City Council - Ways & Means Committee Hearing on Dockets #0733-0740, FY27 Budget: Public Testimony

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Good evening. For the record, my name is Ben Weber. I'm the District 6 City Councilor and the Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means. This evening is May 26, 2026, and the exact time is 6.11 p.m. We're going to have brief opening statements from my colleagues here. Before we get started, I just want to... I could get through a couple preliminaries. This hearing's being recorded. It's also being live streamed at boston.gov slash city dash council dash tv. and broadcasts on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FiOS Channel 964. This council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings that begin in April and run through June. This morning we held our last departmental hearing.

And after this, we will be holding meetings with my colleagues to talk about the budget that we want to Put forward. So we're here for public testimony. This is the fourth of four public testimony listening sessions. You can testify in person. If you're testifying in person, sign in at the sign-up sheet, which is near the entrance. If you're online, you can sign up by using our online form on our Council Budget Review website. or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm.boston.gov or by emailing our central staff budget analyst, Karishma Chauhan at karishma.chauhan.com. at Boston.gov. When you're called to testify, if you're in the chamber, you can testify at one of the two mics over here. Please state your name.

Where you live, if you're with an organization, your organization. And then you'll have two minutes to testify. We have a lot of folks who signed up tonight. So I'm going to have to strictly enforce the two minutes per person or else We'll never get to hear from everyone. You can also give testimony in a foreign language. We have interpreters here. who speak Cantonese, Spanish. We're waiting still, I guess, and Mandarin. Do we have Cantonese and or Mandarin? or just Mandarin. I have Mandarin down here, but I thought it was Cantonese. Interpreter, do we have? both Cantonese and or Mandarin. We are waiting for an interpreter who's here who speaks Haitian Creole. I'll let you know when that person's here. And again, please keep your comments to two minutes.

We'll then have interpretation for two minutes after that. And again, if you're looking to testify online, you can do so at this listening session by emailing our Director of Legislative Budget Analysis, Karishma Chauhan at karishma.chauhan. This evening's public testimony session is on docket number 0733 to 0740. This is one of four public testimony listening sessions that we've We will have held here in the council chamber on the fiscal year 2027 budget. This is our last hearing on the fiscal year 2027 budget. These matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026. For anyone who's here in this room, we do have like a fire safety issue.

If you can't fit in the seats and you're on the stairwell, you will have to leave the chamber. The mezzanine will have a viewing area There is a TV being brought there. It's not there yet. And I'm told it will be there about 15 or 20 minutes. So there will be plenty of public testimony to listen to. But again, if you can hear me and you You want to attend, but you can't find a seat. We're going to have to stop this listening session if people are sitting in the aisles and standing and everything. So again, if you please make room for your fellow You know, Boston residents who are here to testify, make room for them in the seats or else we have to, it looks like there are a bunch of seats on this right side. If you're coming in, please find a seat. You need to find a seat or we can't go forward.

Okay, and so again, we're going to have a brief one minute opening statement from my colleagues in the order of arrival. Also, in terms of people signing up, if you're here with children, we're going to call on you first. So, please be ready to give your two minutes. Stick to the two minutes. I've just rambled on. You have a statement if you'd like to interpret. Now we've got Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Buenas tardes es la interpretación al español. Buenas tardes. Para el acta, soy Ben Weber, el consejero estatal de la ciudad del Distrito 6, y soy el presidente del Comité de Asuntos Presupuestarios. Son las 11 p.m. que estamos iniciando. This preliminary information is that this audience is being recorded and is also being broadcast live on boston.gov. City Council TV y también se está transmitiendo por el Xfinity Channel 8, el canal 82 de RCN y en Fios el canal 964. El proceso de revisión del presupuesto del Consejo incluye varias audiencias que iniciaron en abril y continúan hasta junio. We are now in the last departmental hearing, and then we will meet with the different councilors to see what happens next.

Ustedes pueden dar su testimonio aquí en persona o también lo pueden hacer por Zoom. Para declarar en persona, por favor tienen que pasar, haberse anotado en la lista que está al lado de la entrada. Si van a dar testimonio virtual, se pueden anotar en la forma en línea o enviar un correo electrónico a ccc.wm.boston.gov. o enviar un correo electrónico a carisma.chohan.gov. Cuando le llamen, por favor, puede usted pasar, pueden declarar en español y se va a interpretar lo que ustedes digan al inglés. Pueden, por favor, decir su nombre. y de hablar en uno de estos dos micrófonos van a decir su nombre su afiliación su residencia y tienen solamente dos minutos para sus comentarios porque tenemos muy poco tiempo y vamos a mantener ese tiempo límite de dos minutos Let's see.

The sessions of today's public testimony are in expedients 0733 to 0740. This is one of the four sessions of public testimony. Respecto al presupuesto del año fiscal del 2027. Y todos estos asuntos están siendo auspiciados por la alcaldesa Michelle Wu y fueron referidos al comité el 8 de abril del 26. Por favor, si se anotaron para testificar, quienes vengan con niños van a poder declarar primero.

Hello, my name is William Weber. I am the sixth member of the city of Boston. I am also the chairman of the financial and budget committee of the city of Boston. Today is May 26, 2026. Xfinity RCN 82 Forrest, D-964. We strongly encourage residents to participate in this process and express their opinions through public testimony. You can participate in the hearing in the following ways. Participate in the hearing and make public statements. We will end the hearings in each department and receive public opinion.

At the same time, we will hold two public hearings. boston.com slash consul budget In-person May 26th at 6 p.m. You can speak to the audience in person or participate online via Zoom. If you need to speak, you can submit a form on the budget inspection website. ccc.wm.boston.gov

When it's your turn to speak, please tell us your name and where you live. And please control your speech within two minutes to make sure everyone can hear you. If you need an interpreter, we have Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese interpreters. Please contact the interpreter. Thank you.

I am the sixth member of the Boston City Council. I am also the president of the Boston City Council. Today is May 26th, 2026. This hearing will be recorded and will also be held at the Boston City Council. T.V. The review of the City Council's budget will include all the public hearing from April 1 to June. We strongly encourage residents to take the time to participate in this process. You can participate by listing a few ways to provide face-to-face silence.

The first is to participate in our hearing. The second is to hold a public hearing. We will participate in every hearing. Please join us in this public hearing. Every public hearing will be held on the basis of public opinion. and many more. The complete hearing is scheduled to be held at the Boston.gov Council budget website. It will also be held under the Public Hearing Committee. On the 28th of April, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the 26th of May, you can arrive at the venue at 6 p.m.

You can also participate in the trial by yourself. You can also use our Zoom to listen online. If you need to participate in the trial by yourself, please go to the conference hall. and the signature on the registration form near the entrance. If you need to apply for a job, you can use the information on the survey website of the Council's budget. For more information, visit cccwm.boston.gov Chauhan, at Boston.gov, .

When you report to the police, please state your name and address, where you live, and limit the time of your discovery to two minutes to ensure that all your opinions and concerns are covered. CCCWM at Boston.gov Thank you for watching. Please subscribe to our channel. For more information on the budget process and how to apply, please visit Boston.gov Councilor Budget. After the hearing is over, we will proceed with a public hearing. We will follow the order of appointment.

If you wish to register, please send an e-mail to the legal officer. Kazma Chauhan, at boston.gov. I'll take a Zoom call. We'll give you your name. Thank you. Thank you. We have four translators, Spanish, Mandarin, Spanish, and Cantonese. If you are listening to the registration form in advance, please note down the language you need.

Okay, thank you very much.

We do have a Haitian Creole. Interpreter. who is on their way. Let me introduce my colleagues. They're each going to have a minute to testify. I'm just going left to right. So, Councillor Mejia, Councillor Flynn, Councillor Culpepper. Durkan, Councilor Brayden, and Councilor Santana. We may pause when there's a break for our Haitian Creole interpreter. So we do one-minute opening statements, okay?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I also want to thank community for showing up and turning out the way you did. The rally on City Hall Plaza, the youth-led march, and blocking Congress earlier. Shows that the power really does lie with the people. Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. Our office has filed our amendments to restore the cuts plus a little bit more because we know that Restoring the cuts was just never enough. These amendments reflect the total amounts that we are advocating to be on the council's amendments, and I plan to co-sign and support my colleagues' amendments and then advocate for additional amounts to ensure that we are reaching the total amount for each line item in our office submitted amendments. Okay, I want to be really clear. that we have listened to what the people have been asking for, and our hope is to deliver. And so I just want you all to know that we are here for this work.

In addition to the amendments that we have filed, our office supports the BTU's call for a better BPS budget. For the upcoming working sessions, I will be participating virtually And because I believe in full transparency, I am going to be asking, moving forward, not this cycle, but maybe at some point that we host our working sessions inside this chamber and that we do so transparently and that we create space for people to pay attention to what is being said and Dunn. And so that's what's going to be one of my biggest advocacies moving forward. And I just want to acknowledge that as a single mom, I'm going to have to leave to take care of my family, but my staff will be here the entire time. and we'll be uplifting your voice every step of the way. Thank you for being here and showing up and showing up.

Okay, thank you very much. We have about seven pages of people to hear from tonight and we'd really like to hear from every single one of those, from my colleagues. Please don't take after Councilor Mejia in terms of the time, so please let me hear your comments in one minute. Thank you very much. You went over plenty. Well, okay, I'll leave the bell running. Okay, Councilor Flynn, one minute.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the community for being here tonight. Thank you to many members. from District 2 including Chinatown, South Washington, the South End that are also here. Tonight's public testimony is basically geared towards the impact the public can have on the amendment process. We had the opportunity last week to vote the budget down and then do the lobbying work necessary to advocate for the major changes in the body. But we gave up that opportunity when we didn't vote the budget down. When I was on the council, Lowe, Campbell, Edwards, Flaherty, they all voted the council budget down initially and then they advocated for social programs, social services that were critical. I'm going to continue to support

Our students and public education here in Boston and issues impacting social and economic justice.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, thank you. Well-timed. Okay, Councilor Culpepper.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all for being here tonight. Thank you for your time, your energy, the passion that you brought to City Hall throughout these budget hearings, especially tonight. I want to be clear. We heard you, we see you, and we stand for you. We have heard concerns about senior services, immigration services, youth opportunities, violence prevention, public health, housing assistance, community grants, Food Growth, and other critical supports that residents rely on every day. Tonight reminds me of something Dr. King said when he said the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. He said we will rise on the tails of despair, to the Buriency of Hope. He said, walk together chilling. Don't you get worried. There's a great camp meeting. Welcome to the great camp meeting. Y'all don't get it.

There's a great camp meeting.

And it's you. Okay, thank you, Councilor Culpepper. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Okay, Councilor Durkan. No? Okay, great. So just, Councilor Durkan, if you could just wait one second.

Yeah, sure. Thank you.

Do we have the statement? So let's give you a minute to, so we have a Haitian Creole interpreter who's here. There's a statement to read, but if you're going to provide live interpretation, Yeah, can you just, are you ready to do that now? Okay, so why don't you get set up and we'll just wait. Yeah, so we have some other interpreters. I'm not sure where they went. They're in the back. So anyone who is waiting for Haitian Creole interpretation, I guess we're ready to go on that. Okay, Councillor Durkan, one minute.

Thank you, Chair. For the record, I'm picking up what Councillor Culpepper was putting down, so thank you, Reverend. So my district has emailed me about arts, parks, and small businesses, as well as vouchers. So that's part of what I advocated for through the amendment process. particularly vouchers, legacy businesses, arts and culture, and ESOL for BPS parents along with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. I also believe that we should restore funding for seniors and for veterans. So I look forward to the amendment process with my colleagues. I know there's a lot of you here to testify, and I'm here to listen. Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you very much. Madam President, Breadon.

Good evening everyone. Thank you all for being here. It was so nice to see so many folks out on the plaza earlier and thank you for coming in to City Hall to voice your concerns and advocate for All those things that you feel are important to the quality of life and safety of all of us in the City of Boston. I appreciate all of your advocacy and I look forward to the amendment process. We've had our last hearing as Councillor Weber just mentioned today and we will start the amendment process this week. I'm hoping that we can put money, move things around so that we can address the needs that you're all going to talk to today. So thank you so much and thank you Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. Councillor Santana.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon or good evening. Buenas noches a todos. First and foremost, I just want to thank all the organizers particularly our youth who held a rally right before this. I think that we're in incredible difficult times right now in figuring out this budget. I do feel very optimistic about the youth who are stepping up in this moment right now, advocating on behalf have themselves and future generations As someone whose number one priority is our youth, I've made it very clear that I am not okay with the $5.9 million cuts to year-round youth jobs, and that's going to be my number one priority during this process. Restoring the 1,800 jobs for our youth. I've said it once and I'll say it again. This is the difference between life and death for many of our youth. Not just for the jobs, but when you're talking about cuts to our LGBTQ plus grants, to cuts to our immigrant grants, cuts to our black male advancement grants.

We really need to work together to restore this. So that's going to be my focus. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you very much. I want to thank my colleagues who showed up tonight. who showed up through this whole process. It's been a couple months and we have the hardest part in front of us, which is to restore the programs that we want to fund in this program. I think I've been in 10 town halls from one side of the city to the other hearing from people as the Ways and Means Chair. And I want to thank everyone who showed up to those to speak their mind and talk about how we can best Help the residents of Boston. So I just want to thank everyone who's here. Again, if you can't find a seat, you're going to be escorted out, and we're going to have to pause the hearing.

You'll get to testify if you signed up, but if you can't find a seat, and there's probably some seats up there, squeeze in up here, but you can go outside, there'll be a TV and you can watch in the mezzanine. So again, if you don't have a seat, you might have to just wait outside. Obviously, we're going to be here for hours. and so everyone's gonna get a chance to testify and I just in terms of like fire safety and standing around we we just can't have that also please make room for the Haitian Creole interpreter So he can have a place to sit because he needs to be in here. Okay, so again, two minutes to testify. We have From New Bay, we've got two people. It looks like I've got Ozdeer and Wendy. If they're here, please come forward.

You can testify at one of these microphones. If you need interpretation, we have, oh, yeah, just, I'm sorry, just, yeah, give me, I'll let you read that. No, no, stay there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Yes, I got that. So what we're going to hear is from Asgir and Wendy. We're going to also hear from our Haitian Creole interpreter. And then anyone who's here with children, please come down and get in line. Over here, you're just gonna, if you're here with children. Okay, so you have a statement. If you're ready, you can read that out.

Good evening, everyone. Good evening. My name is Daniel. I am an interpreter. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Under my interpretations, we put the event on the other side. Today, we have a meeting for District 6, for Councilor Villa. We are here in Boston with everyone in the community. It's Thursday, May 26, 2026. The time is 6.50. We have a lot of meetings on television. We have a lot of meetings on television. We have a lot of meetings on television. We have a lot of meetings on television. To make this public, our barraza started in April until June. We encourage all residents For now, I want to say thank you to all of you who have participated in this event.

Thank you. Thank you. for Yogo, Mejia, Samba, O'Capal, O'Rea for Judea, Nafe, O'Kasha, Boston.gov, Council Budget, Boston.gov, Council Budget. Arnold Baye, Thun, Knopp, Today, April 28, at 6 p.m., we will have a meeting. We will have a meeting today, May 26, at 6 p.m. If you have any questions or anything you need to know,

If you have any questions, you can reach out to us via Zoom, or you can reach out to us via the Konya office, or you can just raise your hand and we can answer your questions. Thank you again. I just want to read the whole thing. All right, by the way, do we have any questions for B.J.? Do we have any questions for Annelise? Do we have any questions for Karshima?

Chauhan.

Chauhan? Okay. For the Zoom link, we have added our names on the list for any questions. We also have an interpretation service for any questions. We have four interpreters. We have interpreters for Spanish. We have interpreters for Mandarin. We have interpreters for Haitian Creole. We have language interpreters. We have a question in Cantonese. We have a question in Cantonese. We have a question in Cantonese. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Okay, so first up, we're gonna have and I apologize for misreading everyone's handwriting in advance, but is it Ozdir? Okay, so Ozdir, two minutes, then Wendy, and then anyone here who's here with a child, you're up.

Hello, city councils. My name is Ozdeer. I'm 15 years old, and I live in East Boston. I'm in ninth grade, and I'm a volunteer with the organization NUBE, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston. I want to start off by talking about how the budget cuts are not just affecting me as a young person, but also my community as a whole. I want to acknowledge my community and youth that shouldn't have to be outside doing rallies and protesting, begging for our counselors to reject these proposals that the mayor has put in place. In schools, we learned that the mayor and the city council members Their jobs are important. They're meant to serve the community that they're supposed to be making Boston great, like we expect it to be. But clearly what we see We're seeing that the budget that Michelle Wu has made is not for the people, the community, and the youth. These proposals are affecting us in a negative way.

Like when you're cutting for programs that give us and our families access to fresh food, produce, cutting money for housing and legal services. Cutting funding for youth jobs during the school year and summer. When I had my first youth job last year, It was a really positive moment where I learned a lot of new things and I learned more about my community, myself, and others. and I was able to do something to help better my community by doing activities that brought kindness and joy. I learned to hold peace circles and host farmers markets and talk to even younger people about substance use prevention and the bad consequences of vaping. With the budget cuts that there will be less youth that are gonna be employed because of the large amounts of money that are being taken out and stripping away opportunities from our youth to have some experience like I did.

Investing in youth jobs is one of the smartest and most important decisions that a city can make for many youth in a city-funded job. When you take these opportunities and jobs from us...

Sorry, I'm going to have to cut you off. Can you just wrap up?

Yeah, so I just wanted to end off by saying that by you guys accepting whatever Michelle Wu has put in place are negatively affecting us youth, community members, and everybody. Thank you.

Okay, sorry. For reasons that will become apparent in three to four hours, we're just not having reactions to everything because we'll be here a very long time. So please be respectful and just... Keep things to the minimum. Okay, Wendy, and then we'll go over here, so whenever you're ready.

Antes de empezar, no sé por qué no tienen interpretación simultánea al español y los otros idiomas. Si los votantes que ustedes tienen no todos hablan inglés para entender lo que ustedes están hablando.

Before we start, I don't understand why you're not providing simultaneous interpretation to Spanish and other languages because all of your voters or constituencies don't speak English and you represent them.

Permiso, tenemos traducción en español. Simultánea. Simultánea, sí, creo que.

Mi nombre es, hola, buenas tardes a los concejales y a la audiencia por estar aquí.

A good evening or good afternoon to all the councilors and for being here.

My name is Wendy Lasso and I work with Nuve. Vivo en East Boston y hoy estoy aquí para hablar de los recortes que ha hecho la alcaldesa sobre los fondos de la comida que muchas familias eran beneficiadas y ahora con este recorte serán afectadas.

I live in East Boston and I am here to talk about the cuts. that the mayor is doing, especially those cuts for the funds for food, that a lot of families were benefiting or are benefiting from that, and now they're facing these cuts.

Dando este testimonio porque siento que lo que la alcaldesa está haciendo es injusto y es momento de alzar la voz por aquellos que tienen miedo de estar aquí.

This is my first time testifying here. I am here to give my testimony because I feel like what the mayor is doing, it's very unfair. And I'm here to raise my voice in the name of those who are afraid to be here.

Por eso le pedimos a los concejales, a ustedes, que no apoyen los recortes que piensan en todas las familias, que esto les afectará, que muchas de ellas se han quedado sin trabajo por todo lo que estamos viviendo, el contexto político que se está viviendo.

That's why I'm here to ask you, city councilors, to not support the mayor's cuts because a lot of these families are being affected. They're losing their jobs due to the political context that they live in right now.

Y muchas de estas familias también son votantes y le han dado el voto a ustedes. Por eso ellas los eligieron para que los representen bien y vean por el bienestar de las familias. A lot of these families, they're voters.

They have voted for all of you. They elected you, and you're representing them for their well-being and their families.

No para perjudicarla. Ahora ustedes tienen que hacer que estos fondos regresen a los programas. Necesitamos representantes y líderes que voten alineadamente con la comunidad para apoyarla.

So instead, these families are being affected. And we are here to ask you for the funds, these funds to come back to the programs. We need these programs, and we need our representative leaders like you So you can vote in alignment with what the community is asking for you to support.

I know I'm running out of time, so I want to say one last thing. Lo Recorten y a su familia. También muchos concejales tienen un buen salario de $125,000 al año y eso sale de los taxes que nosotros pagamos, porque yo pago mis impuestos.

So first of all, the grocery is so expensive right now, and we're barely making ends meet. So I just want to say that the mayor, with her big salary, she's not being affected by this, or her family, and all of you also, who are making a good salary. You make over $125,000 a year. That money comes for the sale taxes and all the taxes and my taxes because I pay taxes.

