Ep. 54, The Race for Boston: John Barros
2021 is an important year for Bostonians -- we will recover from Covid-19, and we will elect a new mayor. This is a historic election. For the first time in history, Boston will have a mayor who is a person of color. With six candidates and an open seat following Mayor Walsh’s departure to Washington D.C., there’s a lot to cover, and we’ll be diving in over the next six weeks with each of the candidates about everything from education, to economic development, to racial justice, to their favorite coffee shops and restaurants in Boston, and more.
In our fifth installment of our special series, “Catalysts for Change: The Race for Boston”, Jill talks with John Barros. The Chief of Economic Development for former Mayor Marty Walsh, Barros previously ran for Mayor of Boston in 2013.
John Barros joined Mayor Walsh’s administration in 2014 to establish the new Economic Development cabinet and lead the department for seven years. Before working for the Walsh administration, he served as Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and also served on the Boston School Committee. A lifelong resident of Roxbury and Dorchester, he attended Dartmouth College and Tufts University. He currently resides in Dorchester with his wife and four children.
We talk with John Barros about his background growing up in Boston, his time leading the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and serving on the Boston School Committee, the initiatives he led as Chief of Economic Development, and how he will draw from his experience to help Boston thrive as we recover from the pandemic. If you would like to learn more about John Barros’s campaign, please check out the resources below.
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