Executive Summary
At the Special Events Presentation of the Cambridge City Council on October 5, 2026, city leadership and staff conducted the official lottery selection for Cambridge's first-ever Civic Assembly. Partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the sortition process randomly selected a 40-member representative panel (Panel 628) from more than 400 applicant households across all 13 neighborhoods. The Assembly will deliberate over four Saturday sessions between October 24 and December 5, 2026, to formulate policy recommendations for the City Council on the city's future use of public safety and surveillance technologies, including ShotSpotter gunshot detection and overnight park video surveillance.
Opening Remarks and Civic Assembly Overview
- Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui convened the event in the Sullivan Chamber, welcoming City Council colleagues and acknowledging city staff and academic partners from MIT and FIDE North America, including MIT faculty member Bailey Flanagan and PhD student Carmel Borahev.
- Mayor Siddiqui highlighted that the initiative marks the first municipal civic assembly in Massachusetts and one of the first in the nation, designed to explore deliberative, inclusive policymaking.
- City Manager Yi-An Huang and Director of Community Engagement Jackson Price addressed the Council, noting that the initiative advanced from Council authorization in August to member selection in under five months.
- The Assembly is tasked with reviewing whether, how, and under what conditions Cambridge should deploy public safety and surveillance technologies—specifically gunshot detection systems such as ShotSpotter and overnight park video surveillance—as well as proposing appropriate oversight and safeguard regulations.
Civic Lottery Methodology and Demographic Targets Presentation
- Director of Community Engagement Jackson Price reviewed the outreach and sortition methodology:
- Over 15,000 invitations were mailed to randomly selected Cambridge households the week of September 7, supplemented by targeted door-to-door outreach in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by gun violence (including The Port), alongside partnerships with local housing providers and nonprofits.
- More than 400 residents across all 13 Cambridge neighborhoods entered the lottery (approximately a 3% response rate), ranging in age from 16 to over 75.
- Using the sortition platform Panelot developed with MIT, applicant pools were stratified to reflect city demographics:
- Gender: Proportional to census data, with specific representation reserved for non-binary and other gender identities.
- Housing Status: Representative distribution encompassing homeowners, market-rate renters, subsidized housing renters, and individuals residing in permanent supportive housing.
- Lived Experience with Gun Violence: By deliberate policy design, 50% of the assembly seats were allocated to residents with lived experience of gun violence (15% direct personal experience, 18% through family or close relations, and 18% through neighborhood impact), with the remaining 50% allocated to residents without lived experience.
Lottery Selection of Panel 628 and Next Steps
- Mayor Siddiqui conducted the lottery drawing using three consecutive ball-selection machines, drawing digits in order:
- First digit: 6
- Second digit: 2
- Third digit: 8
- Drawing panel number 628 selected a specific 40-member demographic panel under the Panelot sortition system.
- The 40 selected panel members are identified by anonymous ID numbers. City staff will contact selected members directly to verify eligibility, confirm availability, and arrange necessary accommodations.
- An alternate pool will be maintained to fill vacancies while preserving the demographic balance if any primary participants cannot serve.
- The Assembly will convene for four biweekly Saturday sessions beginning October 24, 2026, and concluding December 5, 2026, with final recommendations submitted to the City Council by the end of the calendar year.