Esperamos que ustedes hoy escuchen a la gente, a la comunidad, y no voten a favor de este presupuesto dañino. Porque si ustedes no apoyan a la comunidad hoy, recuerden que mañana... We are going to remember this and the elections are coming up very soon. Thank you.

So I hope that you will remember this, that you can listen to the people and the community and to vote in the favor of a good budget, not a harming budget. and that you will support the community and remember tomorrow that we will remind you this because elections are coming soon. Thank you.

So we have hired interpreters. in Spanish, Haitian, Creole, Mandarin, and Cantonese. So I didn't realize we're not doing simultaneous translation. We're going to work with staff to have that set up. Where's the equipment? If you need to work with

So please tell us your name, where you live, and you'll have two minutes.

Necesita traducción or in English?

Oh, no, I'm ready.

Okay, okay. I was waiting.

All right, good evening. My name is Leah Serena, and I proudly serve as the Executive Vice President for the Boston Teachers Union. where I represent more than 11,000 active and retired educators who dedicated their careers to Boston Public Schools and the children and families of this city. Our city is approaching a pivotal moment. Next week, this council will vote on an annual budget and the outcome of that decision will have significant impact on determining the direction our school district and our children's lives. Together, we have made notable progress. This year, more students will graduate from high school than any other point in the district's history. Chronic absenteeism is declining, and we're gaining ground on the learning loss students experienced during the pandemic. and even with a federal administration that has slashed public education funding, we have built movement towards a brighter future. If this proposed budget passes in its current form, we risk that movement in diminishing the bright futures of our students.

As it stands, the BPS allocation in this budget would cut more than 400 educator jobs in our schools. Just this morning, we learned that potential Potentially losing over 100 paraprofessionals who will not be called back to this district. More than 80% of BPS students are classified as high needs and about 70% come from low-income families. Approximately one in four students have a disability and roughly 35% of our students are multilingual learners. Each of these describe a student population that requires a dynamic and holistic approach to education. If we cut 400 education positions, then the district in our future is limiting our students' abilities. Since this budget proposal we have released, the BTU has worked with school communities and BPS families to remind the decision makers, you, and this city that the impact of a single educator can have on a student and their families. The value of trust cannot be fully contained in a salary or a single budget line item.

We understand that Boston faces significant financial challenges, many of which were caused by forces out of our control. We understand that the district across the state are confronting similar situations. And even still, we ask that the City Council and the Mayor's Office pass funding for our schools because we understand that the solution to these challenges is not taking away critical support for our students.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm sorry, we're making some space for mothers who've come with their children to be able to get out of here. Oh, permiso. So again, we can't have anyone blocking the stairways or the door. If you're not testifying, you're gonna have Plenty of opportunity to speak. Can you please, you can wait outside. We've got a mezzanine set up and a television. Otherwise, they're going to come in and stop the hearing and we won't be able to continue.

I have two children.

Good.

Good afternoon. My name is Johanna Cordero. I'm a resident of Roxbury, and I have three children. And I am here because of my teenage son.

Quiero expresar mi preocupación por los recortes al presupuesto que dejarán a muchos jóvenes sin empleo este verano. En mi caso, mi hijo estaba muy emocionado por la oportunidad de tener su primer trabajo. Para él significaba responsabilidad, independencia y orgullo de ganar su propio dinero.

I want to express my concern for the cuts into the budget that will leave many children without any employment this summer. In my case, my son was very excited for the opportunity to be able to have his first job. To him this meant responsibility, independence, and the pride of being able to earn his own money.

Pero al enterarse de estos recortes, esa emoción se convirtió en tristeza. Sintió que sus oportunidades desaparecieron antes de tan siquiera poder intentarlo. Como madre es muy doloroso ver a mi hijo perder las esperanzas de algo que podía ayudarlo a crecer y mantenerse enfocado en un camino positivo.

But when he found out about these cuts, that excitement became sadness. He felt that his opportunities would disappear without him even being able to try. As a mother, it's very painful to see my child Lose the hope of something that would have helped him to grow and to keep focused in the positive road.

Estos programas no solo ofrecen empleo, también ofrecen espacios seguros donde nuestros jóvenes aprenden disciplina, compromiso, habilidades para su futuro. These programs don't only offer jobs.

They also offer safe spaces where our youth will learn discipline, commitment, and and skills for their future. This keeps our children motivated and they keep them away from the streets.

Lo más triste es el mensaje que reciben los jóvenes como mi hijo que sus sueños y su futuro no son prioridad.

The saddest thing is the message that the young people are receiving, young people like my son, that their dreams and their future are not a priority.

Invertir en nuestros jóvenes no es un gasto, es una inversión en nuestras comunidades y en el futuro de nuestros hijos.

Investing in our youth is not an expense. It's an investment in our communities and the future of our children.

Es muy triste que nuestros niños estén motivados a trabajar y a querer hacer algo productivo y que sus sueños sean rotos.

And I'm here because it's very sad to see that our children are so excited in being able to have these dreams and suddenly these dreams are just destroyed.

Thank you.

Okay, y su nombre?

Su nombre y de dónde viene usted. I'm going to give my statement all at once.

Cuatro minutos en dos idiomas.

Buenas tardes, mi nombre es Tania Escobar, vivo en Jamaica Plain, soy madre de dos niños, uno de ellos con necesidades especiales. Mi hijo, Tiago, es un estudiante en la escuela Blackstone. y es un niño dependiente de una silla de ruedas. Él no puede expresar con palabras lo que siente o necesita. Cuando él se siente abrumado, entra en crisis y puede convulsionar. Como madre, vivir con ese miedo constante es muy difícil. Por eso me preocupa profundamente los recortes al presupuesto escolar, porque no solo afectan empleos, también afectan la estabilidad emocional y seguridad de los estudiantes como mi hijo. En el salón de mi hijo Tiago hay una paraprofesional, Miskara, que se ha convertido en su persona favorita. Con solo escuchar su voz, él sonríe y se siente tranquilo. Para mi hijo, ella representa paz y seguridad.

Pensar que mi hijo Tiago no podrá contar con el apoyo y estabilidad que le brinda mis cara me rompe el corazón como madre. Él no entiende de presupuestos ni de recortes. Solo sentirá la pérdida de alguien que es fundamental en su vida diaria. Hoy levanto la voz por mi hijo y por muchos niños que necesitan apoyo humano y una educación verdaderamente inclusiva. En vez de limitar y crear frustraciones A los estudiantes con necesidades especiales deberían invertir en el futuro de ellos. Gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Tania Escobar. I live in Jamaica Plain. I am the mother of two children. One of whom has significant special needs. My son Tiago is a student at the Blackstone School. He permanently depends on a wheelchair and cannot express with words what he feels or needs. When he becomes frustrated or overwhelmed, he goes into crisis and has seizures. As a mother, living with that constant fear is extremely difficult. That is why I am deeply concerned about the cuts to the school budget. Because these cuts do not only affect jobs, they also affect the emotional stability and safety of vulnerable students like my son. In Tiago's classroom, there is a paraprofessional, Miss Cara, who has become his favorite person. Just hearing her voice makes him smile and feel calm. For my son, she represents safety, trust, and peace.

Thinking that Tiago may no longer have the support and stability that Ms. Cara provides breaks my heart. He does not understand budgets or cuts. He would only feel the loss of someone who is essential in his daily life. Today, I raise my voice for my son and for many other children who need human support, stability, and a truly inclusive education. Instead of limiting students and creating more frustration for them, we should be investing in their future. Sometimes I wonder if all of this is being done intentionally, because when we look at who is most affected, it is Hispanic students. English language learners and others. I mention this only so that you will reflect on it because it seems like these realities are not being taken into account. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I think if you're here with kids first.

Buenas tardes, señores concejales, todos presentes y a la audiencia. Mi nombre es Doris Tavares del vecindario de Rosberry de la escuela Hurley. Llegué a este país hace aproximadamente un año y medio con muchos sueños y con el deseo Thank you very much. Desde que llegué he tratado de aprovechar cada oportunidad que se me ha presentado. Actualmente estoy estudiando en el programa de inglés con Moya. Porque mi meta es seguir creciendo profesionalmente. Mi sueño es convertirme primero en una profesional y más adelante llegar a ser maestra.

Para mí, esto no es solo un trabajo o una meta personal. Es una oportunidad de transformar mi vida y también la vida de la familia. Pero para alcanzar ese sueño necesito las herramientas, la educación y los programas que ayuden a personas como yo. Por eso estoy aquí, porque me preocupa que se recorte el presupuesto. Si estos programas pierden apoyo, muchas personas podríamos and many more. Familias que están tratando de avanzar y construir un mejor futuro ya estoy avanzando quiero seguir avanzando quiero demostrarle a mis hijos que son

Con esfuerzo y apoyo si se puede lograr los sueños. Por eso le pido que consideren el impacto real que estas decisiones tienen en personas y familias como la mía. Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Doris Tavares, and I live in the neighborhood of Roxbury. I arrived in this country about a year and a half ago with many dreams and the desire to build a better future for myself and my children. One of the things I appreciate most about this country is believing that opportunities exist for people who are willing to work hard and move forward. Since I arrived, I have tried to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. I am currently studying English because my goal is to continue growing professionally. My dream is to first become a paraprofessional and later become a teacher. For me, this is not a job or a personal goal. It is an opportunity to transform my life and also the life of my family. But to achieve that dream, I need tools, education, and programs that support people like me. That is why I am here today, because I am concerned about the budget cuts.

If these programs lose support, many people could lose access to classes, resources, and opportunities that truly change lives. And it would not only affect me, but also many families who are trying to move forward and build a better future. I am making progress and I want to keep moving forward. I want to show my children that with effort and support, dreams really can come true. That is why I ask you to consider the real impact these decisions have on people and families like mine. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Traductora, so if you could translate for me. So we have simultaneous translation in Spanish. Machine, I don't know, works over there.

You can pick it up. Okay.

Thank you. Also, we have been joined by Councilor Russi-Louijan. Thank you very much.

Okay.

Okay, is there...

Anyone else?

Yeah.

Sorry, thank you for your patience. Hola, buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Natalie Mate.

Poco más cerca, yeah.

Soy madre de tres niños, soy colombiana y llevo tres años viviendo aquí en Estados Unidos y actualmente vivo en Marapam. Estoy aquí para expresar mi preocupación y cómo me afectaría el recorte del presupuesto a través de la oficina Moya. That helps immigrant families like mine. I've had the opportunity to study English. When I arrived in this country, it was almost impossible to communicate because of the language barrier. Thank you. A esto estoy trabajando en una escuela del BPS donde puedo comunicarme con los maestros y todo el personal.

Aún contino estudiando, sin embargo temo que estos recortes afecten mi estudio. Si se reduce el presupuesto, muchas personas como yo perderíamos una oportunidad muy importante para integrarnos y crecer. Thank you very much for listening to me.

Good afternoon. My name is Natalie Dimatti. I am the mother of three children. I am Colombian, and I have been living in the United States for three years. I currently reside in Matapan. Today, I am here to express my concern about how budget cuts would affect me and many others. Through the Mayor's Office for Immigrant Advancement, Moya, which supports immigrant families like mine, I have had the opportunity to study English. When I arrived in this country, it was almost impossible for me to communicate because of the language barrier. Thanks to the English classes I have been taking, and the knowledge I have gained, I now feel much more confident speaking and navigating daily life. Because of this opportunity, I now work at one of the Boston public schools where I am able to communicate with teachers and staff. I am still continuing my studies. However, I fear that these budget cuts could affect my education.

If the budget is reduced, many people like me would lose a very important opportunity to integrate, grow, and contribute to our economy. Please continue supporting these programs. Education and learning English changes lives and opens doors for many immigrant families. Thank you very much for listening to me.

Okay, so let me get my bearings here with this sign-in sheet. So is this Cassandra? It's Cassandra. Oh, we have another, okay, yes.

Buenas tardes, me llamo Sara Suarez Dimate, y vivo aquí en Boston. Yo voy a la escuela Blaston. Yo no quiero que recorten el dinero y las escuelas y a los trabajadores para jóvenes. Si recortan el dinero, voy a afectar mi futuro cuando tener suficiente Maestros y trabajadores, cuando cumpla 14 años, por favor, escuchen nuestras voces, no recorten nuestro futuro. Muchas gracias. Cash.

Hello, my name is Sara Suarez and I live here in Boston. I go to the Blackstone School. I do not want you to make any cuts in the money for schools and in the jobs for young people. If you cut this money, you are going to affect my future. I want to have enough teachers and work for when I am 14 years old. Please listen to our voices. Do not cut our future. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Okay, are we good?

Okay. Okay, so I'm sorry, so I have to go by the list. Some people, Cassandra? Adriana. Cassandra Cribs?

Adriana.

Cassandra. Okay, sorry, I have to go. Are you here with a child? Sorry.

No.

Okay. So I got to go by the list. So we went a little out of order for people here with children. Let me get back to this list. Sorry. Cassandra Cripps is up next. You can go over there. And then I have Johanna Cordero. Johanna left? Okay. Okay. Oh, she already went. And Alex Garcia?

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Alex would be after Cassandra. Okay.

My name is Cassandra. I was born and raised in Boston. I live in Dorchester, and I am proud to serve as a parent mentor with St. Stephen's Youth Programs. This program changed my life. St. Stephen's helped me take the first steps toward my goal of becoming a paraprofessional. Through their workshops and experiences, I've grown not only as a mentor, but as a mother. And as someone who understands how important support systems are for children and families, I've learned that children thrive when they feel supported, understood, and safe. But that support cannot stop at the classroom door. Families need support too. That is why these budget cuts are so upsetting to many of us in this community. We keep hearing that there's not enough funding for schools, youth programs, transportation, and resources for families.

But somehow, when other things need funding, the money's always there. The city of Boston is not broke. So we are the programs that directly help our children and communities always So sorry, sorry. So why are the programs that are directly helping our children and communities always the first ones at risk? Our children deserve better than constant cuts and limitations. We need more investments in our schools, more support for parents, reliable transportation, after school programs, mental health resources, and safe spaces and jobs where our children can grow and succeed. Investing in children is investing in Boston's future. I am here today to advocate for the Parent Mentor Program and for communities across the city.

If we truly want stronger neighborhoods and better outcomes for our children, then we need to stop cutting what our families actually need and start putting Boston's money back into Boston's people. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Cassandra. Okay, so next, I have Alex Garcia, then Zoe Garcia, then Natalie Tomate, and then Simal Rodriguez.

My name is Alex Garcia. I am 15 years old, a ninth grade student, and I live in Rosindale. I speak English and Spanish, and I'm here because I want our voices to be heard. It is not fair that in 2027 the City of Boston plans to cut funding for youth jobs. For many of us, these jobs are not just something extra. They are real opportunities, they keep us busy, teach us responsibility, and help us stay away from trouble. They give us hope and remind that we do have a future. When these programs are taken away, it's not just a job that's lost. It's our chance to grow, to learn, and to believe in ourselves. We, the young people of Boston, need more support, not fewer resources. We need you to believe in us, because when you invest in us today, you're investing in a stronger, safer, and better future for the entire community.

Thank you.

Paz, Zoe Garcia,

Hello, my name is Zoe Garcia. I'm 13 years old in seventh grade. I live in Roslindale and I attend school in Westwood through the METCO program. I'm here today because I heard as starting as of 2027, almost $6 million will be cut from the Youth Employment Grant. I don't think this is fair. This money is not being wasted. It is used to help young people grow into future leaders. If we're not given the chance to work, then we're gaining the experience we need to learn and grow and prepare for the future. I understand the mayor's point of view and we know that inflation is going up due to federal reasons. And I understand that the city is under a lot of pressure. We see that and we understand it. But we also understand to see our side. We also ask for you to see our side. Even if our parents can provide for us, having a youthful job, sorry, Having a youth job is important. It gives us extra money to use responsibly and teaches us valuable life lessons and helps us learn

How to manage time, money, and other things responsibly, also things that we cannot learn in school. Please do not take these opportunities away from us. Youth jobs are only the beginnings of our future.

Thank you.

Okay, great job. Okay, Natalie, Demonte, and then... Natalie's already testified. Okay, okay. and Simel Rodriguez. Okay. And then I just, I have Annabel Tavares. Did she already test? Annabel Tavares, Kera, Amador, and I think it says Denise. I'm not sure what the last name is.

Okay.

Good afternoon. My name is Simone Rodriguez. I am an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. I live in the Rosberry community. My daughter is a student at Blackstone Elementary School. She has an individual education plan. Ella necesita terapia de habla, apoyo especializado para seguir avanzando. Hoy estoy aquí porque cuando se habla de recortes en la escuela, yo no pienso en números, pienso en mi hija, pienso en las palabras. En las barreras que enfrenta cada día y en todo el apoyo que ella necesita para aprender, crecer y seguir avanzando. Si recortan los fondos, muchos niños, incluyendo mi hija, perderán servicios esenciales. Menos maestros, menos apoyo emocional y menos oportunidades para estudiar y seguir avanzando. Con mayor necesidades, Eso tiene un impacto real en su vida y en su futuro.

Por eso hoy alzo mi voz junto a muchas familias para pedir que protejan los recursos de nuestras escuelas, especialmente para los estudiantes con IP. y aprendices del idioma inglés. Nuestros hijos necesitan maestros, consejeros, terapias y programas que los ayudan a desarrollarse plenamente. Invertir en nuestros hijos es invertir en toda la comunidad. Les pedimos que continúen apoyando nuestras escuelas y el futuro de nuestros estudiantes. Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Simel Rodriguez. I'm an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, and I live in the Roxbury community. My daughter attends the Blackstone School and has an Individualized Education Plan, IEP. She needs speech therapy and specialized support in order to continue making progress. Today I am here because when I hear about budget cuts in schools, I don't think about numbers. I think about my daughter. I think about the barriers she faces every day and all the support she needs in order to learn, grow, and believe in herself. If funding is cut, many children, including my daughter, will lose essential services, fewer teachers, less emotional support, and fewer opportunities for students with greater needs. And that has a real impact on their lives and their future. That is why today I raise my voice along with many families to ask that our school resources be protected, especially for students

Our children need teachers, counselors, therapists, and programs that help them fully develop. Investing in our children is investing in the entire community. We ask you to continue supporting our schools and the future of our students. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you. We've been joined by Councilor Worrell and rejoined by Councilor Flynn, who's gaming the system. If he comes in and out, I have to re-announce him. Okay, so Annabel Tavares. Okay, and then Kyra Amador, I have Denise, I'm again not sure what's after that, and then Fatima Pond. Okay.

Okay.

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Anabel Tavares. Soy residente de Dorchester, madre de un estudiante del VPS. Y hoy no vengo solamente como madre. También vengo como una madre mentora que trabaja diariamente en un salón de educación inclusiva. Todos los días veo lo que realmente pasa cuando se cierran las puertas de un salón de clase. Sé lo que toma lograr que un niño con necesidades especiales pueda sentarse, sentirse seguro y comenzar a aprender. Eso no sucede por casualidad ni por magia. Sucede gracias a seres humanos, maestros, asistente y personal de apoyo que están ahí para sostenerlo. For more information visit www.fema.gov No, nos están quitando maestros, profesionales y personas esenciales.

Y en un salón inclusivo, perder aunque sea una persona no es un simple ajuste administrativo. Es dejar desprotegidos a los niños que más apoyo necesitan Es sobrecargar aún más a los educadores que ya están al límite Boston no es una ciudad pobre Esta ciudad tiene millones de reservas. Entonces, ¿cómo le explicamos a las familias trabajadoras de comunidades como la mía que si hay dinero para otras prioridades? Pero no para el asistente que ayuda a un estudiante con necesidades especiales a sentirse seguro y aprender. Las decisiones que ustedes tomen aquí tienen consecuencias reales en nuestros hijos, en nuestras familias y en nuestros salones de clases. Ustedes tienen el poder de cambiar esto. Tienen el poder de modificar este presupuesto y de tener estos despidos devastadores.

Les pido que no abandonen a nuestra familia ni a nuestros estudiantes más vulnerables. From mother to leader of this city, reject these cuts and defend the future of our children. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. My name is Anabel Tavares. I am a resident of Dorchester, the mother of a BPS student. And today I am not here only as a mother. I am also here as a parent mentor who works every day in an inclusive education classroom. Every day I see what really happens once the classroom door closes. I know what it takes for a child with special needs to be able to sit down, feel safe, and begin learning. That does not happen by chance or by magic. It happens because of human beings, teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff who are there to hold their hand, help regulate their emotions, and guide them step by step. That is why hearing that these budget cuts will eliminate positions in our schools is simply outrageous. We are losing teachers, professionals, and essential staff. And in an inclusive classroom, losing even one person is not just a simple administrative adjustment. It means leaving the children who need the most support without protection.

