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A YEAR IN REVIEW

OFFICE OF BOSTON CITY COUNCILOR AT-LARGE JULIA MEJIA

JANUARY 2021 - JANUARY 2022

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LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: BY THE NUMBERS

• Ordinances Passed: 5
• Hearing Orders Sponsored: 17
• Hearings Held on Matters we Sponsored: 1
• Hearings Attended: 72
• Budget Hearings/Working Sessions Attended: 35

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Black Men and Boys Commission

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• Our office worked with Fmr. Councilor Jackson, Ron Bell, James Mackey, Corey Thompson, and countless other advocates from across the city to get it passed in three months. The ordinance establishes a commission that will study inequalities amongst Black Men and Boys in the areas of mental health, sexual health, education, economic empowerment, and more.
• The idea of a Black Men and Boys Commission, which predated President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, was first introduced back in 2014 by then-Councilor Tito Jackson, with community partnership from Ron Bell and many others. It was ultimately vetoed by then-Mayor Walsh. For seven years the work had been inactive.

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: Black Men and Boys Commission

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: LANGUAGE ACCESS ORDINANCE

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• Throughout the pandemic, we heard from residents across the city who were struggling to understand the new rules and regulations and who were struggling to access city services because they weren’t available in the language they were most familiar with. Our office set to change that by filing a language access ordinance that completely reworks how the city provides translation/interpretation services.
• We expanded the number of languages the city must provide services for, required that, to the best extent possible, translated materials are published at the same time as they are in English, and that all city communications should be easy to understand and reflect cultural language norms.

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: LANGUAGE ACCESS ORDINANCE

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: RETAIL RESIDENTIAL KITCHENS

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• This year, we set out to change the way we do business here in the City of Boston, literally. Our Retail Residential Kitchens ordinance allows residents to cook certain types of food in their own homes and sell them for retail profit. This not only has the benefit of improving food access in all neighborhoods, but it is an easy way for people looking to start a business who do not have the capital for a brick-and-mortar storefront.
• We also worked with the city to make sure the process to apply is as easy as possible. There is no need to go in front of the ZBA to start a retail residential kitchen!
• Read more about this initiative here!

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: RETAIL RESIDENTIAL KITCHENS

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Lisa Mackin, first recipient of a Retail Residential Kitchen permit in Boston!

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Check out her website here!

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: LITERACY TASK FORCE

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• During the creation of our language access ordinance, we intended to include services for people who cannot read or write in any language. It was then that we learned something devastating: The City was not equipped to provide these services because so little is known about Boston’s literacy rates. We literally do not know what we don’t know. That is why we set out to create a taskforce of experts with both lived and learned experiences, to help set the tone for how services should be provided for people who cannot read or write in any language.
• The ordinance was passed by the City Council on the last day of the legislative year, December 15, 2021.

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: ELECTED SCHOOL COMMITTEE

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• In the 2021 election, Boston voters made it clear that they want more voice in the administration of our school district. 78% of voters (that’s 99 thousand people!) voted that they believe we need to return to an elected school committee. After the vote, we brought together experts, including parents, teachers, students, advocates, academics, and others to push for a return to an elected school committee. We will be continuing this work in the new year.

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: HEARING ON REPARATIONS

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• As an Afro-Latina who claims her Black roots, simply being able to serve on the Council is a sign of our far we have come, but also how far we have to go to just get our foot in the door. There is work, hard work and heart work that needs to be done to repair the economic, social, and political status of those who have borne the brunt of systemic racism in Boston for the past 400 years.
• That is why, in collaboration with the NAACP of Boston, King Boston, Encuentro Diaspora Afro, and the New Democracy Coalition, we held a hearing on reparations in their impact on the civil rights of Black Bostonians. We plan to move forward with an ordinance in the upcoming year.
• Read more about the efforts here!

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: OUR BUDGET VOTE

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• The budget is the single most important responsibility that a Councilor has in their time in public service. We are responsible for providing a yes or no vote on a nearly $7 billion budget, which funds everything from streets to schools to staplers.
• This year, we ultimately chose to vote in favor of the budget, and here’s why:
• We were able to secure funding that works directly to uplift and support the economic empowerment of communities of color in ways that have never been done before.
• We obtained a new line item of funding for youth jobs specifically for young people aged 19-24.
• We obtained millions of dollars in jobs funding, including artists jobs, green jobs, and even more funding for youth jobs.
• We also fought for funding to continue providing outdoor dining across the city, in addition to funding for a study to explore how (not whether, but how) we can implement municipal broadband as a right and not as a privilege.

