“Municipal Office: A Picture of Severe Racial Under-Representation in Many Greater Boston Cities and Towns
Despite the growing diversity of Greater Boston’s population, the people who fill elected and appointed municipal positions are overwhelmingly white, according to a new survey of 10 cities and towns by the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
With people of color making up, on average, 41.3 percent of the total population of these cities and towns, the findings show they are severely underrepresented in elected and appointed offices at the municipal level, according Carol Hardy-Fanta, director of the center. Just 9.1 percent – or 17 of the 186 municipal elective posts – are filled by people of color; and only 15.5 percent of appointed posts are held by people of color.
“This should serve as a wake up call to communities of color to pursue paths that will gain them representation on appointed boards and commissions as well as position them to run for elective office, where their voices are sorely missed,” said Hardy-Fanta. “This should also serve as a challenge to all these cities and towns to closely examine how their appointed positions reflect the diversity of their communities.”
This report serves as another diversity benchmark for the Commonwealth, where people of color now make up approximately 20 percent of the population and where voters in November elected the state’s first African-American governor.
The report follows an earlier center study, released in December, which found that just elevenpercent of top-level gubernatorial appointees during the Romney administration were held by people of color. Out of 163 top-level state positions, only three Latinos and one Asian held appointed posts, the earlier study found.
The new analysis for the upcoming Pipeline to Public Service initiative focused on 10 cities and towns with the largest percentage of residents of color. The communities included: Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Framingham, Lynn, Malden, Quincy, Randolph and Somerville.
“The most exciting part of Governor Deval Patrick's election is that there are thousands of professionals of color just like him in the Commonwealth today,” said Beverly Edgehill, CEO and President of The Partnership and co-chair of the Pipeline to Public Service steering committee. “They just need both to create and be given the opportunity to serve. This study hopefully opens the door to a new conversation about how we can make both happen.”
Looking at elective positions, researchers examined the race of mayors, city/town councilors, members of boards of selectmen/aldermen, and members of school boards/committees. Among elected officials in the survey communities, the study found:
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Of the 7 cities with a mayoral system of government, just one, Cambridge, has a person of color as its top elected official.
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Four of the 10 cities have no elected officials of color, including Everett, Lynn, Quincy and Somerville; Framingham, Malden and Randolph have just one elected official of color each.
People of color are equally underrepresented in appointed office, according to the study. Looking at race and ethnicity for each member of 73 boards in the selected communities, the researcher found:
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Just 15.5 percent of appointed officials in the 10 cities and towns are people of color.
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58.1 percent of these boards and commissions were made up entirely of (non-Hispanic) White members.
Boston and Chelsea have levels of elected representation by people of color that are closest to the diversity of their populations: 28.6 percent of elected officials in Boston are people of color compared to with a population that 50.5 percent non-White, and Chelsea, with 35% elected officials of color and a population that is 62.4 percent non-White.
“These numbers demonstrate that it is possible to move in the direction of diversity in representation, although there is still room for improvement,” said Hardy-Fanta. “In Cambridge, with a smaller non-White population, three (or 20 percent) of its 15 elected officials are African American. In contrast, Everett, Lynn, Quincy and Somerville all have no elected officials of color despite relatively large— and growing— communities of color.”
Boston and Somerville have levels of appointed representation that are closest to the diversity of their populations: In Boston, 47.5 percent of the appointed officials are people of color compared to its population of 50.5 percent non-White, and in Somerville the percent of appointed officials of color (26.3 percent) is almost the same as their share of the population (27.4 percent). (See figure below.)
The research was commissioned by the Pipeline to Public Service, with funding from The Boston Foundation, The New Community Fund, and The Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation. The Pipeline to Public Service initiative’s mission is to develop a new generation of leaders of color committed to public service, in order to ensure a more representative democracy and a diverse civic community in Greater Boston.
"The Center’s latest findings position the Pipeline to Public Service initiative to address the lack of diversity in positions within the public service sector,” said Giovanna Negretti, of Oiste, The Massachusetts Latino Civic Education Initiative, which is part of the Pipeline to Public Service project. “We must build on the gains obtained by African Americans while recognizing the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for all communities of color including African Americans, Latinos and Asians.”
The study’s author recommends several steps for local cities and towns to reduce under-representation of people of color in both the appointed and elective realms:
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Cities and towns should examine their practices of appointments and election oversight in order to make the cities and towns with low participation by people of color more receptive to inclusive representation.
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Community groups, foundations, and educational institutions—both K through 12, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities— should institute programs to support greater participation by people of color in public service.
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Civic leaders need to engage in a discussion with these institutions as well as communities of color to foster greater diversity among elected and appointed officials, at the state and local levels.
The Pipeline to Public Service Initiative will provide education and training opportunities to enable individuals from diverse political backgrounds to run successfully for elective office, manage and run political campaigns, and serve in all levels of government. The initiative—like the research reported here—is made possible with funding provided by The Boston Foundation, The New Community Fund, and The Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation. The report will be officially released at the launch of the Pipeline to Public Service, which will take place on Wednesday, February 7th, 5:30pm-7:30pm at the Suffolk University, 73 Tremont Street, Boston.
The mission of the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston is to promote women's leadership by providing quality education, conducting research that makes a difference in women's lives, and serving as a resource for the empowerment of women from diverse communities across the Commonwealth. Recognizing the talent and potential of women from every community, and guided by the urban mission of an intellectually vibrant and diverse university in the heart of Boston, the Center seeks to expand the involvement of women in politics and their influence on policies that affect them, their families, and their communities. The Center was established in 1994 with the support of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women State Legislators; oversees a Graduate Certificate Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy, and supports other initiatives at the McCormack Graduate School.
UMass Boston prides itself on academic excellence, diversity, and its commitment to serving students and the greater Boston community. Through its seven colleges—Liberal Arts, Science and Mathematics, Management, Nursing and Health Sciences, Public and Community Service, the Graduate College of Education, and the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies— UMass Boston offers undergraduate and graduate study in more than 150 fields. More information about UMass Boston can be found at: www.umb.edu.