It means placing even more pressure on educators who are already stretched to their limits. Boston is not a poor city. This city has millions in reserves, so how do we explain to working families in communities like mine that there is money for other priorities but not for the aid who helps a student with special needs feel safe and learn? The decisions you make here have real consequences for our children, our families, and our classrooms. You have the power to change this. You have the power to modify this budget and stop these devastating layoffs. I ask you not to abandon our families or our most vulnerable students. From one mother to the leaders of this city, reject these cuts and defend the future of our children. Thank you very much.

Kyra Amador? Yes. Okay. Y hoy quiero hablar desde mi propia realidad y la realidad que viven muchas familias en Boston. Soy madre de dos hijos. And I do everything possible to move forward and build a better future for my family. One of my children has hearing loss and needs stability, support, and a safe home where he can grow and develop properly. Aún haciendo todo lo correcto, trabajando, estudiando y esforzándome cada día, todavía no he podido conseguir una vivienda estable para mis hijos. En este momento me encuentro viviendo en la casa de mi mamá. Thank you for joining me today. A las viviendas subsidiadas.

No estamos hablando solamente de dinero o de presupuesto. Estamos hablando de familias reales, de madres que están luchando Mothers who are struggling, children who need this skill to learn, feel safe and have a better future. La vivienda no es un lujo para muchas familias. Es la diferencia entre tener un hogar seguro o vivir en el miedo constante de quedarse sin techo. Boston is a strong, diverse, and hard-working city, but our true strength is also measured in how we protect the most vulnerable people in our community. Hoy hago un llamado a quienes toman decisiones, por favor, no recorten hogares, no recorten esperanza y no recorten dignidad. Invertir en vivienda es invertir en familias, en niños y en el futuro de nuestra ciudad. Gracias.

Good afternoon. My name is Kaira Amador, and I live in the Dorchester neighborhood. I have two children who attend BPS schools, and today I want to speak for my own reality and the reality that many families in Boston are facing. I am the mother of two children. I work, study, and do everything possible to move forward and build a better future for my family. One of my children has hearing loss and needs stability, support, and a safe home where he can grow and develop properly. Even while doing everything right, working, studying, and striving every day, I still have not been able to secure stable housing for my children. At this moment, I am living with my mother along with my children, trying to keep my family together and safe while I fight for an opportunity. That is why when we talk about cuts to subsidized housing, we are not just talking about money or budgets.

We are talking about real families, about mothers who are struggling, and about children who need stability in order to learn, Feel safe and have a better future. Housing is not a luxury. For many families, it is the difference between having a safe home or living with the constant fear of becoming homeless. Boston is a strong, diverse, and hardworking city, but our true strength is also measured by how we protect the most vulnerable people in our community. Today, I call on those making decisions. Please do not cut homes, do not cut hope, and do not cut dignity. Investing in housing means investing in families, children, and the future of our city. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Denise? I have a... A statement. You can give it to our staff.

over there, and we'll take it. Thank you.

Sorry, thank you, Karishma. Okay, Fatima, followed by Caroline, Stu, Doris, Tavares, and Suge Rondon.

Buenas noches a todos. Mi nombre es Fatima Peña. Vivo en el vecindario de Dorchester y soy madre de un niño de 10 años que asiste a la escuela Troll el Elementer Escuro. Hace apenas unos meses, mi hijo y yo estamos viviendo en la calle. Hace un año llegué desde New Jersey buscando una mejor oportunidad. y estabilidad para mi hijo. Pasamos nueve meses en un chester y luego nos sacaron. Después de eso, una amiga nos ayudó por dos meses Pero ella también tenía una familia y no podía dejarnos más tiempo. Como madre, no hay dolor más grande que no saber dónde va a dormir tu hijo. Luché cada día para encontrar ayuda y estabilidad para nosotros.

Finalmente, hace menos de dos meses recibí ayuda de Home Bay. Sé que esta ayuda es temporal y sigo luchando para construir un futuro estable para mi hijo. Por eso, cuando veo que el presupuesto de housing será reducido a $54.47 millones De 54.47 millones a 49.22 millones. Un recorte de más de cinco millones. Siento miedo. Porque detrás de esos números hay familias reales, hay madres como yo y hay niños que necesitan un hogar seguro para poder dormir, estudiar y crecer con dignidad. La vivienda no es un lujo, es una necesidad básica.

Cuando se reducen estos fondos, las personas que más sufren son las familias que ya están al borde de perderlo todo. Mi hijo merece estabilidad, merece concentrarse en la escuela, sin preocuparse donde vamos a vivir. Y todas las familias de Boston merecen esa misma oportunidad. Les pido que piensen en las personas que dependemos de estos programas, que no recorten recursos que puedan significar la diferencia entre tener un hogar o terminar nuevamente en la calle. Gracias por escuchar.

Good afternoon. My name is Fatima Pena. I live in the Dorchester neighborhood, and I am the mother of a 10-year-old boy who attends the Trotter Elementary School. Just a few months ago, my son and I were living on the streets. A year ago, I arrived from New Jersey searching for a better opportunity and stability for my son. We spent nine months in a shelter, and then we were asked to leave. After that, a friend helped us for two months, but she also had a family and could no longer let us stay. As a mother, there is no greater pain than not knowing where your child is going to sleep. I fought every day to find help and stability for us. Finally, less than three months ago, I received assistance through Homebase. I know this help is temporary, and I am still fighting to build a stable future for my son.

That is why when I see that the budget for the Office of Housing will be reduced from $54.47 million to $49.22 million, a cut of more than $5 million, I feel afraid. because behind those numbers are real families. There are mothers like me, and there are children who need a safe home where they can sleep, study, and grow with dignity. Housing is not a luxury. It is a basic necessity. When these funds are reduced, the people who suffer the most are families who are already on the edge of losing everything. My son deserves stability. He deserves to focus on school without worrying about where we are going to live. And every family in Boston deserves that same opportunity. I ask you to think about the people who depend on these programs. Please do not cut resources that can mean the difference between having a home or ending up back on the streets again. Thank you.

Caroline, and then Doris Shugay.

Muy buenas noches. Mi nombre es Carolina Soto. Vivo en el vecindario de Dorchester. Soy madre de dos niños, un adolescente de 15 años que cursa el noveno grado con nota excelente de A. y otro niño de 10 años. Como madre estoy sumamente preocupada. Hace dos semanas mi niño de 15 años me dijo, mami, quiero trabajar en el verano, para poder conseguir experiencia laboral y así anotar puntos para cuando vayas al cole. ¿Qué le puedo decir a mi niño? No, mi niño, no se sabe porque el presupuesto para los programas juveniles están reduciendo. Como madre me siento muy preocupada porque no es la respuesta que le quiero dar a mi niño.

¿Cómo puede ser que el presupuesto de $23.4 millones Queda en 17.4 millones donde estamos perdiendo 6 millones de oportunidades 6 Millones de Salva Vida porque todos esos jóvenes que necesitan experiencia laboral, que necesitan un empleo, es para desarrollar sus habilidades. Poder insertarse a una comunidad, a una sociedad justa donde estén libres de la calle de peligro. Entonces. ¿Qué puedo decir como madre? No, no estoy de acuerdo. No estoy de acuerdo porque los programas de empleo juvenil no son un lujo. Son una inversión que muestra a una comunidad.

Son programas que ayudan a jóvenes a obtener experiencia laboral, desarrollar habilidades y mantener alejados de violencia y de malos hábitos. Construir en el futuro de los jóvenes es simplemente construir en una comunidad justa. Para muchos jóvenes, especialmente de comunidades de bajo ingreso, trabajo de verano es una oportunidad laboral que puede marcar la diferencia entre sentirse apoyado o sentirse olvidado. Cuando invertimos en la juventud, invertimos en seguridad pública, educación, desarrollo económico. Menos fondos significa menos empleo, menos mentoría y menos oportunidades para que los jóvenes enfrenten barreras. En lugar de recortar, deberían ampliarse estos programas que puedan llegar a más familias y más jóvenes.

Le pido que reconsideren este recorte. Prioricen nuestra juventud. Los jóvenes merecen oportunidades para crecer, para aprender, para contribuir positivamente a una sociedad. No se puede permitir abandonar a la próxima generación de este país.

Gracias Good evening. My name is Carolina Soto. I live in the Dorchester neighborhood, and I am the mother of two children, a 15-year-old ninth grader with A grades and a 10-year-old son. Today, as a mother, I feel extremely worried. A few days ago, my son told me, Mom, I want to work during the summer so I can start gaining experience and earn points for when I go to college. What could I tell him? Well, my son, that will be difficult because the youth employment budget is being cut to $17.4 million and the chances of you getting a job are very low because there will not be enough funding to continue supporting these programs. That is why I am here today to speak against the cuts to the Youth Employment Programs Project. Reducing the funding from $23.4 million

17.4 million means taking away 6 million in life-changing opportunities and opportunities that help young people become part of a positive society full of possibilities that can help them fulfill their dreams and achieve their goals. Youth employment programs are not a luxury. They are an investment in our community. These programs help young people gain work experience, develop skills, stay away from violence, and build a stable future. For many young people, especially in low-income communities, a summer job or work opportunity can make the difference between feeling supported or feeling forgotten. When we invest in youth, we invest in public safety, education and economic development. Less funding means fewer jobs. More jobs, less mentorship, and fewer opportunities for young people who already face barriers. Instead of cutting these programs, we should expand them to reach more students and families.

I ask you to reconsider these cuts and prioritize our youth. Young people deserve opportunities to grow, learn and contribute positively to our city. We cannot allow the next generation of this country to be abandoned. Thank you.

Doris Tavares, Suge Rondon, Adriana, and then James Cordero.

Okay, okay, okay. Buenas noches, concejales de la ciudad de Boston. Mi nombre es Sujei Rondon. Vivo en Rossindale. Soy madre de tres niños de 6, 13 y 14 años. Y trabajo como organizadora de familias para San Steven Youth Program. Me preocupa mucho los recortes del presupuesto, pues como mamá me emociona pensar en el día en que mis hijos tengan un primer trabajo. No solo por el dinero que pueden ganar, sino por todo lo que eso representa. Aprender responsabilidad, cumplir compromisos, conocer nuevas personas y comenzar a desenvolverse en un mundo real con confianza. Después de todo lo vivido durante la pandemia de COVID, nuestros niños y jóvenes perdieron mucho de su desarrollo.

Muchos perdieron seguridad en sí mismos, conexión social y oportunidades para crecer emocionalmente. A muchos les está costando volver a relacionarse, comunicarse y sentirse parte de la comunidad otra vez. Por eso los programas de empleo juvenil son tan importantes, no son un lujo, son una necesidad. Estos programas les dan a nuestros jóvenes un espacio seguro para aprender, crecer, desarrollar habilidades y descubrir que sí tienen un futuro lleno de posibilidades. and many more opportunities. I ask you from the bottom of my heart to cut the budget for youth programs and the opportunities for work that our young people Si la ciudad necesita buscar ajustes, por favor hágalo en otras áreas. Utilizando reservas, pero quitando la oportunidad a nuestros hijos, no. The families are experiencing too much uncertainty these days.

What we need is support, stability, and real opportunities for our young people. When we invest in them, we are investing in our community, in a strong community, safer, with more hope. The power is now in your hands, Mayor, so we trust that you will give your support. Advisor o sus buenos consejos para ella. Muchas gracias.

Good afternoon, members of the Boston City Council. My name is Suhey Rondon. I live in Roslindale. I am the mother of three children, ages 6, 13, and 14. And I work as a family organizer for the St. Stephen's program. As a mother, I look forward for the day when my children get their first job. Not only because of the money they may earn, but because of everything it represents. Learning responsibility, honoring commitments, meeting new people, and beginning to navigate the real world with confidence. After everything we lived through during COVID, our children and young people lost so much in their development. Many lost self-confidence, social connection, and opportunities to grow emotionally. Many are still struggling to reconnect with others, communicate and feel like part of their community again. That is why youth employment programs are so important. They are not a luxury, they are a necessity.

These programs give our young people a safe space to learn, grow, develop skills and discover that they truly do have a future full of possibilities. I sincerely ask you not to cut the budget allocated to youth programs and job opportunities for our young people. If the city needs to make adjustments, please do so in other areas or by using reserves, but do not take opportunities away from our children. Families already live with too much uncertainty every day. What we need is support, stability, and real opportunities for our youth. When we invest in them, we are investing in a stronger, safer community with more hope for everyone. The power is in your hands. Please we count on you.

Thank you. Adriana, okay, thank you for being patient, James Cordero, I think, and Madison, I'm gonna need my glasses here, Cronine.

Okay, good afternoon, good evening City Councils. My name is Adriana, I'm an East Boston resident, volunteer with Neighbors United for a Better East Boston Nube, and I'm here today to urge you, our City Councils, to reject Mayor Wu's proposal because it is disheartening to realize that we are not being heard. and that our needs are being ignored. When we look at the mayor's budget proposal for this year, this is exactly the message being sent to us, that we don't matter and that our voices do not count. The mayor wants to get funding in areas that directly uplift our community at a time when we all know how immigrants are being treated. How they are being kidnapped and separated from their families and most of these immigrants are breadwinners and they leave behind their children who depend entirely on them.

Many organizations are currently supporting thousands of families by providing access to legal services through city-funded resources. Yet the mayor has proposed to completely eliminate the budget for these resources, forcing these be taught by the legal clinics to shut down. Thousands could avoid unfair deportations, but without this help, they won't stand a chance. As a member of a grassroots organization, I know firsthand many people in my community who, out of desperation to save their loved ones or themselves, have been scammed paying thousands of dollars by these so-called lawyers and they steal money earned by people who break their backs working multiple jobs seven days a week without a single day of rest. City funds have allowed our community to connect with trustworthy legal services and authorities who truly support our people.

Without these funds, our community will continue to fall prey to scams due to a lack of access. And while the existing funds are already not enough and we actually need more investment in these services, today, at the very least, we demand that they don't They do not cut the little support we already have. You cannot proudly call yourself a democratic city and a progressive politician while allocating funds to departments that oppress and terrorize our community.

Okay, Adriana, Adriana.

Departments that are not truly here to protect us.

Sorry, can you wrap up, please?

It's okay. Please allocate more funds to our immigrant community which is under severe attack. We want to be able to work and down the street without fear being detained and separated from our families. And yeah, it's time to you for listen to us and prove once and for all that you stand on our side. Thank you.

Okay, James, then Madison, John Labella, David Noman.

Good evening, everyone. My name is James Cordero. I am a Boston public school teacher, BTU member, and resident of Dorchester. So what we're asking for the city council regarding our public schools Thank you all for joining us. A barrier to us continuing to make the progress that our students deserve. And one area that I want to particularly highlight is the Access to Counsel program, which has successfully Thank you. Finding the funds for a supplemental budget to restore as much as you can. Another area that I want to speak on is the long-term affordability issue. where we know people cannot afford to live here in Boston.

There are 5,400 BPS students that are experiencing homelessness right now, and that is unacceptable. But there are actually long-term things we could do as a city to address that. And one way I'll tell you is that this past weekend, Seattle's Social Housing Authority announced that they were taking $60 million, buying a building of market-rate units, and keeping half of those units affordable but using the profit from the market rate units to actually capitalize bonds that they're going to use to build 2,000 affordable units in the next five years. I think we could use that in Boston, and I hope you'll agree with me. The city has a revenue problem, and that's an issue. But we have one resource, which is about $500 million in free cash. This is the perfect thing for us to do. Good things can happen. We are in tough times. And I thank you all as City Councillors for the leadership you are demonstrating in this tough time. And I'm asking you for a little more.

for a supplemental budget and for Boston to think about allocating some free cash to a social housing authority like they're doing in Seattle because we need to keep our students home.

Thank you. Okay, yeah, Madison, John LaBella, David Noman, then Michael Caine.

Good evening, counselors. My name is Madison Kronheim, and I am a resident of Jamaica Plain, a proud member of the Boston Teachers Union, and a fourth and fifth ABA classroom teacher at the Joseph Lee School in Dorchester, where I educate autistic students with high needs. Before the inclusion rollout began, my sub-support students had ample of opportunities to be included with their same-age peers, but with the consistent cuts to paraprofessional roles, those opportunities have disappeared. Our inclusion classrooms are already drowning with the lack of support they have, and they're slated to have even less support next year with the loss of most of our classroom inclusion paras. Because of situations like this and others, we are calling on the mayor and city council to allocate more of the city's overall budget to our schools. Our classrooms are already understaffed and students are not getting their needs met. So how can we expect to keep up with the increasing needs of our students with less support? Our student-facing roles are essential to the success of our classrooms and it is imperative that we restore these roles that are at risk of being cut for next year. We have to stop acting as though there is no money to fund our classrooms.

Between discretionary funds and the millionaire tax, we know that there are options available. We know that these claims of no money are meant to divide us, but we see right through this facade and will keep fighting for the classrooms our students deserve. We are asking our counselors to demand a supplemental BPS budget to ensure that we minimize any student-facing positions being cut. Thank you for your time.

John Labella, David Noman, Michael Caine, and D.B. Reif.

Good evening. I'm John Labella. I live in the Fenway. I'm the president of Housing Works and a member of the City Rent Subsidy Coalition. Housing Works handles the wait list for about half the CDCs in Boston, so we actually give them the names to fill vacancies. In those CDCs, actually all the CDCs, there are many empty units that have been empty for six months, 18 months, even though there are thousands of names on the list. The issue is those affordable units aren't affordable. Historically, people used to pay 35% of income for rent. That was a HUD standard for social stability. Now, the CDCs, because they can't fill the units, have moved that to 40%, and in the last year or so, to 50 and 55%. They're letting people move in because they need to fill the units. and the people are moving in because they need housing.

Putting aside the issue of where is that going to stop, there's the larger issue of the CDCs are in this Catch-22 where If they don't move people in, their budgets are strained, they can't keep staff, they turn over units slower, or they can move in people who can't afford to be paying the rent. The only effective program that I've seen that is really concrete is the City Rent Subsidy Program. Level funded is not really good enough. It needs an increase. But if you do the $2 million cut, you're probably pushing around 83 families back into homelessness. So that's not 83 on top. That's 83 damaged people, households, on top of that. Given that housing stability is arguably the single most important thing in lowering crime and increasing social capital, the ability for people to pull themselves up

It makes sense that you put more money in that program even if it means you pull it from the police fund where you may not need. So much if there's increased stability. I think that's all I have to say. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Okay, thank you.

Okay, David Nolman, Michael Caine, D.B. Reif, Ricky Menke.

Good afternoon. My name is David Nolan. and I am a member of the Mass Alliance of HUD tenants. Councilor Weber, city council members, I appreciate the being given the ability to talk to you today. What I would like to advocate for is really very simple. But I'll begin with a little bit of a history. In 2020, Mayor Walsh initiated a $5 million rent subsidy pilot program And that was increased. It was so successful, it was increased in 2024 to $11.75 million.

In March of 2026, Mayor Wu requested a $2 million decrease for fiscal 2027. What's the result of that? A recent BHA report indicates that there will be a 387 $1,611 shortfall for fiscal year 2024. and that is even if the full $13,900,000, $13,900,000 budget were restored in full. So, What we're advocating for is an increase for the

fiscal year 2027 budget, and we urge the council to restore the $2 million cut City Rent Subsidies to avoid displacing 83 previously homeless, extremely low-income families from their homes. So one last thing I'd like to add. How does this, how could this actually happen? We think that the city council ought to look at, we know that at least that Councilor Weber is looking at this, To find other places within the budget. For example, I'm as happy to be supported and protected by the police as anyone else. But the police contract is coming up this year after many years.

That contract is going to be renegotiated. What I would hope is that the city council and the mayor could find a way to renegotiate that budget to find and restore that $2 million.

Michael Caine, Ricky Menke, and then Alex Alex.

Thank you, Councilor. My name is Michael Caine. I'm the Director of the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants. I live in Jamaica Plain. And we also staff the City Rent Subsidy Coalition. And we work with the Council to increase the funding to $13.9 million last year. The mayor has proposed to cut $2 million, and as you just heard from the previous speakers, we calculate That will mean 83 currently housed people, all of whom are homeless. When they got a city rent subsidy, they were able to get permanent housing, but it's only permanent if the funding is renewed each year. If they have to cut $2 million, that means 83 currently housed, formerly homeless people will be displaced. They'll be made homeless again.

We support the Better Budget Alliance demands to restore $16 million in similar cuts. to youth jobs, access to council, immigrant rights, LGBTQ programming, all of the things that were cut. Totally, the coalition is asking for $16 million. That's an accounting error in a $4.9 billion budget. I just don't believe they can't find that, that the city can't find that. So if the council's not going to reject the mirrors, Weber.