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION: OTHER IMPORTANT VOTES

• We voted in favor of:
• BERDO 2.0
• Abolishing parking minimums for low-income affordable housing projects
• Surveillance oversight
• We voted/successfully advocated against:
• An $850,000 grant to fund the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC), a department with close ties to ICE
• An RFP that would expand and fund a regional security camera infrastructure that would spy on our residents

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

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• Number of Community conversations held: 16 (13 online and 3 in-person)
• Total RSVPs from Community Members: 471
• Number of Facebook Live Views: 6,148+

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: BY THE NUMBERS

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: BUDGET POP-UP TOUR

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• The City of Boston has an operating budget of over $3 billion! With all of that money being spent, it is crucial that #AllMeansAll have the opportunity to make their voices heard.
• That is why we went on a series of Budget Pop Up tours to engage with residents in barber shops, hair salons, and schools to talk about the budget, what it means to them, and how the people would like to see their money being spent.

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: COVID-19 SURVEY

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• In partnership with Jacob Bor and Marisa Luse, we created an online and in-person survey for people to let us know what they thought about the City of Boston’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
• We shared this data with the community in December and will be using the results to help push reforms on the local and state level.

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: LANGUAGE ACCESS

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• We worked hard this year to create spaces that were accessible to as many people as possible.
• We are proud to say that, during our Community Conversation on Childcare Providers, we offered translation/interpretation in Spanish and Mandarin

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: ACCESS TO PUBLIC SPACE

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• Stemming from a constituent call about the lack of open space for youth and dirt bikers. This group had negative recurring issues with the community and needed support in centering their voices around access to Franklin Park.
• Through the conversation we were able to bridge the gap between our youth and other members of the community to draft solutions collectively on how to best share the space. We provided a one-pager fact sheet with policies around noise and education on the proper use of public space.

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CONSTITUENT SERVICES AND PROGRAMMING

CONSTITUENT SERVICES/PROGRAMMING:

YOUTH VACCINATIONS

• We supported a group of constituents in planning a citywide youth vaccination effort in collaboration with Tufts Medical in underserved communities. Through this effort we recruited youth ambassadors who helped to spread the word.
• As a result, we successfully helped to vaccinate over 5000 residents across the city of Boston.
• Read more about the Black Boston COVID Coalition here!

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CONSTITUENT SERVICES/PROGRAMMING:

SUPPORTING BOSTON’S SMALL BUSINESSES

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• In partnership with Cataldo Ambulance Services, we created an ongoing vaccine pop-up service that catered to barbershops and hair salons in neighborhoods across the city.
• Our office also launched a wellness series to support salon & barbershop owners where attendees received a $500 stipend after a 6-week course.

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CONSTITUENT SERVICES/PROGRAMMING

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SUPPORTING BOSTON’S SMALL BUSINESSES

CONSTITUENT SERVICES/PROGRAMMING:

THE POLITICAL LAB

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• What it is:
• The Political Lab is a non-profit program started by Councilor Mejia with the goal of training prospective candidates of color looking to run for office. The Political Lab uplifted and trained local candidates of color, teaching them to use their collective voice and providing them with resources for how to be successful in their campaigns.
• “The Political Lab was a transformative training. So proud of the local talent uplifting our collective voice and lived experiences while providing intangible resources and networking opportunities for current and future BIPOC candidates running for office.”-Josette Williams, Political Lab Pilot Graduate
• By the Numbers:
• 20 hours of programming, bootcamp style, covering the end-to-end journey of a political campaign of Black and Brown candidates
• 15+ speakers, facilitators, and panelists
• 20+ participants in the inaugural cohort
• 4 alum have gone on to win their campaign!

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CONSTITUENT SERVICES/PROGRAMMING:

COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE

• The goal of the Community Mental Health Initiative was to teach people healthy methods for coping with stress, both as a result of troubles in the workplace in addition to the added stress of simply living through a pandemic. Participants were brought together to not only be in community with one another, but to learn about emotional intelligence, decolonization and racial trauma, how triggers are activated, barriers of addressing mental wellness, and more.

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OTHER IMPORTANT WORK

• Assisted Healthy Baby, Healthy Child Food Pantry by:
• Raising $1000 to fund the Caribbean American Carnival Association’s City Hall breakfast
• Raising funds to cover the cost of 400 turkeys for a thanksgiving giveaway.
• Assisted Bon Appetit & Haitian Adult Day Health by:
• Sponsoring 100 meals, 50 gift cards and toys for the holidays at the end of the year.

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NEW OFFICE

POSITIONS

DIRECTOR OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

About the Role:

Community Engagement and Workforce Development from Councilor Mejia's office are both under the direction of Gina Endres. The Director of Community Engagement meets with different organizations and entities on behalf of the office to establish and maintain relations and partnership through a care and compassionate lense. The goal of community engagement through the office is to support and empower the community with resources they need to live and thrive in the City of Boston. This role is combined with the Director of Workforce Development which is in charge of meeting with different organizations and entities on behalf of the office to further support the need to increase workforce training options and education opportunities for youth and adults across the City of Boston. The Director of Workforce Development aims to build spaces where residents have direct access to potential employers and is set up with resources needed to enter/re-enter the workforce.

