who has been acting police commissioner since Aug. 21, was sworn in as permanent commissioner Monday in a private ceremony at the Cambridge Police Department, City Manager Louis A. DePasquale said. 

Free menstrual sanitary products can now be taken home by students through family liaisons, nurses or The Spot Cambridge, a clothing swap, through a Period Equity Bank program, School Committee vice chair Manikka Bowman said Tuesday. The products are also given out at school resource and community fairs.

After just 22 women were admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. officials decided to improve the environment and resources available for female students. Katharine Dexter McCormick, from the Class of 1904, stepped in to bridge a gap between intention and construction.

Superintendent Christine Elow has been named acting commissioner of the Cambridge Police Department, effective Saturday. She takes over for Branville G. Bard Jr. as he leaves for a role with Johns Hopkins University after leading the department for four years.

Local minority- and women-owned businesses looking to get in front of customers may get an opportunity at CambridgeSide this month with MPowered, a pop-up shop.

Police commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. is leaving the Cambridge Police Department to become vice president for public safety at Johns Hopkins University, where he will lead a 1,200-person security and safety operation for the university and health system enterprise.