But the long term, this whole crisis has shown this year more than ever that there is a structural problem in the budget. and the biggest waste, fraud and abuse is the police department budget. Everybody knows that. Boston Globe is repeatedly published. You know, how are, what is it, 40 people being paid more than the President of the United States? They work at the Boston Police Department. How is it that a couple of hundred people are paid more than the mayor? This is nuts. And a lot of it is just fraudulent. Like, you show up for 15 minutes at court, and you get paid for four hours of time and a half. That is where the waste, fraud, and abuse is. Contracts up. You all can take a leadership role as counselors. to come out with a report and a memo recommending that the mayor renegotiate that, suggesting ways to do it.

There would be a strong campaign in support. from everybody in this room, from the Boston Globe, and a lot of other people who see that you can do that and actually improve public safety by spreading the overtime around within the department, So it's not all to the people who are about to retire and who then get pension benefits ad infinitum at a huge amount. So that's where the waste, fraud, and abuse is. This is the time. Thank you. Wilmer, can you grab this statement?

Yeah, yeah, also... So I just I had invited anyone with kids or kids themselves. So Sasha's parents or Sasha, if... Weber. Can we just have DB attend?

She just needs to get home and has been waiting for a couple of hours, so I don't want to

Okay, I hear you. So DB, if you want to jump in first, or no, Sasha, just take one step back. DB, second time today. That's just one, yeah, sorry, okay, thank you. Oh, okay.

Hey everybody and thanks to all the City Councillors. I know you've had a very hard few months and I know you've had a long day so I really appreciate your being here. This was a speech, the title would be The Social and Economic Equity a Community Center Generates. By the way, I'm from Austin, Brighton, and I'm talking about a community center there. Like many of you, I am the daughter of immigrants. Having no formal education, my parents did what all immigrant parents did for their growing families. They worked hard. They started what is known as a candy store in New York which meant selling hundreds of cups of coffee, newspapers, and cigarettes galore, penny candies, ice cream sodas, and a good share to bring people back day after day.

We accomplished this by opening at 5.30 in the morning to make sure factory workers could get their coffee and rolls, and closing at 10 at night to make sure that anyone who needed an emergency ice cream cone could get one. These were the hours we were open seven days a week, every day of the year, except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In other words, my parents were busy. If my siblings or I needed homework help or a drop-in center, we were out of luck. If a brother wanted to pursue his artistic inclinations, Too bad. If my sister wanted to play team sports, she was on her own. And when I needed an available adult to turn to in a time of crisis, I too was on my own. A community center would have made a profound difference in our lives. My grandmother might have learned English, and I might have graduated high school on time.

That's why I am so painfully aware of the value a BCYF would bring to Alston Brighton's large immigrant, hardworking population. I'm going to read a short quote from the Harvard Crimson of September 2024. The Center also did not hold its annual summer camp in 2023 or 24. Fall programming has also been disrupted for teenagers, which helps them create resumes and apply to colleges. By denying the kind of investment in the FY27 capital budget that helped ensure other communities get new centers, this budget is more than just disappointing Alston Brighton residents.

DB, sorry, the buzzer went off. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'll just read the end. The decision both disadvantages those residents and leaves them feeling disrespected and demeaned. I hope that you all find a way to put the $65 million in the budget that Councilor Breadon has requested and that's necessary to actually build Thank you. Okay, thank you very much.

Just tell us your name, where you're from, and you have two minutes.

Hi, I'm Sasha Pilcher. I'm a seventh grader at Boston Latin Academy. I'm also a graduate of Desai Quincy Elementary School, and I've lived in the South End my entire life. I'm here today to speak about a teacher I and many others love and respect at BLA, Chelsea Evanike. She's being laid off this year from BPS solely because of her seniority and not because of her performance in the classroom. When I first started at BLA, I was nervous and excited. It was a new school with new teachers, new schedules, new building. It was a lot to take in. Then I had my first humanities class and met Ms. E. I instantly felt welcomed and less nervous. She was approachable, enthusiastic, and obviously loved teaching. Some of my favorite memories from this year were in her class, like when we chose a Maori myth to study and made it into a Netflix series, or when she took the top 25 performing students on a field trip to the MFA to see the new Hindu deities exhibit.

She also helps out struggling students always after school to help out whether you need a little help with a homework assignment or are struggling a lot with the unit. As you can see, she is everything that BPS wants in a teacher. This is why in just two weeks my petition for her to stay at BPS got 110 signatures both from past and present students of hers. This isn't just about Ms. E. Oh no, sorry. Unfortunately, because she hasn't reached professional teacher status, She will be dismissed at the end of the year. This sends the message that BPS values seniority over performance and cares more about how long a teacher has worked there instead of what they individually do to be the amazing teachers they are. This isn't just about Ms. E. There are so many other teachers who are facing the same problem with our strategy for how we lay off teachers. Now I know everyone in this room wants to provide the best possible experience for every student in BPS, so let's make that happen.

Let's take another look at how teachers are laid off. Should it be how long they've taught there or should it be what they individually do to be the amazing teachers they are? Thank you for your time.

Okay, Ricky, and then Alex, Alex, Michelle de Lima, and Lydia, I think it's Laurie, I'm not quite sure.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Ricky Meinke. I'm a resident of Alston Brighton, and I'm the director of the Rad City Arts Festival, a grassroots arts festival here in Alston Brighton. Today I once again speak for the neighbors of Alston-Brighton, families, immigrants, artists, youth, and working people who have lived for so long without the benefit of a functional community center. The Jackson-Mayor Community Center is a condemned building, not safe for public use. It's a place where the roof is leaking and the front door is permanently closed to the public. I ask all of you here today Each of you representing districts already having a community center, do you believe that every neighborhood of Boston should have a community center? I speak to those here in the room and those who are not. Councilor Murphy, you led the Strong Women, Families, and Communities Committee, hosted a meeting in the Jackson Man. Will your previous leadership experience translate into a vote for the families of Alston Brighton? Worrell, you sought out the council presidency.

I was excited for your bold vision for this city. Will you show us what that vision would be like by standing with the neighbors of Alston Brighton? Durkan, I've been told you are a strong ally to the mayor. Will you utilize your allyship to ensure the mayor understands that the Jackson man should be a priority in this budget? If we could also have a round of applause for Councilor Coletta Zapata, someone who just recently had a newborn, is out on parental leave. I am personally, come on folks, that's amazing. I'm personally inspired by a working city councilor who is not only raising a child, but also working for our city. I also know Councilor Pepén also serves while being a parent. Their children have BCYF pools and community centers to enjoy and grow from. But my son of 11 months has no immediate future of a community center or pool in Alston, Brighton.

Will your leadership apply to the families in your district, or will you also stand with the families of Alston-Brighton and what they want best for their own children? Breadon, your role speaks to volumes of your leadership, being council president, the longest serving counselor. Will your legacy be that you succeeded in funding a Jackson man or that you failed in making that happen for our district? Santana, and Councilor Louijeune, both of you have attended events in the Rat City Arts Festival, and I truly know you to be defenders of underserved populations here in the city. Will you also be defenders of those populations in Alston-Brighton? I hope you let all of the unity of your votes represent the value that every neighborhood deserves a community center. We too as a neighborhood will be united in this effort for the rats of Rat City. I hope you all attend the mayor's meeting this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Jackson Man Community Center.

You'll finally have the opportunity to directly speak to the mayor, and I hope we can finally prioritize the Jackson man in our city's budget. Okay, Ricky, thanks. Thank you, Councilor Weber. Thank you, everyone. And I hope all of you vote yes for a budget that prioritizes the Jackson man. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Alex, Michelle DeLima, Lydia from Chinatown Community Land Trust, and I think it's Vivian, Petite Home. Okay, whenever you're ready.

My name is Alex. This has been a contentious budget cycle, as you can tell from the energy in the room. There have been grumblings from the City Council that we, the residents, don't understand how little power you have, generally, or when it comes to the budget. That's fair in part, but it is your responsibility to provide clarity on the obscure nature of the city government. Why are we here to present data, testimonies, stories, and requests if the best y'all can do is play around with less than a percentage of the budget? It is clear we do not have a functional city government. I observe the city as a systems analyst. And what do I see? City lots overflowing with liquor bottles and litter. BPS facilities falling apart while the city pumps hundreds of millions into a facility most students won't get to see most days. Sidewalks are unusable by those with mobility issues. Cars block crosswalks, speed through red lights, and double, triple park across the city. You cannot be so afraid to lose political favor or damage future ambitions that you don't use your limited power, to ensure that the Mayor and her office are present and accountable at meetings like these. They are the ones with the budget powers who should be facing the people. On to specific policy.

The Council has shown interest in restarting the Registrar's Program to do what I've been doing across the city for the past year. On Sunday, biking home from work, I filmed 40 vehicles double parked along Newberry and Boylston Street. Part of the redshirt's responsibilities can include youth on bikes with helmet-mounted cameras to catch these infractions. In that 10-minute ride, at $75 a ticket, the city could have made $3,000. This is an avenue to fund youth programs when the city says its budget is stretched thin. For a full year, I've been offering ideas like these to my district councilor, councilors at large, the mayor, the mayor's office, and other district councilors. I do the work and research to draft hundreds of policy, the kind of policy that Boston needs to be the leader that this city says it is. The city and its leaders talk a big game about Boston's role as a leader in the nation. I don't see it. I bring these ideas to city leaders who position themselves as advocates for the youth, incubators of homegrown talent, and people who intimately understand the damage that the status quo causes. But yet, for months, silence. Nodding and listening is not support. It is a bare minimum.

Forcing a constituent to send multiple emails, find you in person, and attend work-hour hearings is not accessibility. The rules are made up. They have the powers you choose to give them. Y'all need to take risks and show innovation and leadership to address the problems you campaigned on fixing.

Okay, thank you. Michelle, again, Lydia from Chinatown, I think Community Land Trust, Vivian, Petit Home, then Mack Hudson, Susan Asai, and Hannah Velarde.

Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to testify. I'm Michelle DeLima here on behalf of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and the Greater Boston Community Land Trust Network. DS&I has been organizing with community members on affordable housing and neighborhood planning in Roxbury and North Dorchester for 40 years. As members of the Better Budget Alliance, we support the demands for full restoration of all the budget cuts and more. We know the city is facing shortfalls, but our communities are also struggling, and we call on you to prioritize the core needs of residents, housing, schools, food access, support for elders and immigrants, and jobs for young people. I'm going to focus on housing, specifically the Acquisition Opportunity Program and city vouchers, also known as a city rent subsidy. Across our network of CLTs, six of which are in the city of Boston, We house 300 families in permanently affordable homeownership and rental units with 130 more units in the immediate pipeline. AOP and vouchers are vital to the work of CLTs and our partners.

AOP gives forgivable loans to nonprofits to purchase existing occupied Housing, preventing displacement and bringing housing units under the protection of community-based organizations like CLTs. Since it began, AOP has saved more than 1,400 units of affordable housing. which is far more efficient than building new affordable housing, which we also need. With linkage fees down and other sources highly uncertain, we call on the council to support a $3.5 million amendment for AOP in the FY27 budget. It's a fraction of what we need across the city but the units it would save and the families it would keep in place are still significant. AOP is core to Boston's anti-displacement work and should continue and grow. By encoding it in the budget for the first time, the Council will signify their commitment to keeping tenants in their homes in the long term. We've heard a lot about how the city rent subsidy is key for keeping vulnerable residents in their homes, so I'll just add that the flexibility of the project-based vouchers

has allowed our CLTs and so many other affordable housing providers to be good landlords to residents who have little or no income. We call on the council to fully restore and expand the city's voucher program. Thank you so much for your time. I just want to let you know Vickiana had to go home, so the person after Lydia is not here.

Okay, thank you very much. I just want to... Sorry, do our interpreters need a five minute break? Our interpreters? Just let me know and we can take a short recess, but I don't have my list, so whoever's up next.

Hello, I'm Lydia Lowe. I work for the Chinatown Community Land Trust. And at first I was feeling like, oh, I'm gonna be waiting here for a long time to try and speak, but I actually am glad because I found it very inspiring to hear all of the youth who came forward to speak about the importance of youth jobs. So I'm here to call for restoring the budget cuts to the most vulnerable in our city, like people have been saying. I think that youth jobs is just so important for the future of our city and the future of our youth. And also people, many people spoke to the importance of stable housing. Stable housing is the foundation of everybody's lives. One of the most important things that we can do to ensure that we have that stable housing is to keep people in the homes that they already have.

So that's why it's so important to us to restore the cuts to the Acquisition Opportunity Program, which is the city's program. specifically to keep people in their homes by taking homes out of the speculative market and allowing them to be preserved for long-term affordable housing. As well as restoring the money for the city vouchers. The city vouchers again are helping the most vulnerable tenants to remain in place. And as Councilor Flynn and Weber know, you know, we also had a budget hearing in Chinatown, and so I need to also put in a plug for Money for Street Improvement in Chinatown, where people have been waiting for more than five years for these street improvements, and they're just... Starting now, which we're really glad to see, we want to see the completion of the Tunney Lee Plaza project as well.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. So we're just, I think we have like nine pages. To go through, we're almost done with page two. So we're gonna finish page two and then I have a few teenagers who need to get home and finish their homework. I hear from about four teenagers after. We hear from Matt Cutson, Susan Asai, and Anna Velarde. Okay. Whenever you're ready.

How y'all doing today? My name is Mack Hudson. I represent the Black Agenda Coalition. In addition, AccessMask, which deals with racial equity in the city of Boston. I grew up in Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester all my life. and I now reside in Mattapan. I want to first, you know, I'm going to kind of skip past all the narratives that I think that you already know and I think that we've heard a lot today but I also think that This body understands the importance of why these cuts are necessary, right? What I feel what needs to be said is that we need to stop breaking the illusion that somehow because we're facing this federal scrutiny that it impacts us in such a way that the mayor has lacked imagination when it comes to balancing the budget for all of us. Now, if New York could do it,

If the mayor in New York could do it with a much greater task, budget, or what have you, and he's under the same scrutiny as the feds are, I mean from Trump, then why are we? I'm able to do that that's called lack of imagination he's able to do make those cuts 124.7 billion when I balance the budget without cutting resources to anyone That is a message, right? So we're now looking at a deficit of all these cuts that's going to impact elderly housing, the folks who are coming home formerly incarcerated, Everyone to the youth who can't get summer jobs in which we all know what happens as a result of that and we're sitting here pretending like we don't know or why this is not a crisis. I think it's a It's shame on the mayor's office for pretending like they don't know or don't care and it's shame on us if we don't do something about this.

We need to do something about this and we can't afford not to. My last point. I want to say, and I want you to consider this as y'all negotiate. Rather than sending this budget back and forth to the mayors and play this political game, please get together Form some sort of understanding among yourselves to restore what needs to be restored on behalf of all of us that really need you in this time.

Thank you.

Okay, Susan and Anna. I'm sorry, Velarde.

Susan Asai. Susan Asai. You listed my name.

Yes, Susan Asai, and then Anna Velarde, and then we're going to take a... Brief detour to get some young people.

I'm Susan Asai. My colleague is Cindy Tower-Lowen. We are here representing the NAACP Boston Education Committee. We acknowledge the enrollment decline of 3,000 students from 2025 to 2027. Still the central question, how will the budget cuts impact student achievement, needs to be more vigorously considered. BPS budget cuts are severe. We asked the Boston City Council and Mayor Wu to negotiate staff cuts throughout City Hall departments to offset the hundreds of BPS staff cuts. Included in these cuts is special ed paraprofessionals, a loss for special needs students. We support Mayor Wu's proposal to draw $70 million from Boston's reserve funds to fill deficits, and we ask that the $6 million cuts to youth employment and opportunity be reinstated.

Funding cuts will deprive the students of learning and career development and ultimately will weaken families and increase street violence. According to city data, youth jobs reduce violence by 35% in Boston. We spotlight the historic and systemic inequities affecting students of color, special education, and multilingual learners. From 2007 to 2023, majority white districts received about $3,600 more per pupil for school projects than districts made up mostly of students of color. Also, we push for special education and multilingual instruction to be part of the core curriculum rather than as separate initiatives. Students, faculty, staff, and families call for greater transparency and participation in BPS budgetary decision-making. Although school closures are already slated, we strongly request

that Boston school communities be part of the decision-making process early on with more sustained opportunities for feedback. The NAACP Boston branch will continue to advocate for what is important to our community and our youth, especially as it impacts their achievement and growth. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Anna from the BTU.

Can everyone hear me? Yes. Perfect. My name is Ana Velarde. I am a sixth and seventh grade science teacher at the Mario Mana Academy, and I'm also a proud Boston Teachers Union member. I'm here to speak on behalf of Gabriel Moya, an eighth grade dual language paraprofessional at the Mario Mana Academy, whose position has unfortunately been eliminated due to budget cuts. Mr. Moya is unable to speak today, so I will be sharing some words on his behalf. Good afternoon and thank you for being here. My name is Gabriel Moya and I am a paraprofessional at the Mario Umana Academy. For my very first days in the building, I felt like I was part of something bigger than a job. It felt like a community. I was supported by administrators, teachers, and other paraprofessionals who took the time to guide me, include me, and make sure that I could succeed. That experience shaped how I show up for our students every day.

Paraprofessionals aren't just extra help, we are essential to keep students engaged and focused on the lesson We also support students' social and emotional leads. I check in with students every day, I talk with them, and I build trust between myself and the students. For many students, school is a safe space. Having someone there to listen to the kids is extremely vital, not just for the performance in the classroom, but outside of the classroom as well. If paraprofessionals are cut, these responsibilities don't just disappear, they fall directly onto the teachers. This will result in the students having fewer opportunities to learn. I grew up in Everett, the son of immigrant parents that worked hard to give me a better future, and many of the students I work with connect with me because we share the same background, we speak the same language, They know when someone understands them and that connection matters. It helps them open up to stay engaged and to make better decisions.

Losing paraprofessionals that share an identity with the students is a detriment to their development as people. I am asking you to take concrete and immediate action, increase and protect funding for student facing positions like paraprofessionals. Schools need resources to retain the people who directly support students every day.

Thank you. Okay, we have some teenagers in the audience. I've got Star Nunez, David, I'm not sure, Oseri, Sherry Williams, and Devel Moore. I'm not sure if there were any others here. Yeah, and Henry Santana, not the Councillor. No, you, yeah, okay. Whenever you're ready.

Hi, my name is Star Nunez. I use she, her pronouns, and I'm a Roxbury resident. I'm here today not as just a young person, but as a young person who will live with the consequences of this budget hearing. I am here... asking you to reject Mayor Michelle Wu's proposed budget, restore the cuts, and amend this budget to fund Boston people's response. Because when you cut youth jobs, you are not just cutting jobs. You're cutting stability, you're cutting safety, you're cutting community, and you're cutting hope. 1,800 youth jobs are expected to disappear next school year. That is 1,800 young people losing a safe place to go after school, 1,800 young people losing mentors, 1,800 young people losing income that helps them survive in the city, 1,800 young people being told that they are disposable when the budget gets difficult. and as someone who has a youth job, I need you to understand that these programs matter. They matter deeply.

My youth job gave me the structure, it gave me purpose, it gave me community during moments where I could easily have fallen through the cracks and fallen apart. For many of us, these jobs are not extra. They are survival. They are the difference between isolation and support, the difference between feeling lost and feeling valued. Young people in the city are already carrying so much. We are carrying financial stress. We are carrying housing insecurity. We are carrying food insecurity. We are carrying anxiety about our futures every single day. And now this budget asks us to carry even more. We cannot continue to say that young people matter while removing the very programs that keep young people grounded. We cannot continue to say that mental health matters when taking away spaces where young people feel safe, supported, and connected. This is why Boston people's response matters. Because Boston People's Response Campaign is about care. It's about prevention. It's about making sure that people in crisis are met with support instead of abandonment. It is about creating community where young people feel protected and not forgotten.

I want to remind this city council that budgets are a moral document. Budgets reveal priority. And right now, young people are watching very, very carefully to see whether this city truly prioritizes us or only speaks about us when it's convenient. So today I'm asking you, please reject this budget, restore the cuts, protect school year youth jobs, invest in affordable housing, food access, and immigrant communities, and amend this budget to fund the Boston People's Response Campaign. Young people do not need more speeches about the future. We need an investment and a community.

I did have David. Up first, but...

I'm gonna go.

Totally up to you, yeah.

