In this information-packed two-part program, LWVN President Marcia Johnson had a very interesting and enlightening conversation with Lisbeth Heyer, Newton Housing Partnership Chair, and Ted Hess-Mahan, Ward 3 City Councilor-at-Large for 14 years and recent chair of  the Joint Advisory Planning Group for the West Newton Armory project.

Ensuring everyone has a safe, affordable home is Lisbeth’s life’s work. She brings more than 35 years of nonprofit and public sector experience in affordable housing development, planning, policy, and advocacy to her service as the Chair of the Newton Housing Partnership. Lizbeth is currently the Vice president of 2Life Communities.

Ted has been a member of the Fair Housing Committee since 2010 and the chairperson for the last two years and  was a member of the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee from 2010-2017.

The conversation covered many topics, including:

• The Housing Partnership and Fair Housing Committee:
  • What is the Core Mission? How do they compare & contrast with each other?
  • How does one go about becoming a member?
  • When would citizens want to connect with each body?
  • How do these bodies work with the Mayor, City Council, other boards & commissions, and the Planning Department?
• How these bodies become involved in affordable housing projects, initiatives, issues and what is working well and what can be improved in this process.
• The actions that they are taking to have input into how the city’s ARPA funds will be spent on affordable housing in Newton.
• How these advisory bodies can help a citizen who has limited to basic understanding of affordable housing in Newton become more educated about the challenges the city faces and how s/he can help.

Watch the videos now! Part 1 | Part 2

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Marcia Johnson had the pleasure of speaking with Hattie Kerwin Derrick, Director of Community Engagement & Inclusion for the City of Newton.  Hattie is relatively new in her position, however, her life, work and Newton community experience as a member of the Human Rights Commission positioned her well to take on important issues that the murder of George Floyd and pandemic brought into the public’s consciousness. We hope that you will find this conversation interesting, engaging, and thought provoking.  We talked about the following:

• Her role as Director of Community Engagement & Inclusion
• How racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd impacted her and how it influenced her decision to accept this position.
• A brief update on  police reform in the City of Newton regarding DEI
• Information on the Request for Proposal (RFP) for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant.
• Diversity, Education & Inclusion education & training for city employees, boards & commissions, and city council.
• Her role in assisting the city and community members, who often feel our world to be very  divided and uncivil, bridge groups together and bring about civil discourse.
• How her role differs from that of Linda Plazonja, Resident Assistance Officer.

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In this episode of The League Presents, Marcia Johnson speaks with Gloria Gavris, Board Chair, Newton Community Pride, and Adrienne Hartzell Knudsen Executive Director, Newton Cultural Alliance (NCA), about how the NCA and Newton Community Pride work to raise the value of arts & culture in the minds of our community in order to develop the political will and financial sustainability of the creative sector of our local economy. The conversation also helped to sort out their individual and distinct missions and how they collaborate together to support our local artists and non-profits of all ages and levels of creativity and ability.  Topics included…

1. An overview of the Newton Cultural Alliance & Newton Community Pride organizations.
2. Examples of how these two umbrella organizations work with organizations like the New Art Center, Newton’s Office of Cultural Development, and Newton’s Cultural Council.
3. What can residents and business owners do to support the arts in Newton?

Watch the video now!

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