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DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE AND HOUSING ENGAGEMENT

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• About the role
• The Director of Housing and Climate Engagement helps coordinate office policy and programming on these matters as well as assist with constituent services and civic engagement initiatives.

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DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

About the Role:

The Director of Education is responsible for all matters related to education and youth development. For example: The Boston School Committee, Literacy Task Force, Maternal Health, Mental Health Wellness and Youth Advocacy. This includes constituent services, youth and fellowship programs. Cecily Graham currently serves as the Director. The focus of the role is to empower our community by creating space to center the voices of students and families in the legislative process. This is accomplished by:

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• Working collaboratively with constituents and education advocacy groups.
• Attending meetings regularly to be informed and sharing insights with the team:
• Boston School Committee
• Hearings
• Boston Teachers Union
• Civic & Neighborhood Associations
• Addressing trends and disparities within our school system and exploring effective ways to close the achievement gaps across the city of Boston.

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CELEBRATING OUR

COMMUNITY

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Shoutout to these amazing people!

• Andree Entezari
• Irene Nakabonge-Lugude
• Carlos Martinez
• Derrel Slim Weathers
• Jacob Leidolf
• Hawo Warsame
• Elsa Flores
• Thaddeus Miles
• Jacob Bor
• Marisa Luse
• Matthew Parker
• Corey Thompson

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• Naesoj Ware
• Carrie Mays
• Gayl Crump-Swaby
• Fatema Ahmad
• Carolyn Chou
• David Weimer
• George Lee
• Ron Bell
• Tito Jackson
• Lee Nave
• James Mackey

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Neighborhoods We’ve Been to

• Allston
• Back Bay
• Bay Village
• Beacon Hill
• Brighton
• Charlestown
• Chinatown-Leather District
• Dorchester
• Codman Square
• Fields Corner
• Columbia Point

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• Downtown
• East Boston
• Fenway
• Hyde Park
• JP
• Mattapan
• Mission Hill
• North End
• Roslindale
• Roxbury
• South Boston
• South End/Villa Victoria
• West Roxbury

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22-for-22

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22-for-22

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LOOKING FORWARD

LOOKING FORWARD

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As we said last year, there is no rulebook for how to be an elected official. We spent a lot of our first year learning the ropes about the ins and outs of our city government and how to best create structural change from our position. That is why, during our second year, we wanted to come out swinging. We worked a lot of late nights and weekends, drank a lot of coffee, and hustled like crazy to raise the standard of what a City Councilor can be.

Our office is proud of the work we have done, but we are also not blind to the things we need to do better. As an office, we wanted to take a moment to share what we learned, what we consider to be our strengths and what we feel we need to work on.

LOOKING FORWARD

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From a legislative standpoint, we were able to get a lot done this year. We worked to pass five different ordinances on topics ranging from small business support, civil rights, education, information justice and more. We are proud not only of the work itself, but also the way in which we were intentional about co-designing these policies alongside the community. Each of these achievements were only made possible thanks to the dedicated advocates and community members who pushed us to fight for what was best.

We were also able to greatly improve how we engaged the public when it came to the budget process, creating new graphics and showing up in person to places across the city to talk to people about the budget process.

LOOKING FORWARD

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As we entered the second year of the pandemic, a year in which the mass rollout of the vaccine had begun, our office worked to make sure that the vaccine was accessible to everyone. We hosted pop-up vaccine clinics in barbershops and hair salons and worked with the Black Boston COVID-19 Coalition to register thousands of people to get the vaccine.

We even worked with BU students to develop a mutual aid app for people looking for food pantries and community kitchens. Members of our office even took the initiative to create meal programs for unhoused people at Mass and Cass and fight for a new location for a community fridge in Allston.

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LOOKING FORWARD

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We also have a lot of room for improvement, and people on Twitter are certainly not afraid to let us know where we are falling behind. And yes, that can sometimes bruise our ego, but that’s a problem for us, not for the people. When people called us out, we tried to call them in so that we could learn from them.

We became stronger advocates because of it. We firmly believe in the promise that #AllMeansAll, and when we fell behind on that promise, you were there to remind us and make us better. In this upcoming year, we hope to see ourselves grow in this area.

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LOOKING FORWARD

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In the coming year, we also hope to do more to combat workplace discrimination as part of our role as the Chair of the Committee on Workforce Development. And as Chair of the Committee on Education, our hope is to become stronger advocates for our parents, students, and teachers in the coming year.

Ultimately, we feel proud about our first term in office, and we know what we have to do to make our second term even better. Please continue to reach out to us, we work for YOU. This is your city and every day we all have a chance to make our city a better place. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

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With love, always,

Team Mejia

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QUESTIONS?

CONTACT OUR OFFICE!

EMAIL:

JULIA.MEJIA@BOSTON.GOV

PHONE:

617-635-4217