Is that all right? All right. Good evening, everyone, and council members. My name is Devel Moore. I live in Roxbury, and I'm an 11th grade, 17-year-old Mecco student at Weston High School. I'm a senior youth organizer at the Center for Teen Empowerment's Dorchester site. And I've been working at TE for two years or three sessions. And to me, what makes these cuts so frustrating is that they expose a deeper contradiction in how the city understands public investment. Boston is perfectly willing to spend enormous amounts of money managing the downstream consequences of inequality, but becomes hesitant the moment the conversation shifts to reducing inequality at its source. Youth employment programs are one of the few policies that simultaneously address economic mobility, public health, educational engagement, workforce development, and violence prevention. The research on this is not controversial anymore.

Stable employment during adolescence is strongly correlated with long term earnings, lower justice system involvement, improved educational outcomes, and stronger civic participation. In other words, These programs work precisely because they intervene before crisis occurs. Prevention is politically inconvenient because its successes are invisible. You cannot hold a press conference or a hearing for the harm that never happened because y'all know what you guys are doing. The city is continuously investing disproportionately in reactive system. Policing, Emergency Response, Incarceration, Disciplinary Infrastructure because those systems produce visible demonstrations of authority. They communicate control. Youth jobs, mentorship, and social support produce something less theatrical. Stability! Instability rarely receives the same political urgency as punishment.

So the question is not whether Boston can afford to fund youth jobs. The question is why the hell a city would This much wealth consistently treats investment in working class people, youth of color, students, brothers, sisters, friends, people as negotiable. Thank you.

Okay, David, and then Cherie Williams, and then I think Henry Santana.

All right. Hello, councillors. My name is David Osashie. I'm 15, and I work in District 3 in the city of Boston. I am here today as well I'm here today as well as everyone here because Mary Woo has been failing our city in many things such as mental health crisis and our youth. I am a member of the Boston People's Response and I hope today to receive your help to support the response as well as make you realize, if you haven't already, what Mayor Wu is doing to the youth is a robbery. To start, I'll read three names and I'll tell you what they all have in common. Jacob Graves, a 29-year-old man who while in the midst of a mental health crisis was shot by Boston police. Terence Coleman, a black man with schizophrenia who was fairly shot in the lawsuit against the city, alleged that Boston police and EMT trading provided a poor understanding of mental illness. Jefferson King Jr., a man with schizophrenia and a variety of mental health issues who was shot by Boston police during a confrontation for alleged carjacking.

All those names are people who were fatally killed by police who obviously did not have training in how to de-escalate situations in people with mental health. Cases like these cause the community to be afraid to call the police, scaring them into believing if they do, someone will end up dead. Now Mayor Wu is making this mental health crisis worse by cutting $6 million from the school year youth jobs budget, stealing over 1,000 jobs from the youth. Taking away these jobs strips young people of stability and safety, causing things like financial stress, anxiety, and depression. Instead of investing in our youth's mental health, the city is cutting their lifelines and abandoning them to the exact mental health crisis our current system fails to handle. The Boston People's Response will actually help people and deescalate situations with people who are actually trained specifically in how to help people with mental illness and provide them resources to end things safely.

I hope today you will choose to get behind the response. Thank you for your time.

Okay.

Yeah, whenever you're ready, and then, and Henry Santana.

So yeah, good afternoon. My name is Henry Santana unironically.

You're looking better than ever. Henry. Thank you, thank you.

So to start off, I'm 18 years old. I grew up in the South End. I attended the Hurley K-8, and I'm now graduating from Boston Line Academy. I'm here today because programs like Key Light Summer Youth Program have genuinely changed my life. It's a non-profit organization and When we talk about used jobs, they sometimes treat them like extras in the budget or basically just a statistic when that's basically not what we are. They are our first paycheck, they're our first mentor, they're our first real responsibility. And sometimes the only safe and structured place that we have during the summer or during the after school As someone who speaks both Spanish and English, I've seen how programs like this open doors for families and communities that don't always get the same opportunities. Because of the connections, mentorship, and experience I gained through youth programs alone, I'm now able to go to college for completely free, tuition free, I pay nothing. Thank you.

That opportunity didn't happen by accident. It happened because Boston invested in young people like me, and I'm not the only one. I have two younger sisters who are both future youth job workers, and what happens today will affect their futures too. When you cut youth jobs, you're not just cutting a summer paycheck, you're cutting confidence, mentorship, career opportunities, and hope for thousands of young people across the city. These programs will teach communication, teamwork, discipline, and leadership. They keep young people productive and connected to positive environments instead of leaving them behind. And Boston always talks about supporting youth and creating opportunities I'm asking for the city to match those words with action. You can either invest in young people now or pay the price later when opportunities disappear because when Boston cuts used jobs, it cuts futures too. Thank you.

Thank you. Whenever you're ready. Oops, sorry about that.

Hi, my name is Sherry Williams. I'm 16 years old. I'm a member leader for the Boston People's Response Campaign associated with the City School, and I live in District 5. Time and time again, people of color have been failed by those who are meant to protect us. Why should my skin color, my neighborhood, or the health issues I am experiencing affect how I am treated by the police or my access to adequate mental health care? Suicide is the second leading cause of death in youth aged 15 to 19. According to the BPHC Health of Boston Report of 2024, From 2017 to 2021, Black adolescents experienced higher rates of mental health emergency department visits across multiple age groups, 10 to 14, 15 to 17, and 18 to 19. then white youth of the same age group with the highest rates observed among black female youth. As a black female myself, I deeply feel that you as city councilors should be doing more

to make sure that the youth who will one day be in your shoes are fully taken care of physically and mentally by being given their human right to adequate health care without risk of incarceration and also given access to youth jobs, which is known to lower rates of violence and suicide and youth. In the seventh grade, 2022, I started attending Boston Latin School. Two days after the first day of school, a ninth grade student jumped in front of an MBTA train, and although not injured, it was still devastating to hear about. Then in eighth grade, a student got sent to the hospital because she had an allergic reaction to a vape. My friend was doing self-harm in the bathroom because of family issues and the school psychologist had no interest in listening to her and would have likely called the police, only further endangering her. Furthermore, the constant police surveillance at Forest Hills that has increased in the past couple of years only puts youth more on edge and in an area where they should feel they can hang out and be free to do what they please.

Although I no longer attend Boston Latin, had my friends or I had access to BPR, the Boston People's Response, resources would have been able to be provided for substance use, depression, and suicide preventing and treating their pain in a way that is community-based and equitable. Finally, Ida B. Wells, a civil rights activist said, the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them. To correct To correct this colossal wrong, turn the light of truth on the budget by rejecting Mayor Wu's budget and amending it to restore all funding because we know of the atrocities that will occur if our budget is implemented. Do what is in the interest of Boston, the place we all call home. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. We're going to go back to the list here. We've got Krista Magnusson, Jen Brady, Domingo, I think Cintron, and Franklin Peralta.

Sorry, Council President. We actually have two more young people.

Sorry, Krista. So sorry about that. You're on hold. So just start with your name so I know. Just get closer to the microphone.

Quincy Pierre. Great. All right, hello, my name is Quincy Pierre. I'm 17 years old and I work at YLP. I demand that Mayor Wu stop trying to defund youth jobs by taking away our budget I have worked in community-based youth jobs for the past three years, which has taught me important life skills such as public speaking, workers' rights issues, and protections for immigrants such as myself. Community Youth Jobs has helped me take the financial weight off my parents' shoulders by having the money to buy what I need so my parents can focus on our family. Also, it's better for the youth and the community because it helps the youth stay out of trouble because they have a place to go instead of like being outside on the streets doing whatever. I've seen too many young people around my age getting into trouble because they aren't connected to their community which you jobs provide.

So if I was in a community youth job, I don't know where I would be right now. So please, Mayor Wu, if you have a heart, please give us our funding back.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, my name's Alyssa. I'm a Dorchester resident and I work at YOP. I'm testifying today because budget cuts aren't just numbers on a paper. These budget cuts affect real people, whether that's immigrants, working-class families, and BIPOC. Cutting funding from housing, food assistance, and immigration services while increasing the police budget by $7 million sends a harmful message about whose safety and well-being matters the most. For many BIPOC communities, true safety does not come from more policing alone, Safety comes from stable housing, access to food, healthcare, education, and support systems that help many families live with dignity. Families in Boston face eviction, overcrowding, and homelessness. Rent prices are rising every day and are already forcing many people out of their neighborhoods and away from communities they grew up in.

Cutting food resources means children and elders and working families may not even know where their next meal will come from. And reducing immigration support helps... In reducing immigration support hurts families in seeking stability, legal protection, and greater opportunities. As a youth leader who's very passionate about social justice, I believe real public safety means investing in the people, in the community, and every dollar taken away from housing, immigration and food programs is a dollar taken away from someone's chance to succeed and survive. So I demand Mayor Wu and the City Council to reconsider these priorities and invest in resources that uplift communities instead of continuing cycles of inequality. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Joaquin?

Yeah, we have me, including me, three more youth coming to speak up.

Okay, Joaquin, if you could just, maybe we'll do alternating here and... Thank you. Krista?

Good evening. My name is Krista Magnuson. I live in Jamaica Plain, and I'm a parent of two BPS students. I'm also a statewide organizer with the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance. We have all heard at this point about the significant cost increases in healthcare, transportation, and structural costs that mean that both the BPS budget and the overall city operating budget won't cover what they have in previous years. There's no doubt that this is a difficult situation. Boston is by no means alone in facing these financial constraints. But these proposed budgets are being balanced by cutting all the most vital student and youth facing supports. We've probably all heard someone say that a budget is a moral document. I think half a dozen of us have said that tonight, and that's true. The choices the city makes for this budget though are a reflection of its priorities, and these choices do not reflect well on Boston. Most of us are also aware by now of the limitations placed on the City Council with respect to budgeting and that the options placed in front of the Council are insufficient. You can vote yes or no on the BPS budget. You have limited amendment power over the operating budget. And you're all fighting about what the right thing is to do here.

But here's the thing. You still have time to do it all. It's not yet June. There's time to vote down the budgets and send them back to the mayor for adjustments and go through the amendment process for the operating budget and still pass it in time to avoid a 1-12 situation. You simply have to decide to act together expediently to do it and not to lose more time arguing over the one true way forward. In his most recent newsletter to his constituents, Chair Weber has argued against rejecting the budget, saying that a vote to reject would have generated some headlines and the mayor would have looked bad for a minute until she resubmitted the same budget and asked the council to stop acting like children and get back to work. Respectfully, whatever the mayor might characterize it as, using the powers that are given to you as a council is not acting like children, nor is it avoiding work. Trying all the things that are in your budget toolbox shows dedication to creating the best budget possible in these difficult circumstances. Please, Councillors, we, your constituents who elected you, as well as the youth who don't get that much of a say yet, are counting on you all. Don't let us down.

Okay, thank you. Jen Brady, Domingo, and Franklin Peralta, and then we'll go back to youth testimony.

Good evening, councilors. My name is Franklin Peralta. I live in Jamaica Plain, and I have to clarify that I'm here tonight testifying on behalf of English for New Bostonians in my role as director of public policy. I would like to respectfully ask you to include Councilor Santana, Coletta Zapata, and Durkan's amendments to restore funding for English classes for parents and caregivers of BPS students. By investing $500,000 in English classes, For immigrant parents in the city of Boston, you will prevent the closing of different programs and classes that EMB has launched in partnership with community-based organizations in the past two years.

Specifically, new classes we recently opened at the Hennigan, the Curley, and the Matterham schools, as well as the Haynes Early Learning Center, plus two additional community classes serving parents in Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, and Hyde Park and the expansion from the Vinca to include families at the Shaw and Taylor School. We also support 10 additional strong existing classes in East Boston, Brighton, Chinatown, and Rossendale. In total, in fiscal year 25 and 26, 402 parents increased their English and their ability to support their children's educational success. Here's one of them, what they have to say. Marianella from East Boston, Harborside Community School. She said, The road is long, I know, but I no longer feel paralyzed by the language.

Now I can communicate confidently with my daughter's school, and I have the tools and support I need to pursue my dreams. English is not longer just a set of grammar rules. It is my most valuable resource, the key I have forged for my future, and the fundamental part of Marianela who I am today. In closing, please. Help us to continue building rather than wasting two years of hard work. Invest $500,000 in immigrants, children, and their family by supporting parent classes. Thank you so much.

I didn't see Jen Brady, Domingo, Cintron. Okay.

Good evening. Chairman Weber, Boston City Council members, thank you for allowing us to testify. My name is Domingo Cintron. I live in the western part of Boston. I'm here representing Matt. MAHT, Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants. I'm here to ask the Boston City Council to put $2 million at least in the budget. As of now, there will be 83 voucher holders eliminated from the budget. We must finally address The waste, fraud, and abuse so the funds could be reallocated into the budget. Please. Someone told me when you say please, that's begging. Please.

to all the members of the council and the mayor, whoever is listening. And I'd like to wish a belated happy Memorial Day to all the families of fallen veterans and military personnel which was yesterday, they celebrated May 25th, 2026, Monday. I am also a Vietnam-era veteran. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Domingo. Okay, Joaquin.

So if there's three people in addition, just get in line and tell us your name.

Good afternoon, my name is Joaquin Atala Gutierrez and I'm 17 from Hyde Park in Dorchester. I'm here today with the Youth Justice and Power Union to demand that the city Council rejects the Mayor's proposed budget. This budget is an attack on the people of Boston. While Mayor Wu increases funding to police, she cuts funding to education, youth jobs, housing, food, immigrant support, and even elderly support. Aspects that are crucial to the well-being of our community. We have come here several times demanding that the city funds the community and yet leadership continue to fail us. Police don't keep the cities safe, the people do. According to Boston Police data, when the police budget gets lower, while the youth jobs budget goes up, the crime rate goes down, which goes to show the need for funding in other areas of the budget Other than the police to protect the city's safety.

Boston is extremely expensive and a third most expensive city to live in in the country. Yet the mayor is here cutting funding to the very things that make the city more affordable and safe and instead puts it in police. City Councilors, Instead of worrying about how you look in the mayor's eyes, listen to us and reject this oppressive budget and think about how you look in the people's eyes. The youth are the future and the present of the city. So listen to us. Thank you.

Just start with your name.

Rejoice Egyms. Good evening, all. My name is Rejoice Egyms, and I demand that the city council listen to us, the youth in the community, when we say stop cutting youth jobs just to continue the exponential growth of the police budget. Cutting school year jobs by $6 million and leaving nothing left isn't just outrageous, but it's a decision that tells students they don't matter. And that's something we should never accept. Does the mayor actually care about the community and more importantly the youth who will be the leaders of tomorrow? My youth job is important to my dreams because they have created an environment for me to thrive. I've worked various youth jobs from Big Sister Boston, Future Chefs, Boston Area Health Education Center, and Youth Justice and Power Union. I have gained so much knowledge about my city and my Hyde Park community. I wouldn't have been able to be financially independent, I wouldn't have been able to submit my college enrollment deposit last month, and my new job is critical to who I am today and what I can do for myself. I'm not the only youth that feels this way. Many others today feel the same way.

Youth jobs are not an extra opportunities, but they're life changing. As our city councilors who we elected to be our voice for our community, you are failing us. Your job is to check the mayor and not make deals under the table with her. Use your legislative power and do the right thing. That's why I'm demanding you reject the budget and add $10 million to the school year budget. Protect our dreams and the generation after me. Have a good day.

Just tell us your name.

Hello, my name is Indigo Diagne from JP, who may or may not be working at Teen Empowerment Studios as a youth artist after this summer. I'm 19 years old turning 20 this year and I've been working since I was 15 years old. So that's a whole five years I've been working. Hopefully my words to the people that were here the last time were effective because all of us are affected by the fear that was brought to us by the words of this proposed budget. We are not disposable, but it is ultimately up to you to decide whether or not you reject this budget. We know this. However, you have to understand our lives are in your hands, quite literally. The youth need funding for their jobs to be able to afford food, help out with bills and groceries like I do, and help out with rent. Low-income families need a house or they will freeze in the winter or suffer from heat stroke in the summer without a warm bed or food to eat.

Children need a good education and teachers to match or they will live in the world of people who are increasingly getting more and more uneducated, which is what the government wants so we can stay oppressed. Artists need to be able to get funds for their hard work on their pieces because arts are crucial to society as well. We are already underpaid. Especially when prices are hiking up but minimum wage stays the same. It's almost as if this was purposeful to keep the proletariat at a low and benefit the wealthy people of the city. Because we all know that 70k a year isn't nearly enough to keep a sustainable living condition anymore, right? This isn't the 80s anymore. So tell me, what is so complicated about this exactly? What more funding does the police need? Why? To wipe out every black and brown community member? to wipe every poor person out as they get arrested for something they can't control, which is houselessness? What more funding does the fire department need?

What would they use their astronomical amounts of money for? Ask yourselves this next time the mayor tries to pressure you into keeping this budget. I beg you all, we all beg you, grow a spine and decide what is right for us. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. We've got Bryce, Kieran Healy, Madeline Wright, sorry, and a few, Naushad. Ryan Kelso, and Carrie Muzzy.

My name is Bryce Kieran Healy. I'm a Bostonian since 2008. I'm a librarian at the Boston Public Library, where I've worked since 2014. Thank you. and I'm also Chief Steward of the Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association and I'm a member of Boston Democratic Socialists of America on the JP branch. I'm here today to support the Better Budget Alliance with their calls for City Council to reject this deeply immoral, deeply shameful budget the Mayor is proposing and to restore the cuts that the Mayor is proposing. But I'm also here to speak about the proposed budget cut for the BPL in fiscal year 27. I was here last Tuesday. Unfortunately, there were only four city councilors present for that hearing, not including you, Councilor Weber, who was chairing it. And I'm here to speak about that again because I think that the library is a keystone of our public, civic, and intellectual life in Boston, and it's one of the foundations of our democracy and our civil society.

I know you're all thinking that of course he's going to say that, he works there, but don't take my word for it, just ask the mayor. From our own strategic plan, the mayor says that the library is the cornerstone of our city's cultural and intellectual life. A hub for community and connection, a home for everyone, and a core pillar of support for all our residents. Now, none of this just happens. It happens because and through of the work and labor of unionized BPL workers like myself and my coworkers. We're proud to make everything the city does possible and indeed as library workers of the BPL whose patience, presence, and passion make the BPL the magical welcoming space that it is. So it's disappointing that the same mayor who says that is proposing a budget that cuts library funding. The reality is we're already underfunded relative to pure American libraries. We, in our strategic plan, we have a budget of $62 million and 550 full-time staff. Compare this to Chicago at $113 million with 1,152 full-time staff.

LA, 203,978 full-time staff, Brooklyn, 197,1168 full-time staff, and New York Public Library at 380 million with 2,120 full-time staff. We're being asked to do increasingly more with less and in the face of a budget cut and a hiring freeze. The working class of Boston deserves better than this and our library workers deserve better. I'm asking you to reject the mayor's proposed budget and restore funding instead.

Okay, Madeline.

My name is Madeline Wright. I'm coming up on seven years in Boston, six of them in Councilor Brayton's district in Alston-Brayton. And I'm proud to be a children's librarian at the Central Library and a member of the board of my union, the BPLPSA. You'll have to forgive my nerves, I'm not a public speaker outside of story time, but I'm here because Boston needs a fully funded library. Mayor Wu has upheld Boston as a beacon of resistance to the Trump administration. And as librarians, we take pride in being custodians of free speech and democracy but ask any one of the union workers who keep the library running day to day and we'll tell you we are running on fumes as it is. The city knows that we are understaffed and underfunded and still we strive to do more with less because we care but that is not sustainable. I'll use my own department as an example, the Central Children's Library, though we are far from the worst off.

With one retirement and one resignation this year, we've lost almost 30% of our staff of seven librarians and accordingly had to reduce our program offerings by 30% so that we could keep staffing the desk. We're still doing a lot. We put our hearts and our souls into this job, but we feel the difference and so do our patrons, Boston's youngest citizens. They are the ones who are going to feel the consequences if we continue to take these steps in the wrong direction. Even now, as we approach the end of fiscal year 26, we're seeing our staff burnout. In our bargaining unit of about 200, we've had 23 resignations this past year. They flee for higher pay, for better working conditions, For cities where their own workers are not forced to rely on affordable housing programs to get by in a city where we are required to live by law,

The people of the City of Boston deserve better, and though it feels like our local government sometimes forgets that, that includes us, the people who keep the library running every single day. I urge you all to vote against the Mayor's proposed budget and increase library funding. and I'll throw it in there. The police overtime budget is larger than the library's entire operating budget. I'll let you do the math.

Thank you. Thank you, Bryce and Matt. I had to resist the urge to say shh, but thanks for taking all your time. Okay, now we've got some folks from the... Democratic Socialists of America. I'm going to show my solidarity by going to the bathroom while you're talking about public bathrooms. Madam President, do you mind operating the timer so we can keep this going?

