Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved. Paid for by Karen Colon Hayes
Transparency and public engagement are crucial to fair and effective representation, and it is our city’s obligation to share information with residents.
We must work to ensure all residents have an equal chance at success, and decrease discrimination against marginalized groups in our city
By focusing on developing resources for our Health & Human Services, including Public Safety, we will become a more resilient and forward-thinking community.
Expand access to renting and homeownership, and provide safety nets for our residents.
Develop a Climate Action Plan, and ensure the impacts don’t inversely impact marginalized communities.
Strengthen and expand opportunities for our small business, and create employment pipelines for our residents.
Work with our School Committee and State Delegation to ensure our schools recieve equitable funding.
Increase access to transportation and healthcare services, and promote a tax abatement program.
Provide real support to combat issues facing Malden by partnering with organizations and sister cities.
Transparency and public engagement are crucial to fair and effective governing, and it is the government’s obligation to share information with citizens in conducting the people’s business.
I will work to increase transparency by making public meeting announcements, agendas, and meeting minutes easily accessible on the city’s website and facebook page. I will hold myself accountable to the people of Malden, and ensure I am responsive and upfront about any decision I make on behalf of residents.
I will draw on my previous experience as Human Service and Community Outreach Director for the City of Malden to foster inclusivity in our community, and to facilitate the city through tough conversations when necessary. I will also continue to support the work of Malden Community Organizing for Racial Equity (MaldenCORE), a group that combats racism and educates others about racial equity in our community.
We need to understand the importance of data driven decision making, using data to uncover health inequities and advocate for services to decrease poorer health outcomes for our most vulnerable populations. We have to understand the connection between Social Determinants of Health such as housing and food security and ability for people to achieve their best possible health outcomes.
This includes focusing on developing resources for our Public Safety Sector as well so they have adequate resources to respond to mental health and substance abuse emergencies. I’m working with community members right now to do exactly that through the Advisory Group For Obama’s Pledge, supported by Chief Molis & Mayor Christenson.
The group has been meeting and reviewing the Malden Police Department’s current use of force policies. It will be meeting with the police chief and the community to seek feedback before making final recommendations. Agendas and notes are posted on the city’s website.
Malden Forms Advisory Group To Review Police Use Of Force Policy | Malden, MA Patch
Advisory Group for Obama’s Pledge (AGOP) | Malden, MA (cityofmalden.org)
Everyone deserves to have a safe place to call home. It is the foundation on which we build the rest of our lives. Our communities do better as a whole when we take care of our most vulnerable, and that is why we must ensure all Maldonians have access to safe and affordable housing.
There are many possible ways to expand access to renting and homeownership in Malden. I am excited to strengthen Malden’s existing affordable housing programs, while taking steps to increase and diversify the total number of affordable units city-wide. In light of the housing crisis spawned by Covid-19, when people have had to prioritize food and healthcare over rent and mortgage payments, it is more vital than ever to ensure we have multiple avenues to keep Maldonians housed. This will be one of my core values and guiding principles as a City Councilor.
Affordable housing generally refers to housing that is affordable – costing 30% or less of monthly income – to households earning at or below 80% of the Area Median Income.
“Affordable housing” is an often misunderstood term. Affordable housing refers to housing units that are affordable by that section of society whose income is below the median household income. Affordable housing should be distinguished from public housing. Public housing usually refers to housing either developed and operated by a Public Housing Authority, (Malden Housing Authority) or programs such as Section 8 and Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), that are run through the Housing Authority and provide vouchers for low income community members to find housing on the private market.
While public housing is a type of affordable housing, the term “affordable housing” is much broader and often refers to housing built by private non-profit and for-profit developers where use of tax credits, public subsidies, or zoning provisions require that those developers restrict the affordability of certain units by deed. To put simply, some units must be kept ‘affordable’
Everyone deserves to have a safe place to call home. It is the foundation you build everything else upon. Our communities do better as a whole when we take care of our most vulnerable.
That is why I will fight to be sure we leave no one behind. I will continue to work to provide safety nets for our residents. As part of the interfaith roundtable, I was able to work closely with Pastor Whetstone and Pastor Emily on bringing our vision of helping the homeless to a reality by opening the first ever Malden Warming Center at the Church of the Nazarene.
As a Board Member on the Metro North Housing Corporation, we were able to SUPPORT Housing Families’ APPLICATION to help open the first Malden shelter for individuals at the OYO hotel during the COVID19 pandemic.
I have been a long time proponent for Inclusionary Zoning in Malden. There are a number of ways you can accomplish this.
You can require that developments over a certain size contain a set percentage of affordable units (often defined as affordable for households at or below 80% AMI). Unfortunately, the this hasn’t been the case.
You can also have the developer pay into an established trust fund for affordable housing in lieu of developing the units on site.
Or, you can provide an incentive-based provision above and beyond what is required under the mandatory provision.
When it comes to Climate Change we must think globally, but act locally. We can do this in Malden with a Climate Action Plan that will reduce our city’s carbon emissions through building and protecting our green and blue space, increasing sustainable transportation options, and outfitting our building with modern energy systems.
I will advocate for expanding workforce development and career training opportunities in Malden. This would bring needed training to our residents who are searching for employment, as well as those who want to improve on their skills and advance in their careers. All the while providing support to our small businesses to ensure they can continue to recover, grow, and thrive.
As the former Community Outreach Coordinator I was tasked with creating the vision for this new role in Malden. When the unexpected job of leading the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP) came my way I took on this challenge and began creating community partners.
Together we tripled the size and depth of MSYEP by increasing grant allocations. When I began, the funding range was approximately $85,000 and we hired between 80-120 youth employees. Under my leadership, we increased funding to $350,000 and we ranged between 250-300 youth hired during the summer. With community partners and job coaches, we were able to provide jobs to all our youth including our special needs kids.
Because of this, and by making the application and hiring process transparent, we became the model for the state of Massachusetts and had two sitting Governors attend round table discussions on our process in Malden.
I will continue advocating for youth employment and leadership programs.
To ensure our success we have to give our students a quality education that prepares them for the future. Whether it’s college or trade school, we must work will all local stakeholders to provide opportunities to not only help students learn, but to provide an employment pipeline for our local economy.
As the former Director of the Senior Center I’ve seen first hand the needs of our city’s elders. Those who can stay at home struggle to afford personal at home care, and those who find community housing can hardly pay the bills. We must increase communication, transportation, and living assistance services so our elders can age right here at home.
We were late to combine regionally for many resources. We function like an island when we should be working together with our sister cities. Malden has the opportunity to utilize CARES Act funding for testing sites, vaccination efforts, housing insecurities, increase Human service positions. Mutual Aid groups like Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors continue to combat and organizations like Bread of Life Food insecurity
Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved. Paid for by Karen Colon Hayes