Open, Inclusive Government
To make Somerville more inclusive, Katjana’s administration
- Invested in all our residents, from youth to seniors and veterans, from renters to homeowners, from small business owners, to local artists
- Celebrate our diversity by supporting immigrant & LGBTQ+ rights
- Expanded our Language Justice and Access staffing to ensure language is not a barrier to accessing city services and civic life
- Created a new team of Community Health Workers, expanded our multi-lingual Equity Support Team, and we hired, for the first time, a social worker for our libraries
- Hired our first ever Digital Bridge Coordinator to build internet and device access as well as digital literacy for our most vulnerable neighborhoods. The fast pace of that work has already garnered Somerville recognition as a Digital Inclusion Trailblazer
- Began publishing in braille, with City’s first ever Braille embosser, began ADA upgrades for our city website, and installed dozens of accessible pedestrian crosswalk buttons.
- Created safer, more accessible, complete streets that prioritize our residents so they can move around Somerville safely instead of prioritizing commuters who are just driving through
- Raised many national flags at City Hall, to celebrate Somerville’s multicultural diversity, including for the first time, the flags of Brazil, Haiti, and Italy.
- And we’ve raised the first Disability Pride Flag ever in our city