My name is Nafi Neshad, resident of Alston and co-chair of the Alston-Brighton branch of Boston Democratic Socialists of America, and I'm here to say something straightforward. Alston-Brighton needs a community center and the city needs to fund and put a timeline on one now. We are the second largest neighborhood in Boston with over 85,000 residents and yet our district is the only one in this city without a single fully functional city-run community center. Every other neighborhood has one, some even multiple. We have the Jackson Man, a crumbling building in the process of closure. That is not acceptable. This is a neighborhood where four out of five people in their homes rent, where 15% of Boston's impoverished population lives, where immigrants, service workers, students, and working families have built their lives for generations. These are exactly the people BCYF is designed to serve, with adult education, English classes, and a flexible third space for our neighbors to gather and build community.

We are asking the city to include funding in the capital plan to advance the design of construction for a new city center in Elston-Brighton and to provide operating funding for interim facilities now. And on that note, the operating budget as proposed is a serious problem as well. The working class people across the city are feeling it. BPS passed a budget that cuts almost 600 positions with hundreds of layoffs. Over 200 teaching positions and more than 100 classroom aides Mental Health, and support staff. Children in this city are losing the people who support them in school, and on safe streets, the capital plan eliminates funding for dedicated bus lanes on Summer and Boylston Street, zeroes out the Roxbury Transportation Corridor, and cuts the Center and South Street redesign entirely. The transportation budget's five-year capital plan was cut by 30%, $58 million gone. These aren't line items. These are buses, sidewalks, and safe crossings that working class people depend on every single day.

The budget asks for people the most. The budget asks the most from people who have the least, and in AB we are asked to wait yet again without a community center, without safe street investment, and without public infrastructure that every other neighborhood can take for granted. The city has shown that it can act boldly in North Beacon Street. We are demanding that same boldness. In New York, DSA-elected Zoran Mamdani consistently delivers for their community. Shirley Wu, you can do the same, right? Thank you. So I stand here demanding, not asking, for you to fund the community center, fund the safe streets, fund our schools. Councilors, reject this budget, fund it all now, and defund the police. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up we have Ryan Kelso, followed by Kerry Moussey. Just start the clock here.

My name is Ryan Kelso, and I live by the Jackson Man, but this testimony is in favor of studying history. In the 1950s, Boston had to adjust to a new technology, the automobile. A technology that made it possible for people to live in the suburbs and work and play in the city. What happened? White flight. Buildings were abandoned, property values plummeted, and the city lost critical property tax revenue. They begged the state for help. What did the State House say to this? The White House? It's your problem, and you are going to pay. How? By raising your communities and selling off the scraps at a premium to the banks and the businesses to build Palaces where the people of the city can go to worship their saviors, the wealthy. Palaces called the Prudential Center, Mass General Hospital, and City Hall. The people had trouble responding. Many didn't understand what was happening to them. Many would rather flee than stay and fight.

Many continued to vote for their own destruction. And by the time unity was found, the damage was done. Division was the wrecking ball. and the people had their teeth blown out. Today, the city has to adjust to a new technology. It's called Zoom, a technology that makes it possible for people to live and work in the suburbs and still play in the city. You know what's coming. Some of these people before you are going to cave. It's these votes right now that will show you who the sellouts are going to be. They'd already rather fund 30 police officers to live and pay taxes in the suburbs than 1,800 youth in red shirts maybe to patrol this city. the suburbs have the power to starve the city it's true but the city has the power to starve the whole region

If this city remains more than a playground for the wealthy when these young faces are old, you won't have to make us open our mouths to see we still have fangs.

Thank you.

Kerry. Hi, my name is Kerry Muzzy. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about the city budget. I'm here especially to lift up the demand for More free, publicly accessible, well-maintained restrooms near public transit. I've worked in Boston for over 25 years and use public transit to get to work each week. I also have an unpredictable food sensitivity. I think Many or all of us can relate to needing a restroom when one wasn't available, whether we're caring for little ones who are still in potty training or we're getting older and just need to go more often. So please prioritize opening more restrooms in high traffic areas near public transit. The city should also keep existing public restrooms open, not just part of the year or part of the day, but 24-7. and make them accessible for people with disabilities and keep them well maintained with frequent cleaning.

Please support the public restrooms we all need and should not have to pay for. And I also want to echo those who've been calling for reversing the cuts to Education, Housing Assistance, Libraries, Immigrant Services, Community Centers, and Youth Jobs. These are all absolutely essential for the future of working class people in the city. And please defund the police. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is it Ulta Steel and Wayne Steel.

Okay, sorry. I think, is it Otis Steele? Maybe not here. There's another person whose first name I can't read is also named Steele. Last name. Okay, I've got Yasmin Bailey, Amy Takanami, Colique Williams, and Marina. I'm not entirely sure. Okay, whenever you're ready.

Good evening Boston City Council. My name is Yasmin Bailey. I'm the Director of Program and Strategy at the City School. I'm a member of the Boston People's Response Campaign and a registered voter of Boston District 4. Hey Brian Worrell, how you doing? Wonderful. I'm here today because Boston deserves better than what we currently offer folks in crisis. The Boston People's Response, formerly known as the Mental Health Crisis Response Model, was built by this city. Actually, it was funded by the city to even research and figure out what kind of mental health response model we needed. The City of Boston, the previous mayoral administration, put in for a research project for us to look into mental health crisis response for the Boston Police Department to do a research to see what they can do for mental health crisis response for a co-response model.

which is the mental health care workers and emergency service personnel and for a community-led design group to look into what we can do for a mental health crisis response in the city of Boston that doesn't involve the police. and so I was a part of that team. So specifically, that happened around 2021. Boom. Now, a Boston-based organizing group successfully pushed the city to fund the development of a true community-led crisis response. That's what I just talked about. The city school, yay, and Boston Liberation Health, yay, and 14 core community members that the city, yay, that the city of Boston handpicked. They answered the call. We spent upward of a year designing a model and a pilot with real input from residents, providers, and organizations across every neighborhood.

Over the past three to four years, community leaders and members have collaborated extensively on ensuring the city funds a community-led, non-carceral, fully funded mental health crisis response pilot. We studied what works, we looked across different cities in the United States and they all showed that, they all demonstrated that trained civilian responders can safely handle the vast majority of behavioral health calls without police at a fraction of the cost. I will wrap up very soon. Boom. The scope is broad of this pilot program. It's broad by design. Mental Health Crisis, Wellness Checks, Substance Use Concerns, Intimate Partner Violence, Community Trauma, Conflict De-escalation. That's the scope. A neighborhood-based response teams are a central dispatch hub. It's a dedicated line with no ID collected, no automatic 911 diversions. This is a Boston model. This is Boston's model.

And we believe investment in it is imperative right now more than ever. and I will have my colleague, hopefully, Emmy, to come up and speak a bit more about why we're all here today. Thank you.

Sorry, I have Amy, Kalik Williams, Marina, if I'm getting that right, John Smith St. Cyr, and Joseph Rowland.

Thanks, Yasmin, and good evening, Councilors. My name is Amy Takanami. I use she, her pronouns. I'm a resident of District 6, a social worker, and a steering committee member of the Boston People's Response Campaign. So after our model and pilot were designed and presented to the city in 2022, as Yasmin just outlined, our campaign was formed to organize and advocate for the full funding and full implementation of what was so thoughtfully designed by and for community. Since launching in 2023, the Boston People's Response Campaign has grown into a beautiful and powerful base of Boston residents and community members from across the city. many of whom are directly impacted by the current role of policing and mental health crisis response. This includes young people, black, indigenous, and other people of color, disabled people, queer and trans people, immigrants, working class people, folks who have experienced mental health crisis and folks who have responded to mental health crisis. And we know lived experience is expertise.

and we are deeply grateful to all of our members who have co-developed this campaign with us over the past three years in service of stewarding and bringing to life this community-designed response. Our campaign also includes social workers like myself, nurses, and other healthcare workers who believe a non-police, non-carceral response is urgently needed and who see firsthand from a provider point of view the limitations and harms of our current cultural approaches to crisis response. Tonight, you're going to get to hear from many of our brilliant members about why we are urging you to invest in our collective health and our collective safety by first rejecting the mayor's harmful budget proposal which cuts critical life affirming programs like school year youth jobs, then restore those cuts, include $4 million in the FY27 budget for a non-police, non-carceral mental health crisis response pilot.

Next, I'm going to pass it over to my colleague Marina, who's going to share more about the importance of our model for our young people in particular.

Thank you.

Thanks, Amy. And thanks, everyone who has already testified. Hello, my name is Marina Burhani. I use she, her pronouns. I am from Dorchester District 3. I've been doing youth work for the past four years. I'm here to urge you to fully fund the non-police, non-carceral, mental health crisis response based Pilot, and fully fund the school year youth jobs. As a youth worker, I've personally seen young people forcibly hospitalized and sent away to treatment facilities like hours away from their community home.

This distance doesn't just make visiting hard, it makes coordinating support hard, it makes supporting that young person almost impossible. and being removed from a family, a community, your support system Is the real reality why families and young people are afraid of calling 911, are afraid of being criminalized or involuntarily taken away? And I think this model would offer a different option and a different resource and keep young people safe, keep families safe and together. And as a youth worker, I feel like, I don't feel like, I believe that youth jobs have real value and have supported young people's mental health.

and you see that through the structure, you see that through the civility, you see that through the kind of like voices that you've heard already today and tonight and many other nights I bet. And I have personally had a city job. I grew up in Boston. I had a city job from the age of 14 through high school and college. And it matters. These opportunities matter. spaces matter and cutting them like sends a real message to the city young people and what like you're trying to value sorry I'm getting really sidetracked but I'm urging you to reject Mayor Wu's budget and

include four mil minimally into the final budget for a fully funded pilot and return back the funding for school year jobs. Thanks, I'm gonna pass it to Maya.

Hi, Boston City Council. My name is Maya Meles-Turkay, District 6. I've been involved with BPR since the design process, and I've been a licensed clinical social worker in Massachusetts for close to 15 years. I want to amplify and add to what Marina shared about anticipated positive impacts of the BPR model. There are times when the people I see in therapy or the people my supervisees see are experiencing a mental health crisis and they are understandably hesitant or only share about what they experienced after the fact. This concern comes from the fear of being forcibly hospitalized or having the police called on them. With the BPR model, there would be more trust because the model would be fully consent-based and would not involve the police. In addition, the social worker workforce is predominantly white women, sometimes who are not residents of the neighborhoods in which they work. This dynamic also certainly impacts trust. With BPR, responders will be part of the communities in which they are responders instead of responding to calls citywide and would represent the communities most impacted by the violence of our current crisis response programs.

So primarily BIPOC folks and people with lived experience with mental health crises. One additional point I want to make from the perspective of a therapist is that there is a contradiction within therapy because talk therapy cannot itself solve the larger societal problems that cause so many mental health struggles. This is directly connected to this budget. Talk therapy and crisis response programs cannot themselves resolve the mental health impacts that would most certainly result from the mayor's current cuts, from ending school year youth jobs to even further decreasing access to affordable housing and more. The number of people who have shown up hearing after hearing this budget cycle should be a clear indication of how bad this budget is and how many people's well-being will be impacted if City Council allows it to go through or only minimally amends it. City Councilors should be listening to their constituents instead of catering to the fear and threats that Mayor Wu is instilling in backdoor conversations. The vast power of our mayor is only furthered by you all not being able to work together. So please, figure it out.

Please take the mental health and well-being of your constituents seriously, meaning first vote to reject the current budget and cuts and force Wu to add more money to the budget from reserve funds and then also invest funding into the BPR model. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I just, I did have, I don't want to interrupt. Your momentum here. I did have John Smith-Saints here and Joseph Rowland in the middle of this. And then I have many more folks from the people's response. Yes.

How you doing? My name is John Smith St. Cyr, and I am a lifelong resident of Boston and the founder of the J.L. Smith Suicide Prevention Center for Young Black Boys. For years, Boston has benefited from a once-in-a-generation funding climate built around COVID recovery, racial equity, housing stability, public health, and community repair. The City used the language of equity to frame recovery, attract legitimacy, allocate federal dollars, and participate in a philanthropic moment where billions were being pledged nationally and locally. Now that the political climate has shifted, residents should not be asked to keep testifying for the same equity commitments that helped justify the money in the first place. This budget season, we have been asked to reduce displacement, trauma, poverty, violence, discrimination, and community instability into two minutes before the city decides whether our communities are worth protecting.

That is institutional shucking and jiving. If our pain helped frame recovery, then our protection cannot be optional when it is time to pass the budget. The city cannot use equity as a language when it is useful, then treat equity as negotiable when residents ask for investment protection and accountability. I am here today to ask for the cuts to the Office of Equity and Inclusion to be fully restored along with all other community-facing cuts. At the federal level, we are under attack. Voting rights are under attack. Black political power is being diluted through gerrymandering. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are being targeted. Civil rights protections are being weakened. And in that same moment, Boston is cutting the very local offices that should be standing as a line of protection. Those are not small inconsistencies. They reveal a gap between what the city says and what the budget actually does.

And if the question is where the money comes from, I think the theme for today and all other hearings I've attended is take it from the police. The budget continues to The budget continues to fund police responses to mental health crisis while cutting community mental health support. That is how crisis becomes criminalized. That is how black people like Stevenson King end up dead. When the city funds reaction over prevention, it is not funding safety. It is funding the conditions that put our lives at risk. That is why restoring these cuts matter. So if you actually care about young people, if you actually care about black people, immigrants, LGBTQ students, then vote like it. Reject the budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Joseph Rowland and then back to the people's response.

Good evening. My name is Joseph Rowland. I live in Alston, Brighton. I want to second what Linda Lowe said earlier. I'm very moved by the testimony tonight and hope you restore the cuts to youth jobs. But I'm here today to make sure the unsolved homicide squad was brought up at this hearing. This has nothing to do with any amendments. It's more of a note for next year. It is well known that Boston has a lot of unsolved homicides over 1800. And if you look at the last decade of our cold case clearances, it's clear that the squad is prioritizing the cases with DNA evidence. 14 of the last 20 were made with a DNA match. This approach of waiting for a DNA match leads to stronger prosecutions, but isn't really paying off in more clearances.

The squad is moving at a pace of about one clearance a year, under two, compared to about 10 a year in the 90s, even though they have more manpower and investigative technologies than ever. Every three years or so, the squad appears before this council and claims that another DNA grant is needed to continue their work. But let's think critically about homicides for a second. Grants for DNA evidence would only benefit the cases in which biological material from the suspect has been preserved. These tend to be the homicides where the suspect was in close contact with the victim. But most firearm homicides, which I found make up two-thirds of Boston's unsolved homicide caseload, for those cases it is not the case. They're not close contact. There are exceptions, but I repeat, DNA grants do little to nothing for two-thirds of Boston's unsolved homicides.

There is no DNA backlog affecting this majority of cases. Instead, it feels like they're just being neglected. Witnesses and family members are passing away without ever being interviewed. If we want equitable homicide investigations in this city, another approach is needed for these cases. I'm almost done. Okay. I can assume you guys care about all homicide investigations, not just the ones with DNA evidence, but I want you to show us you care by asking about these gun homicides when you get the chance and by listening to survivor advocates like the Unsolved Homicide Ambassadors. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, so people's response, I think there's about 20 or so slots here. There are some other people here to testify. I don't you know just tell me your name you don't have to go in the order that you signed up in here but I may cut you off like you know about you know 20 people in um also I does anyone here Need Interpretation Services. We have the interpreters here until 9. If you need Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Haitian Creole, anyone? Okay, going once, going twice. Okay, interpreters, I really want to thank you for your help in making this possible and for all your hard work. Okay, yep, whatever.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Tara Venkatraman. She, her pronouns, and I'm resident of Roslindale. I'm a longtime youth worker at the City School, and I'm a proud steering committee member of the Boston People's Response Campaign, who you're going to hear a number more of us I just want to briefly share that our campaign is advocating for this non-police, non-carceral mental health crisis response pilot in the context of a larger budget coalition, many of whom you've already heard from tonight. Alongside Better Budget Alliance, The City School, Teen Empowerment, Youth Justice and Power Union, Asian American Resource Workshop, and countless other organizations who are fighting to restore the cuts for school year jobs. As a campaign for real support for people in mental health crisis, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that the mayor's currently proposed budget will lead to an increase in mental health crisis for young people and community members across the city.

The current proposed budget completely eliminates the school year jobs program, cuts funding for essential services for immigrants, for queer and trans residents, for eviction prevention, and for food access. The people of Boston are very clear that the City of Boston has the money for what we need. Boston has over 1 billion reserves, of which up to 600 million can be used. The parking meter fund can be used. We are asking for what is ultimately a fraction of that, but that money can only be accessed if the budget is rejected and not amended. We understand that that funding is meant to be used in case of emergency, but right now this budget proposal has created for us a state of emergency. That is why we are all here till past 9 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Communities that are already under attack by the federal government are fighting for essential services now right here in this city. School year jobs provide essential mental health services for young people, as do funding for queer and trans folks, as does eviction prevention, as does food access.

All of that is mental health care. So we are calling on you all to reject the Mayor's currently proposed budget and stand together to insist we need money added to this budget. Amending this budget this year is not enough. And so we are calling on all of you to reject and then include $4 million for the community-based mental health crisis response in the final version of the budget. Fund us or fail us. Thank you.

Hi, my name is McKaylee Nelms. Good afternoon, counselors. My name is McKaylee. I'm a youth worker at the City School, a student at UMass Boston, as well as a resident of District 5. I'm here on behalf of Boston People's Response asking for $4 million to be added into the city's 2027 budget to fund a pilot of the Mental Health Crisis Response, which will be consent-based, non-police, and non-carceral. What's important about this response model is that if someone doesn't feel comfortable reaching out to our current systems for mental health care due to fear of being met with violence, or inadequate care, BPR would be a great resource to provide peace of mind that one has control over the care that they receive. Too often people hold back from asking for help fearing they will get the police called on them or institutionalized when in reality everyone deserves to have agency in the care they receive no matter the situation.

When people are able to be redirected to a solution that they know is safe, confidential, and consent based, it gives them the peace of mind and confidence to seek support whenever they need to. I'm confident that once this is up and running, this will be something vital in our communities. This will give people who feel like they have to suffer in silence a safe space to receive the care they deserve. I also want to make it clear that BPR stands in solidarity with all the community members here advocating on behalf of many different things. Young people are a huge part of our campaign and my youth job personally from the city school is a huge part of why I'm here today testifying and why I'm able to organize around BPR and many other issues such as youth jobs. So once again, I'm asking that you reject the mayor's current budget and add four million for our pilot and restore the six million for youth jobs. Thank you for your time.

Good evening, councillors. My name is Shiliu Wang. I'm a District 6 resident in Jamaica Plain, and I'm a family nurse practitioner at a local community health center here in Boston. I'm speaking on behalf of myself today in support of a non-police, non-carceral, community-based mental health crisis response model at $4 million in the city of Boston, which can only be achieved by taking the first step to reject Mayor Wu's current budget. And while I'm speaking today about the specific line item, I emphatically urge you to restore all the cuts we've heard about in testimony tonight. Many of the patients I work with are members of communities here in Boston who are actively policed and disinvested in by our local, state, and federal governments whose lives will be made even harder with Mayor Wu's proposed budget. When it comes to seeking support in the middle of a mental health crisis, often their only option is to turn to the very institutions that they've experienced repeated violence from and trauma within, including from our law enforcement agencies and our medical system.

I've had numerous patients share horror stories about being brought into the emergency room by the police and by EMS, forced into inpatient psychiatric facilities where they were not given clear information about what medications they were being injected with, how long they were being made to stay in these units for. The Boston People's Response Model would instead allow for my patients to seek support from neighbors, from peers, from community members, with shared lived experiences in the middle of challenging and scary experiences. This model will allow them to be met with care and choice as opposed to control and potential violence. As a primary care provider with a large panel of patients with complex psychosocial needs, many of whom are understandably mistrustful of institutions, Having access to a resource like this to direct my patients towards and to call on myself would be an enormous relief. I do my best to prioritize consent, agency, and dignity in all of my patient interactions and therefore believe it's my responsibility to my patients to advocate for a community-based mental health model that is this life-affirming and values aligned.

I once again urge you to reject Mayor Wu's current budget, restore the cuts that uplift all residents of the city, and fully fund the pilot at $4 million in the FY27 budget. Thanks.

Hello, my name is Amanda Lawson, and I am a... Actually, I'm almost... Two decades into being a citizen here in Boston. And you know, I just want to be frank here. I'm tired. Not just physically tired, because I've been here for quite a while, but I'm just tired of just the same, it feels like the same conversations. You guys do something to screw us over, and we have to come here and basically beg you guys to not screw us over. and especially it hurts more especially with the current administration screwing us over and now you guys are doing it again essentially by you know going along with this budget. I'm not going to tell you guys what you need to do because frankly you guys already know what you guys need to do, which is to reject this budget.

