Dear Watertown Residents,
With this year’s election we’re fortunate to choose from a group of candidates who bring to the table relevant experience, compassion, and a genuine interest in our community’s well-being. Not every city can make this claim. Over the last several weeks voters and candidates discussed topics including Watertown Square redevelopment, the middle school building, elementary school aftercare, school cell phone policies, library funding, and others. A topic with much less air time, but of great interest to many in the City, is diversifying our boards and commissions – elected and otherwise – and making them representative.
When you ask people what they love about Watertown, they’ll often say its diversity and close-knit feel.
We have diversity. These are the facts: nearly one third of Watertown residents – and close to half of all Watertown Public Schools (WPS) students – are racially and ethnically diverse, not to mention people from culturally diverse communities identifying as White (e.g., Armenian). Nearly one third of residents speak a language other than English at home, and 42 percent of WPS students’ first language is not English. Over seven percent of Watertown adults age 18-64 live with a disability, and though we have no local figures on our LGBT+ community, we know that over 9 percent of adults identify as LGBT+ in Massachusetts, which has the fourth highest percent of LGBT+ identifying-residents in the U.S. Watertown’s PRIDE celebration is just one indicator that many LGBTQ+ people and allies call Watertown home.
And, though perhaps less visible, we have economic diversity. Many in Watertown live and struggle on very low incomes. Though the government shutdown is blocking Census.gov – limiting access to City population figures – within WPS, 35 percent of all students and 43 percent of high school student families are low-income. Lastly, immigrants make up 28 percent of all business owners in Greater Boston and 40 percent of “main street” business owners. Locally, immigrants form another important piece of Watertown’s cultural identity. Foreign-born individuals make up 25 percent of our City’s population and the top five immigrant groups in Watertown are from India, Brazil, China, Italy, and Kenya.
Yet, Watertown’s diversity is not reflected in our elected bodies.
Choosing qualified people with diverse backgrounds for elected leadership roles yields economic advances and innovation, and reverses disparities that we should not let stand.
On the innovation-diversity connection: The researched and accepted practice of diversifying leadership and management in organizations – private or public – yields innovation and economic benefits too powerful to ignore. It increases “profitability and creativity, stronger governance and better problem-solving abilities” according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). WEF also asserts that companies, communities, and even countries that “don’t leave racial harmony to chance” do better. Regional, national, and global research supports this fact unequivocally. In education, leaders of color are associated with “greater attraction and retention among teachers of color” and better educational outcomes according to EdWeek and the Brookings Institute.
By not actively pursuing, protecting, and nurturing diversity, we are reinforcing disparities, because the playing field is uneven. Watertown residents belonging to any of the groups listed above experience racism, able-ism, and other -isms, as well as discrimination and bias in and outside of our community that negatively affects their income, health, education, and overall well-being. Just a few examples to consider include:
- WPS middle and high school students belonging to LGBT+ and Hispanic/Latino groups experienced higher rates of feeling unsafe, bullying, and poor mental health compared to their white, heterosexual, and cis-gender peers. In Watertown, Students in households with low incomes have worse academic and graduation outcomes compared to peers in higher income households.
- Income segregation in Greater Boston has increased over the past 40 years, and white households in the Boston area are more likely than nonwhite households to have liquid assets. For example, 7 percent of whites don’t have a savings or checking account compared to half of Black or Puerto Rican people who live without this resource.
- Nationally, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “for every dollar earned by a white man, a typical Latina woman .. earned 57.8 cents… A Black woman .. earned 66.5 cents… a White woman earned 79.6 cents… and an Asian woman earned 94.2 cents.” There is no reason to believe the Watertown experience is different.
This Tuesday Watertown has a rare opportunity to diversify and bring true representation to each of our three elected boards. Theo Offei is a candidate for City Councilor At-Large. Sheila Krishnan is a candidate for School Committee. Pia Owens and Xin Peng are candidates for Library Board of Trustees. These candidates not only bring strong qualifications and community engagement experience, they also show great courage by choosing to run at a time when our federal government is attacking diversity and all it encompasses.
Please consider voting for Sheila, Theo, Xin and Pia. Their experience and perspectives will undoubtedly benefit Watertown as a whole. More Watertown children will see themselves reflected in our elected boards. And, the innovation and economic benefits that result from their participation at this level, will follow.
Lisa Capoccia and Corey Barr
Disclosure: The views shared in this article belong to the authors and do not represent nor are tied to organizations with which they are affiliated. Lisa Capoccia is a Watertown resident, WPS School Committee member and a Newton Public Schools employee. Corey Barr is a member of the City of Watertown Human Rights Commission.
Learn more:
Watertown Democratic Committee Forum (all races)
Watertown News Candidate Q&A:
WCA-TV:
Scheduled programming of various forums on WCA-TV
Sources:
Metropolitan Area Planning Council Data Common, Watertown Public Schools, Mass.gov, MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, World Economic Forum, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Boston Indicators/The Boston Foundation, Boston College/Global Boston, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Brookings Institute, National Institutes of Health, Urban Institute, EdWeek
The deadline for submitting election letters is Nov. 1 at 5 p.m. Send them to watertownmanews@gmail.com