Starting in June 2020, the Town of Arlington, Massachusetts hosted a series of community conversations on racism and reforms. The series was co-sponsored by the Arlington Human Rights Commission. On July 7, 2020, the town hosted this conversation on the intersection of race and housing and how government policies have created inequities. Residents were encouraged […]
I was invited to return to my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania City and Regional Planning Department, for a panel discussion with fellow Master of City Planning alums Samantha Whitfield and Jamie Gauthier, and panel moderator Helen Horstmann-Allen, Emerge Pennsylvania board member, to share our experiences about running for office and bringing a planning perspective to politics and policymaking. Samantha Whitfield is now a Councilwoman in the Township of Willingboro, New Jersey, and Jamie Gauthier is now a Philadelphia City Councilmember. I was able to offer my perspective from my 2017 campaign and from serving as a Councilor from 2018-2019, as well as share some of the experiences and lessons of my run for Mayor in Melrose, MA in 2019. It was wonderful to return to Philadelphia, albeit for only 24 hours!
Christine Madore, AICP, Salem, MA City Councilor, Jennifer Berardi-Constable, Hull Select Board Chair, and I discussed our experiences of serving in elected office, using our lens as planning and community development professionals. The session was moderated by Kathleen Onufer, AICP, LEED AP ND, Goody Clancy. Session description: “Planners and community development professionals quickly become experts at policy, local government, and regulation in the communities they work in, but decision-making ultimately falls to elected officials. Through an actively-facilitated panel discussion and audience question and answer, this session will explore what happens when planners become the decision-makers by running for elected office in their home communities and in many cases, winning. CM: 1.25”
This post was written as a response to the ugly Tweets and comments from the 45th President of the United States regarding “The Squad” as well as Baltimore in July 2019. I posted this on July 29, 2019 on the Manisha for Melrose website as well as in local media and my social media pages.
On two different occasions, in I gave a presentation on structural segregation and the built environment in Melrose, Massachusetts, first for MORE: Melrose, Organizes for Real Equality in February 2018, and later, as part of an Act for Racial Justice Panel on Martin Luther King Day in January 2019. During both of these presentations, I challenged the audience to first develop a mental map/picture of Melrose and surrounding communities, and think about patterns they’ve observed, stereotypes they’ve heard about different neighborhoods, and to share their personal experiences. Then, I shared historic and present day maps to show how patterns of racial and economic segregation, visible on maps of land use policies, have persisted for over a century.
This was originally posted on the Massachusetts Housing Partnership blog on October 31, 2018 when I was a Senior Program Manager for the Community Assistance Team there. I’ve reposted here for archival purposes, should MHP choose to remove the post at a later date! MELROSE — While preparing for my son’s first time trick-or-treating after
Halloween can tell you a lot about your neighborhood Read More »
On October 1, 2018 at the Massachusetts Downtown Summit, Manisha Bewtra, Melrose, MA resident, and Peter Forman, Plymouth, MA resident shared their personal and professional experiences in their respective municipalities, where they both served in elected office. Peter Forman, President and CEO of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, also discussed the South Shore Chamber’s Housing 2030 Strategy and Manisha Bewtra, Massachusetts Housing Partnership Senior Program Manager, shared statewide housing, as well as community data resources.
Connecting Housing and the Economy – MA Downtown Summit presentation, October 1, 2018 Read More »
The Alliance for Racial Equity’s annual Stand against Racism event, in partnership with the YWCA, was a panel with Angie Liou, Executive Director, Asian CDC, Lydia Edwards, Deputy Director for Housing Stability, City of Boston, Aida Franquiz, Community Investment Officer, Boston Private Bank, and me, as the Analytical Services Manager at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The panel was moderated by Shirronda Almeida-Chandler. We talked about our experiences and perspectives as women of color leaders in the community development field.
Melrose Forward: A Community Vision and Action Plan was developed as a guiding policy document for all future decisions on growth and preservation in the City of Melrose, Massachusetts for many years to come. I led this project in my role as a Senior Regional Planner at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The plan included
Melrose Forward: A Community Vision and Action Plan | 2015-2017 Read More »
When the Town of Boxborough hired MAPC to update its master plan, I asked: what if the entire plan is an online document, with only a magazine-style summary made available in print? The intent was to make the plan more accessible to residents and town officials, and to offer a resource that would always be readily
Boxborough2030 Comprehensive Plan | 2014-2015 Read More »