I am going to talk about my experience as a youth worker and why it means just so much to me because You know, when I first became a youth worker, I was in a rough place. You know, I didn't really know what I was going to do with myself for the future and stuff like that. and you know, going into, you know, It gave me a purpose. It gave me a will to live, honestly. You know, a future. And to see it being threatened, by all of you guys you know just because you guys don't want to like upset the police union or something like that um or whatever so it's just Really, it is heartbreaking just having to, you know, see that, especially with my younger brother, you know, he's coming up and, you know, fortunately, he will be able to find a job.

and he and I are both are living in a tough situation and just seeing you guys do this it just yeah do better frankly

Yeah, whenever you're ready.

Okay, cool. Hi, my name is Veena, and I'm a youth worker in Dorchester. And I am standing here today super emotional, but I'm here by the strength and love of my community. Throughout my life, I've had a very complex history in relationship with medical institutions and providers. But since things are different now, I've tried to utilize my resources and every single time I get involved, it's an immediate reminder of the lack of compassion and inefficient plan of care from the healthcare system. And it's killing our people. As a youth worker, I've had the privilege to work with phenomenal young people who sometimes do not have the capacity to fully show up because of mental health and unstable living conditions. but they're afraid or don't have trusted adults outside of home to reach out to for support because they don't want to put their families at risk. And that's so heartbreaking.

Community-based youth programs have been able to offer community love and support to youth, but it's about to be taken away unless you reject the budget cuts. Growing up, I've experienced and witnessed a lot of mental health crisis that led to violence that can never be taken back. Reaching out to the police has always left us feeling even more triggered, hopeless, and at the edge of giving up. It's such a traumatic process and it's so deafening with no support plan or resolution and actually putting our safety at an even higher risk. but thankfully we have each other and we need community-based non-carceral response systems and that's why I am and demanding that the city council reject Mayor Wu's budget and her cuts to essential social programs like youth jobs, community needs, and fund the Boston people's response. because my community have offered me more healing and care than any other institutions ever have and ever will. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Raisa, and I currently work in District 1 and have lived in District 7 of Boston, and I'm here to testify in support of funding the Boston People's Response Model for this year's city budget. I ask that the City Councillors reject the Mayor's proposed budget which cuts funding for life-affirming services and advocate for $4 million to fund the BPR model. We need an alternative for supporting marginalized people experiencing a mental health crisis. You might be thinking, well, we already have a mental health crisis response. in place in Boston, including the best team and the 988 hotline. However, Boston people's response has, among many, two unique features that demonstrate why we need this. Number one, the Boston people's response would operate completely outside of the police department. We know that the police are likely to escalate and worsen mental health crisis.

And according to a 2024 poll on public perspectives conducted by NAMI, 77% of Black Americans, 72% of Hispanic Americans, and 80% of LGBTQ plus Americans say that they would be afraid the police may hurt their loved one or themselves while responding to a mental health crisis. People have largely negative perceptions interacting with police during a mental health crisis. So it's imperative that we have an alternative. The number two unique thing is that the BPR is rooted in local community. Neither the 988 hotline or the statewide behavioral health helpline are rooted in local community. In contrast, BPR would offer direct support from neighborhood-based response teams with lived experience and who represent the people that they are supporting. I'd like to end with a quote from Ruth Wilson Gilmore, a prison abolition movement leader. Abolition is about presence, not absence.

It's about building life affirming institutions. BPR is a life affirming institution. And at a time of increasing fascism and unchecked racist violent rhetoric towards Black Americans, Indigenous people, people of color, and trans people, we need to build something new. We need to restore cuts and build life-affirming institutions like BPR. Thank you.

Sam, you're way back in the line, but yeah. Maybe, how about we'll hear from five more people from the people's response and then we'll go to, there's some other folks here.

Good evening.

I'm not sure if they're with the same group or not.

Sorry to cut you off, Ben. Hi, everyone. Thanks for still being here, city councilors. My name's Eric Fishman. I live and work in District 6 in Jamaica Plain. I'm here to testify on behalf of the Boston People's Response Campaign. I've been a teacher in elementary, middle, and high schools for a dozen years, including in Boston Public Schools. For many years, I've had the honor of working with students with a wide range of disability experiences. What do young people need to thrive? We've heard from a lot of young people tonight. In our schools, when they're fully funded, Students, including students with disabilities, are able to build real relationships with the adults tasked with supporting them, are treated as full human beings with choice and agency over their lives and are supported to develop skills that will help deepen their understandings of themselves, their peers, and society.

And then these young people leave the school building, go out into the city of Boston, and if they experience an acute mental health crisis, right now the only option available to people around them is to call the cops. and to send someone with a gun who has no relationship with them, that is simply a disgrace. There's been some conversation about the best team and other alternatives that exist. It reminds me a little bit of when I used to work in a Noah's Deuces charter school where there was also a social worker. When we have systems that are based in violence and punishment for people and yet we say here's an individual who's here to support you, that doesn't actually support people to actually thrive. We actually need systems that are genuinely built to support people in the ways that they need. We've heard throughout tonight's hearing from dozens of residents about the real lasting impacts of Mary Woo's budget cuts. I had a student earlier this week say, what do you mean she's cutting all the jobs? She was just at the school job fair earlier this year.

And yet last year we heard that the Boston Police Department spent just $100 million just on overtime. We're asking for $4 million alone to fund a non-police, non-carceral crisis response program. We cannot wait any longer. Reject the budget and fund BPR. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Maria Fong. I'm an elected member, leader of the Boston People's Response Campaign, sorry, as well as a freelance artist and a youth worker in Boston. I work in Dorchester, Chinatown. Hey, Councilor Flynn. and Seaport with high schoolers who want to make art and make change. The City Council must reject and amend the Mayor's budget. When you do that, all of us testifying to stop the budget cuts will bring this energy to pressure Mayor Wu to add a fiscally responsible modest increase to the budget to fill the gap. As a youth worker, I care about youth jobs funding because I have seen how impactful these programs are to young people. Not just a job, but a support system combating loneliness, hopelessness, and a lack of self-confidence. Not just an after-school program, but a place to build community skills and goals. As a person who struggles with mental health, I care about funding a non-carceral mental health crisis response because it will protect people at their most vulnerable moments.

Mental health work is not only about a number to call, it's investing in the needs of our community before they reach a crisis too. What will happen to my friends' and community members' mental health when they lose access to food and housing? These are essential services we cannot lose. Spending on police overtime is impacting all these other city services. Police respond to crime and crisis, but what if we invested in work being done that prevents those from happening? Other community-led mental health crisis responses nationally have been proven to be successful and to save cities money. Our ask of $4 million is only the equivalent of about three days of the BPD budget. We must invest in work being done that builds community safety and healing, like funding for youth jobs, arts and culture, and housing. Fund us or fail us. Thank you for your time.

Hi, my name is Janiyah and I'm asking for your full attention. Today, I saw some of y'all downstairs when, you know, before we started the rally and we had a rally today, which made me really excited. Same thing last year, we had another rally and our numbers keep on growing. I want to say please do your job. We have Jasmine Crockett, I might say your name wrong, but Jasmine Crockett and AOC. These are representatives that actually do their job, actually stand up for what they do and what they believe in. And I'm asking y'all to do the same for Boston. It's really disgusting of how many things are getting cut, but y'all keep on putting money in the police budget and it's very sad. And yeah, thank you.

Hi.

So my name is Nosika. I am from Hyde Park. And I think it is time that we are being honest with ourselves. We know that y'all are scared. We know that y'all are scared of Mayor Wu. We know that y'all are scared of not doing what she wants y'all to do. And y'all are scared for your careers. And that has to be the reason because I need you all to ask yourselves, why are we here? We have been consistently here every single year, asking for an increase in housing, asking for an increase in in youth jobs, asking for a decrease in the police budget, asking for better transportation, better roads, better everything. And year after year, we don't get it. And then this year, the mayor has the audacity to cut almost everything out of the budget. Everything that's for the community has been cut out of the budget. We are kidding ourselves. Having this conversation over and over and over again is ridiculous. You have to ask yourself, are you here to do the bidding of the community or to do the bidding of the mayor?

and it is ridiculous that we have to come down here and have to consistently ask y'all to reject the budget because we know that amending it is not possible. We've sat in on the meetings that y'all are there for. Y'all are gonna sit there and go back and forth about funding the libraries and maybe cutting fire department and you're never going to do it you're not going to find the money we know for a fact that we need to reject this budget and force the mayor's hand to put money back into the budget it's ridiculous if we think we're going to sit here and find money in scraps from $500,000 here, $100,000 there, to do what? We need to fully fund every single one of these programs that she's decided to defund. There's no amending. It is complete rejection so she can properly fund this budget. Honestly, I don't know. What else to say? I personally think that the mayor is a coward and a snake. She has consistently, time after time... run on a campaign that says that she cares about the people of Boston and consistently has done everything opposite of what we've asked her to do.

And I would like y'all to take a look at yourselves tonight when y'all go home and ask yourselves, do you not believe that youth need this money? Do you not believe that immigrants need this money, that elderlies need this money, that Boston has a current housing crisis? If you truly believe that you do not need this money, that Boston does not have a housing crisis, great. Continue lying to yourselves. But I am calling out specifically Henry Santana, Ben Weber, Brian Worrell, Ruthie Louijeune to do what is right. Please do not be like the mayor. Do not be a coward. Please reject the budget and call the mayor's bluff because we deserve better. Young people deserve better. Boston deserves better. And we're all watching you. Please don't be cowards. Thank you.

My name is Michelle Wiener, Councilor Weber, I'm one of your constituents in District 6, and I'm here today with the Boston People's Response Campaign. We're asking you to reject this budget, this austerity budget, to restore cuts to critical programs, and to fund a pilot for a community-based mental health response model. I'm speaking today as a public health professional and a youth worker. I've spent over 10 years here in the city working with young people, including most recently as the director of program development and impact at Bagley. the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ plus youth. And in that role, I testified here on a panel hosted by Councilor Santana's office about the needs of LGBTQ plus youth. Santana, I attended a number of your CAPE meetings talking about the needs of our communities. And we've talked about all of these things that we will talk about tonight and that folks have testified to. The need for critical life-saving services. So I know that the need is understood. The question now is to put the funding towards it.

Because I can't tell you how many times in my career I would have loved to have a resource like this model available. My former colleagues at Bagley and I, our community center is just a couple blocks from here. And so often we had young people experiencing complex challenges where we did not have resources to call. Challenges that didn't warrant calling an ambulance, let alone risking the police, but where our center was open at 8 o'clock at night and there was nothing to call, no resources available. We constantly had to navigate how to get our young people support without causing more risk or harm. That is draining and exhausting. It is a question that burns people out. It is part of what burned me out of this work. Boston needs to keep funding what we are already funding, like youth jobs, which are critical prevention efforts. There are a number of youth programs in this city that will disappear overnight without this funding, programs like ones I've run in the past.

that if those organizations can't fund school year jobs, the program itself, the staff will go away. They won't be able to exist just for two months during the summer. And we also need to fund new solutions. We know there is a youth mental health crisis. We need to take action to address it. And a model that is open 24-7, that is free, non-carceral, would be a game changer. Councilor Weber, last week you said you hope that someday folks will look to Boston as a model. For this, I want that. I want us to add to the research on what these models can do. Last year this council voted to declare Boston a trans-sanctuary city. I know that you all know that the community at that time said we would hold you all accountable to putting funding and resources behind that. This is part of what that means to be a trans-sanctuary city.

to fund us to give that declaration teeth, to fund our equity offices, our youth jobs, and to fund new solutions like this mental health response campaign. Thank you.

Okay, yeah, maybe two more folks for people's response and then we're gonna, there's some other people here.

Sounds good. My name is Dr. Christine Mitchell. I'm a graduate of Harvard School of Public Health and the director of the Health Instead of Punishment program at Health in Partnership, which is a national public health nonprofit. I'm testifying today to ask the City Council to vote to reject the Mayor's budget and to advocate for $4 million to fund the implementation of a non-police, non-carceral, community-led mental health crisis response pilot. For the last decade, I've done research evaluating non-police community-led crisis response programs nationally, and while I can cite dozens of Research studies that support the fact that non-police models are both more effective at meeting the needs of people in crisis and more trusted by the community than traditional policing. I would really rather that you deeply hear and feel the call from all of the young people who have testified here today

who have experienced what it is like to be policed and traumatized and confined when what they really needed was support. What they have shared is more urgent, more important, more compelling than any research that I can cite. In 2018, the American Public Health Association identified police violence as a public health crisis, calling for public health solutions that allocate funding from law enforcement agencies to community-based programs that address violence and harm without criminalizing Mental health crises and the police response to them disproportionately affect marginalized communities due to systemic racism, ableism, and the failures of traditional crisis response systems. People with untreated mental health needs are 16 times more likely to be killed by police than those without. And beyond physical violence, several studies have found that being stopped by police is associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and psychiatric hospitalization.

We need a response in Boston that does not involve police. There are hundreds of cities across the US, including Oakland, Minneapolis, Denver, Albuquerque, Durham, and Dayton. Almost done. who've already been building non-police mental health crisis response programs. They are built for those who, because of the racism, ableism, and violence from the police, would never call 911. By investing the requested $4 million into the Boston People's Response, our city has the opportunity to be a national leader in mental health, and I urge you to make that investment. Thank you.

Okay, one more.

Good evening, my name is Sol Martinez Guevara. I use they, she, and he pronouns, and I also work at a library, Boston Public Library in Eggleston Square. And before I start, I want to say that I second what my colleagues said about also providing funding for the Boston Public Library. I live in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and I'm here in support of the Boston people's response. I support this because I want to see a greater Boston that does not abandon its people in times of great need by providing a system of mental health care support that act as first responders to provide life-affirming and consensual community-led non-carceral care. Every one of us could be someone that needs support at some point in their lives Due to loss of housing, substance use, loss of employment, accumulation of stress, or circumstances such as accidents or violence that affect our minds and our bodies,

When other systems of support have failed, it is at this critical point that a person needs dignity and agency when they have not had a choice in the steps that led up to a crisis. Why is this important? This is where we can show that we will not abandon someone's personhood by making choices for them without their permission. We owe this to each other, especially at points where the choices that are made can be life-altering. People in crisis need support that is consensual and includes our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, our family, and the people that live in Greater Boston. City Councilors, I ask you to listen, to feel your presence in this room and acknowledge the representation that you committed to. It is up to you to acknowledge the power that we have granted you by listening to your constituents. This means hearing the call in need for a consensual, non-carceral, and care-driven commitment to mental health crisis response. This means reassessing the 2027 fiscal year budget and making an amendment for the $4 million allotted for current call responders

and piloting a program for a life-affirming mental health response that includes the consent of the person or people being responded to. You can take this opportunity to create a response team, teams that offer an alternative approach to the current system, which can be isolating and destabilizing for those most in need. The experience and awareness that first responders have now has a wide range, meaning that some officers or staff do not have the knowledge, time or structural support to respond to calls with effective care on the spot. This proves the need for a pilot program that explores alternative, person-first options for care following a crisis call or a wellness check. Boston needs to provide non-police mental health support that prioritizes dignity and consent and non-carceral care. Please make the choice that affirms the life and dignity of the people that you represent. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, one more.

Hello, can you all hear me?

Yes.

Good evening council members. Thank you so much for your time and thank you so much for still being here today. And I just want to demand two more minutes of your time. Thank you for this opportunity to share testimony tonight. My name is Hasin Jimenez, and I'm a longtime member of the Boston People's Response Campaign, a youth worker at the City School, and a constituent of District 3. I stand before you all today to demand that you all reject the Mayor's budget proposal and fully fund our pilot for a non-police, non-carceral, community-based mental health crisis response model at $4 million. I want to share a personal account that has stayed with me of a moment where having a crisis response like our model would have resulted in a better outcome. As a trigger warning, I will be talking about forced hospitalization. I was at the emergency room when I witnessed a black young person being sectioned and sedated against their will.

The grotesque and racist remarks that BPD officers and hospital guards were making about them were unfathomable and inhumane. Words that should never be directed at anyone experiencing a crisis. They were not a threat. They were a child trying to escape from fear. I ask you, imagine if that were your child or family member being treated as their pain made them dangerous. These are not people we want caring for our young people. Our youth deserve to be handled with care. They deserve to be poured into by folks who look like them, who have the same lived experiences, and who will meet them with compassion rather than contempt. As community groups, we are well acquainted with attempts to put us against one another, to force us to compete for scraps from the city. We refuse to fall into that trap.

We understand that the Mayor's proposed 2027 budget, which cuts and underfunds youth jobs, housing, the Office of Food Justice, and the Office of Immigrant Advancement, among others, will only deepen the mental health challenges our communities already face on the day-to-day basis. The narrative of scarcity is false. The money exists to fund community needs. If the mayor and the Boston City Council choose to build a different budget, we urge this council to do exactly that, to fight for a budget that breaks, from the mayor's proposal that centers community needs and that includes full funding at $4 million for the community-led mental health crisis response model. Our people are counting on you to make the right choice. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Sam, you're like five pages away, but...

Sorry, we just have three more people.

No, no, sorry. So I've just... I've got Prophet... Prophet, McCorder, Jafari, Cesar, Averell, Carmine, and Malcolm Sherman Godfrey. I don't know if they're here. No? Okay. Let me cross them off. I don't know if people are here. Okay. Okay, Averill, you're up. And then Sam, after that.

Oh, boy. Wow, what a night. Okay, are we good?

Yes, whenever you're ready.

Thanks. I walked in here with no speech, nothing prepared at all. I wanted to listen, to hear voices. And what I'm hearing is, wow, Wu really failed our youth. I'm speechless to all of it, but I'm very, very touched and overwhelmed by the voices of the youth here sharing that these jobs that are provided by the city Save their lives. So hearing that she has a raise from, what, $43,000 to $250,000, All these cuts, yet she's getting a raise. Flynn, and Councilor Murphy.

They stepped up and said, we don't want our raises if you're going to cut the funding for some of these things that are needed. Bravo. Thank you. That's setting a standard. Boy, I wrote down so many. Okay, the foundation of cities. Okay, I might not be in the right place to say this, but... The foundations is safety and quality of life in any type of place that you're going to live and that means, you know, it's the police, the firefighters, the EMS, and then we need services for our youth and services for our elderly. Why are we having any of these cuts? We have a rainy day resources. We have, what is it, 1.7 billion? For emergencies, I think we're kind of having a little bit of an emergency here with the voices that are saying that they don't even feel safe with their police officers.

I'm hearing defund the police and I'm over here shocked. Oh, really? Already two minutes? Well, it's disheartening. In this Boston People's Response Program, I've never heard of it. I support that. If the Boston Police is not something that even our youth is feeling secure enough to even call 911. But the defunding police, I'm sorry, I support my police officers. I came here and testified before to support them. We need more. And it's also disheartening. to hear that youth don't even want to look into being police officers here in Boston. We actually need more. All right, I'm good.

Okay, sorry, the buzzer went off.

I will say that the transparency about opening the counselor meetings, I'm for that too.

Okay, thank you. So I've got Sam Pierce.

We're Boston, we can do better.

Okay, thanks. Sam Pierce, Carmen Allen. and then we'll go back to people's response.

Good evening. It is now 10 o'clock in the evening and the reason I stayed this long is because I felt like it was important to make sure that all of this was on the record. We do have over 18,000 unsolved homicides One of which was a friend of mine who was murdered back in 2024 and the police still have not solved his murder and yet they're asking for more money. I want to really make and set the record straight that we need people in the birthplace of America that have a backbone on the city council. We need people that are going to reject the 2027 budget freeze the 2026 budget and do a post-audit to figure out what happened to the $5 billion that they got in ARPA money from 2021 to 2026.

This is the same council that sent a home rule petition to stop black people in Roxbury from being able to vote. And now, black people have lost the right to vote by the US Supreme Court. 1.7 million is not just the President's slush fund. That's supposed to be our BPS budget. And I want to know What exactly is going to be happening to our money if we don't freeze the budget? Because I feel like people are literally blatantly stealing. Several state police officers were brought to prison for stealing in overtime. How are we gonna pull our pants up and act like adults and actually address this budget like we're supposed to? I think it is absolutely absurd. that the people in Brighton do not have a community center. I think we need to start making some tough choices and understand that if this is supposed to be the healthcare capital of the world,

Then the city of Boston should have a hospital again. Mass General employs over 18,000 people. They have a budget themselves, just the hospital, of over $3 billion. It is time that we start being fiscally responsible and in closing all I would just say is that we currently do not have any CSO officers for the EMS or the fire department which would de-escalate a lot of the confrontations that some of the police are dealing with.

