Meet the City of Somerville’s Racial and Social Justice Department and learn about its work at a virtual forum, March 31

The City of Somerville’s Racial and Social Justice (RSJ) Department invites the community to a virtual forum to meet department staff, learn about their work, and find out how to get involved on Thursday, March 31, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Go to somervillema.gov/virtualtownhall at the start time of the forum to join online, or call 311 on March 31 to get call-in information. Interpretation into Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Nepali, Mandarin, and American Sign Language will be provided. 

“The RSJ Department wants to ensure that the community has access and opportunities in various ways to be informed and engage with the department and its initiatives,” said RSJ Department Director Denise Molina Capers. “We have been working hard to strategize ways of moving forward in our work to promote racial and social justice that continue to focus on building trust, engaging the community and stakeholders, and providing information on our work and how to get involved.”

The RSJ Department was formed in 2021 with the hiring of Director Capers. Since then, additional staff have been hired, and the department has begun working on a number of initiatives related to racial and social justice including reimagining policing and public safety, hosting conversations with neighborhoods affected by increased gun violence, and increasing support for City commissions. As this work continues, there will be many opportunities for the public to be involved. Updates about the RSJ Department’s work and engagement opportunities will be posted at somervillema.gov/rsj.

“The RSJ Department staff have very quickly started to work on big, complex issues in our community and I encourage residents to take this chance to meet them and learn about what they have been doing,” said Mayor Katjana Ballantyne. “As we work together on issues like tackling systemic racism and other forms of oppression, reimagining policing and public safety, and creating a more equitable city, it will be important to have all voices at the table.”

Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.