Thank you.

Chairman Weber, rest of the city council. I've spoken before with a different hair color. Because I'm lifing. Because I'm lifing. And I'm one of the fabulous senior citizens in your district. I don't know if you all remember, I told you I was spending 60% of my income on rent at the Forbes building. I'm a member of the steering committee for the Forbes building in Jamaica Plain. I've also just recently been elected to the secretary position for the National Alliance of HUD Tenants. Staff by the Mass Alliance of Head Tenants. So it's unfortunate that we're having these cuts happen. In order to... I'm not going to be able to do that.

As a matter of fact, I may be homeless by Sunday. So I urge you to... We store the $2 million for the rest of the people that are here. I don't have a voucher or anything. I'm doing the best I can. My savings are depleted now, though. So the Office of Housing Stability and the Mass Homeless Organization have been trying to assist me, but It's not going to happen. As far as I'm concerned, there's just not any time. I'm supposed to be a part of the Shore Up program, which is supposed to keep seniors from being displaced. But it's a pilot program, and they've only been funded by like $200,000. So I'm competing with other families across the city.

I thank you for your time. and I hope that you listen to what I'm saying and take that into consideration, not just the youth, but as seniors too. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, back to the people's response. Just tell me your name first. Wake up, okay.

Good evening, my name is Nayoung. I'm 30 years old, and I'm a full-time psychotherapist and a Boston resident. I reside in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in District 3 on Pawtucket land, and I'm a proud community organizer with this campaign. We are asking city councilors to reject the mayor's current proposed budget and then add $4 million for the final 2027 budget for the implementation of the non-police, non-carceral, community-led mental health crisis response model pilot. My clients should have the option to explore warm lines and interventions outside of the carceral system and have access to multiple options. As a psychotherapist and clinical social worker who holds the title of mandated reporter, I fully believe that what people need are community, connection, regrounding, and not law enforcement. I strongly believe this model to be an asset in the community once implemented as this will allow people to access a system of care that's tangible, responsive, local, and community driven.

To address the concerns about the safety of responders, I want to directly name that less than 5% of people experiencing a mental health crisis perpetuate physical violence of any kind. Let's first talk about the violence of unaffordable housing, anti-black police violence, homelessness, wealth disparities, and segregated neighborhoods in Boston first. Let's talk about the violence of youth jobs being cut first. and adding an additional couple million to the police budget first. What point is there to discuss the threat of violence when people are being violated every day? And I believe in this community's ability to create an infrastructure and systems that can address any potential threats to responder safety. In my experience both living with people in a DV crisis and mental health crisis, a local third party intervention that's in person and not a hotline would have made a monumental difference in not just supporting the person experiencing the crisis, but also me and others who are witness and didn't have the support and groundings to know what to do.

A third party without weapons and knowledge about the community and someone who's trained in peer support to help ground and respond was needed. It's also about holding people that we've lost. whether Saeed Faisal in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sonia Massey in Springfield, Illinois, or other Korean Americans just like me from Koreatown, LA, Yongyang, and Victoria Lee from Fort Lee, New Jersey. Rest in peace to the lives senselessly lost in a moment where they needed connection and support. We need alternatives, not more police, not more prisons, not more systems that don't affirm agency and humanity. $4 million is absolutely nothing compared to Mayor Wu's recent allocation of more than $480 million for police. The research proves it, our lived experience proves it, that we need alternatives. Black Bostonians, disabled Bostonians, LGBTQ plus Bostonians, immigrant Bostonians,

Unhoused Bostonians, Bostonians of color deserve this and deserve to have their humanity, safety, and concerns about their fears and wishes affirmed and responded to. Thank you.

Hi, good evening. My name is Billy, and I work at the Asian American Resource Workshop in Fields Corner, heart of Boston Little Saigon, not only as a youth worker, but also as an immigrant rights organizer. I'm testifying today to ask city councilors, as many have noted here, to support BPR, but we know that the BPD and federal immigration agencies work together, despite Mayor Wu saying otherwise, to surveil and police our immigrant neighbors. Today I want to share the story of Emmanuel Dalmas today and how BPR could have saved his life, which the Dorchester Reporter reported on a few months ago. His story represents how immigrant mental health is criminalized and funneled into the prison to deportation pipeline. It was at a small family gallery in Dorchester in early September, worried neighbors had called police for a safety check on a family member from the home. Police arrived and the situation seemed to be resolved, but a misunderstanding led to a sudden escalation and officers arrested Damas at the scene for an alleged domestic assault charge.

As his family went to bail him out, he never came out. What happened after? Within hours of entering BPD custody, Emmanuel was transferred to ICE custody. Boston is supposed to be a sanctuary city, but the instantaneous sharing of fingerprint data with multiple federal law enforcement agencies created collaboration with ICE. He passed away this early spring because of a toothache that led to severe medical attention that ICE ignored. If BPR were to exist, BPR is a tool and resource to disrupt the prison deportation pipeline. Emmanuel should still be here. BPR could have saved his life. We can't just talk about how our immigrant neighbors must be protected. We need to put money where their words are to actually protect our immigrant neighbors, now with the Office of Immigrant Advancement being. We can't just show up to immigrant communities and say you support them and not support their everyday realities. We have many families that we work with that are stuck in ICE detention because of this, and there's no way out, and they're at risk of being deported.

The City Council has power to reinvest in our communities who live the legacies of American intervention in their homelands. Investing in BPR is accountability for our immigrants and refugees. Thank you.

Thank you, Billy. Good evening, city councilors. My name is Hossain Rizvi, and I use they, them pronouns. I'm a resident of Dorchester in District 3. For the past three years, I've been a program director and youth worker at the City School, an organization in Upham's Corner dedicated to the development of youth organizers. I am also a steering committee member for the Boston People's Response, here to close out our remarks for this evening. Thank you for all of the BPR members and member leaders who just testified. We are demanding to reject the budget and then file an amendment to include $4 million for the Boston People's Response. I am also demanding for the restoration of youth jobs, school year youth jobs funding specifically. When I was 17, my youth job at the city school was the only safe place that I had as a young trans Muslim, and it allowed me to see the power I had to organize and change the conditions I saw around me.

We've just heard the stories of BPS students, young people and youth workers, therapists and clinicians, teachers and librarians, and program directors on why we need this program so intensely. As my colleague Star said in a past budget hearing, our crises are treated as crimes. As youth workers, we have seen how young people and adults abused by their families or partners are arrested by police in the aftermath of crisis. We have seen how people struggling with mental health are killed by the police services meant to save them. The current services we have available are deeply feared and distrusted. DCF, The Best Team, hospitals, the police, and by extension, their well-funded connections to ICE and the FBI. BPR can respond to these crises without exacerbating harm at a fraction of the cost that it currently takes. We deserve consensual care from familiar faces. We deserve a city that doesn't keep inflating the police budget and cutting lifesaving programs.

We deserve political leadership that keeps their promises and fights even the mayor to protect our funding. Stop the cuts. Fund us or fail us.

Okay, thank you. Okay, is that... Amy, is that it from, okay. Well, again, thank you very much for the people's response and your really thoughtful comments. So we have some other folks here in the room. I'm just gonna, I have Sam Cooper. Katie, Kate Wenke, Athea, I think Fustein, Mia Hills.

Athea left.

Okay, okay, yeah. Eric Van Zant, Sasha O'Pilcher, I think testified, Megan Cruz, Tate Gerain, Franklin, I think, and so If I've called your name, come up and testify. If I haven't called your name, honestly, and you're here to testify, please get in line and you'll just go in the order that you're in line. I apologize. Reaching the end here. Okay, so whenever you're ready. And please tell me your name, where you live, if you're here with an organization.

Good evening and thank you for taking the time to listen today. My name is Sam Cooper and I'm a resident of Austin, Brighton where I've lived for four years. I'm a member of the Boston Democratic Socialists of America and I also help run the Alston Brighton Food Train, a mutual aid grocery access network that serves families across our neighborhood. I'm here today with neighbors who care about this community and we are demanding that the city make a real funded commitment to rebuilding the Jackson-Mann Community Center. Alston Brighton is the second largest neighborhood in this city and one of the most diverse. Jackson Man is the only BCYF community center our neighborhood has and for decades the city has known it is crumbling. The Jackson Man K-8 school was closed because the building had gotten so bad it was literally physically unsafe for children. The community center was kept open, barely, with the bare minimum of programming.

We have been underfunded and neglected for a long time, and the reason given, when a reason is given at all, is that Alston Brighton is a neighborhood of transients that will move on so we're not worth investing in. I have lived in Alston as a working professional for four years and I'm not going anywhere. And neither are the seniors I serve at the food pantry, the families I deliver groceries to, or the children growing up in the neighborhood right now who deserve the same city investment It is the responsibility of the government to serve the people, yet what we've seen from the city budget this year is a clear pattern of disinvestment in Boston's communities. This budget cuts funding for youth jobs, it cuts libraries, it cuts schools, and somehow increases the police budget? A crumbling community center and cuts to schools and libraries and youth employment are a reflection of the mayor's priorities. They are not a reflection of ours. Stand up for us and reject the mayor's budget. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. We're just gonna go right, left, so. Should I go ahead? To your left, yep.

Hi everyone, my name is Amrita Dhani, I'm a resident of JP, and I'm a middle school ESL teacher at English High School. Yes, English High School. I came here today after three hours of professional development where we were planning for what we're gonna do next year with our students. But because of the budget cuts, my position was cut. I'm not going to be back to support my students next year who are immigrant students, seventh and eighth graders. I won't get to say hi to them in the hallway or see them grow every day. I'm speaking today in solidarity with everyone who's been demanding a people's budget in this city and I'm here to demand that you restore you reverse the cuts to positions in Boston Public Schools Using every tool you have at your disposal, including a supplemental appropriation to restore funding to the district. Restore the positions of paras and teachers and social workers and counselors that make our schools run. Working people are under attack today. Immigrants are under attack. The cost of living is rising every single day, and yet,

The State House is pulling in billions of dollars above their projections because the rich, they're doing great. The ultra-rich are doing just fine in this state and in this city. Most of them live in this city, by the way, the billionaires. and in fact, starting today in the city, Andreessen Horowitz, which is a venture capital firm that manages $100 billion in assets, and is accelerating AI job displacement in search of more profits is holding a tech week in Boston starting today. They're seeing our quote-unquote innovation economy is on the rise. So why is there never enough money for the funding the people's needs in this city? For some reason, no matter who is in the White House or who is in the mayor's office, the wealth of our country, our state, and our city does not go to meet our needs. It's always austerity. It's austerity when the stock market goes up, and it's austerity when the stock market goes down. and working people pay the price, whether it's cuts to youth jobs, cuts to housing or cuts to our schools.

Public education is something that our communities have had to fight for Many times before, it is under attack today at all levels. So you have to ask yourself, which side are you on? Are you on the side of the people or are you on the side of the billionaires? It really is that simple. The money is there for you to fix this budget. So you just have to decide what side you're on. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Kate. I'm a community member and organizer in Alston-Brighton. Like Sam said, we're the second largest neighborhood in the city, and we have 85,000 residents. But we only have a small part of one community center. the condemned and crumbling Jackson man. I moved to Alston-Brayen as I was finishing college. I was the exact transient population that you all are imagining when you debate whether we get funding. I stayed because I found my community. Because we didn't have an open community center, I found my community by hosting crafting events in a pizza shop. People like me want to stay in Austin-Brighton. The Mayor's budget will continue to push us out of the neighborhood we love. And you all will continue to believe that we don't deserve more funding because we move to better supported places when we want to put down roots.

For decades, the city of Boston has promised to maintain the Jackson Man. And for decades, the city has broken those promises. Two years ago, City Council hosted a meeting with the community at the Jackson Man. We made ourselves clear two years ago and we're making ourselves clear now We need a community center. We need a timeline for design and construction and we need the funding to accomplish it. and all of you, it's your responsibility to give that to us because we're the only community in the entire city that doesn't have a fully functioning community center. That's on y'all.

Good evening, Councillors. Can you hear me okay?

Yeah, just closer to the mic.

Gotcha. Good evening, Councillors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Colin DeRoche, and I chose to speak tonight because I feel a moral obligation to my fellow Bay Staters Especially our youth. I study at UMass Boston, work at Urgent Care treating Bostonian patients, I'm an Army veteran, and I'm in the healthiest relationship of my life with a wonderful man who immigrated here from Columbia. I speak because the consequences of decisions made in our capital ripple throughout the state. My time in the Army taught me a lot. Despite being overwhelmingly conservative, active military service is ironically a case study in the success of social programs. Service provided access to healthcare, both physical and mental, job security, stable housing, and food security.

And I think it's tragic that the only way to earn these resources is to sign a blank check to a government full of people who have the luxury of never having to make that commitment. When my contract ended, I chose to return to Massachusetts despite its exorbitant cost of living, a fact none of us would dare to deny. I returned because I believe that the long-term gain from investments in public education, affordable housing, public transit, employment opportunities, and accessible healthcare often outweigh the initial costs. I want to point out that these people here tonight are not asking for a handout. They're asking for an opportunity. The opportunity to work, to improve their lives, and to build up their communities. Law enforcement are part of those communities, we know. They belong to the BIPOC and LGBTQ communities, and some of their children belong to the same, which means they will also benefit from the programs we're fighting for.

Mayor Wu is allotting additional funds to boost the police department budget, but this is like bailing a boat without fixing the leaks. If you want the best for the police, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Public Schools, Bostonian BIPOC, LGBTQ, for all of Boston, fund the pillars of society that endure over time.

Thank you. So it looks like we have one more person in person, and then we've got one person online and a video.

All right, thank you, Chair Weber, and through you to the committee. My name is Simon Alcindor, and I'm a rising sophomore at Suffolk University. And I think it's... It's already been made clear why cutting funding for schools and youth services is bad. And it should not take students marching and occupying the streets to demonstrate this. It should not take people here testifying for hours for it to be clear why they should be rejected. Each and every one of the city councillors in this room and watching later were elected to avoid the need for that. The budget should have been rejected upon consideration as soon as it was clear that we were not only reducing funding for our youth who were disproportionately but instead giving it to the same police who disproportionately harm our most vulnerable and kill people in the streets. It should be self-evident why that is a bad thing. and I know on each and every one of y'all's campaign materials, whether it was at the top or not, with a promise to improve our schools and to help our youth.

By refusing to reject this budget, you are showing you are only interested in saying these things to gain trust, not to truly help the people. To conclude, I'd like to note one thing to the city councilors and to the youths and city councilors and our elected officials watching this. For the youth, you only need to be 18 to run for most elected positions, including the city council. And you can and should run for them. And to the city councilors, if you do not do the work to protect us, We will get each and every one of you out of this office at the ballot box.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Tasia Rain Franklin. I am a resident of Dorchester. I absolutely adore Boston. Thank you all so much for being here still, OK? I work at Boston Project Ministries, a nonprofit in Dorchester right around Common Square. I live right in Common Square and I'm an artist in the city who has been funded just for my first time this year to the Opportunity Fund Grant, which I know will be cut. I am grateful to say that, look, I don't want to tell you what to do. I want to just show you. These are my young people. These are the young people that I get to work with. I run a program at Boston Project Ministries called Artists in Action. I teach young people to use their voices, their talents, their gifts to stand up for things like this placement that they can see is happening. Our young people are moving house to house daily, I mean monthly, because parents are basically chasing what's cheap is rent.

And then we have young people falling off in school, education. There's not enough resources right now. You guys heard it all today. But honestly, when there's nothing else to do, all I know how to do is pray. I know that you all are not only having this in your own hands. Yes, it's also in the hands of the mayor. but truly from the bottom of my heart, I want to say a quick prayer for all of you as you go in and you fight for us. We elected you all to fight for us, so we're trusting you today to do that. So Lord, Thank you so much for these counselors that are before us. Thank you so much for this space that we as a community can stand here and testify to what we are asking them to do, for what their jobs have been to do, oh God. So Lord, we just pray over them that there will be a protection on them, that they'll become stronger, harder for what the people have elected them to do, oh Lord. But Lord, in their own midst, in their own time, may they feel comfort, may they feel peace. May they not be threatened by the words of the people, but may they be empowered by the words of the people to do the words that they said that they would do, O God.

So Lord, we pray for them. We pray that they will be They will be still, may they be know, O God. Lord, you say in your word that the young people are the strength, O God, and that by the old and gray hairs of the elders, that they should know that they are wise, that this should be their joy to be wise. So we pray now that all of you feel the joy of wisdom and go forth and be wise in this place. So thank you for being our Councilors of Boston and I'm so grateful to be a resident of this city. Thank you today.

Thank you very much. I think that wraps up our in-person testimony. We've got Casey on Zoom. Casey, if you're still there, you can hear us. You have to accept an invitation.

Okay, Casey, oh, no, Casey, you're there, if you can hear me, to unmute.

Can you hear me?

Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?

Oh, man. It's been hours.

Okay, thank you for sticking around. Whenever you're ready, you'll have two minutes.

All right, well, I'm going to try my best because it's almost 10.30. Everything I had to say, I forgot, you know? But I want to start by at least thanking you for being there. I was wondering where the rest of the city councils are. I can't see them. You know, so thank you for being there for the people. It's very impressive. Also, I want to just add to what all the youths are saying. is imperative for our city councils to listen to them. You understand? They are the next generation. I remember back in my time when Summer jobs made a difference in our lives because it motivates you, it builds your self-esteem, your dignity, and it promotes you to what you want to do in the future.

So taking the budget from them and from teachers is a no-no for me. Now, this mayor, this isn't the first time she tried to pull this type of thing, try to remove the school in the vocational school in Roxbury. I mean, this type of thing she's bringing up, the city council's got to. Say no. You have to say no to this. Now if we want to talk about budget, they need to put some budget money to make the roads to make it smoother for handicapped people, to put more homes for handicapped people, for veterans, for elderly. A lot of handicapped people are displaced, and most of them are veteran people. If we need to focus on budget, we need to put some budget money to these issues. Massachusetts has too many homeless people for no reason. Some people are homeless and going to work.

So we need to refocus. Our city councils need to listen to the people. You serve the people. Listen to us. Do not allow this budget to go through. It's ridiculous. It's outrageous. We need a mayor that can work for the people. She's not working for us right now.

Casey, I'm not sure you heard. The timer went off. If you could wrap up.

Okay. So what I'm saying is we are asking the city councils to deny the mayor's budget. and also to deny putting all the budget money, most of the budget money to the police department. We need to refocus. On the people, on the youths, on the teachers, on the issues we have in the city of Boston that is pertaining to the people's need. That's all I have to say.

Okay, thank you, Casey. If you can't see, Councilor Louijeune and Councilor Santana are here, and I'm here. I can't see them. I see Councilor Flynn. Councilor Flynn is also here.

Hello, Councilor Flynn.

Okay, okay, well thank you very much Casey, and it looks like we have a video to wrap up. This...

Okay, when... Just hit play.

Good evening, everyone. My name's Athena Wang, and I currently work as part of the Roxbury-Kent-Sub-Harvard Health and Wellness Peers. Over the past three years, this experience has had a profound impact on both my community and my personal growth. And because of that, I ask you to keep youth jobs as a priority in this year's budget cycle. Since I was in seventh grade, I've gained practical skills that many young people are expected to figure out on their own when they turn 18, such as financial literacy, professional work habits, and time management skills. These life skills not only make the transition into adulthood smoother, but also increase the employment opportunities by giving young people real world experience. Beyond professional development, this work has given me something greater. Purpose and community. It has provided me with a supportive environment where like-minded, passionate youth can connect and work towards issues affecting our neighborhoods.

These memorable experiences of presenting and advocating have taught me to engage in my community and to make a tangible impact. Programs like the RTH and other SuccessLink funded opportunities create essential spaces for youth to be engaged in advocacy and for their voice to be heard, driving meaningful change in communities across Boston. These youth jobs shape future capable, confident, and successful adults. And because of this, I strongly urge you to keep youth jobs as a priority in the FY27 budget. Investing in young people is an investment in the future of Boston. Thank you so much for your time and consideration

Okay, thank you very much. I just want to thank everyone who showed up and testified and submitted videos and showed up online. I want to thank central staff for keeping us going this whole time. I want to thank my colleagues for Sticking with me and everyone else throughout this. We have two budget hearings tomorrow, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, a little extra budget. budget hearing for us, two of them. But I just want to thank all my colleagues for this. I look forward to doing the hard work with you as we get to get this budget process wrapped up. Again, thank you very much and this hearing is now adjourned.