Dear Lincoln Wide and fellow residents, I'll start by admitting that I don't know all the answers to the important questions of how we can make people feel like they belong and how do we make sure we reach desired outcomes. As a member of the ARPA Working Group, I voted in favor of proposals from Lincoln Schools to fund a faculty residency to coach fellow teachers about AIDE issues and deeper learning, and from the Select Board to fund an IDEA consultant to help build our diversity program. I did this both because I agree these are important issues, but also because I believe we all need help in finding ways we should consider changing our processes and mindsets to accomplish these goals. I certainly do, and I look forward to hearing from these experts and on helping to find our path forward, regardless of whether I am elected or not.
I can also say that I personally believe that being welcoming is a key ingredient of any solution. I strive to make committees that I serve on be as welcoming as possible to new members and ideas, and especially as Chair, I try to make them be places where everyone feels comfortable participating, and everyone's voice will be heard. Not only does this make them as inclusive and diverse as possible, but it also leads us as a group towards the best ideas possible for our community as a whole. I'd be happy to champion this approach on other committees in Town as appropriate, not to mention encouraging other community groups in Town to do likewise. I am also in favor of doing our best to achieve more diversity in our staff hiring and committee recruiting processes. Under my tenure on the Finance Committee our recruiting team convinced a number of women to join the Committee so that we would have more of a gender balance there. Of course there are an abundance of talented women in Town, so this was not a heavy lift. However, with the recent tightness in the job markets and the busy nature of our lives these days, it can be a challenge to get ANY qualified candidates, not to mention diverse ones, so more generally this is not an easy challenge to manage, particularly regarding racial diversity. But we must try. We must welcome the talented and diverse potential candidates already residing in Lincoln to participate, and do our best to cultivate and encourage others outside out town. Such candidates won't apply, or move here, or join Town committees without our Town becoming a place where people of various identities feel welcome, valued, and included. I am also personally supportive of doing what we can to help improve the housing situation in our state. I served as a liaison to the Housing Commission for a year, and I am proud that Lincoln has a higher fraction of affordable housing than many of our peer towns. I would support further effort in this area, not simply to avoid undesirable Chapter 40B developments in Town, but to create more housing options for a diverse set of potential residents. But I completely agree with WIDE this is not just about creating more housing options. A few years back one of my previous employees, of Serbian descent, and his wife, who is Black, were considering moving to Lincoln. I encouraged them enthusiastically, since they are vibrant, personable and intelligent people with three charming children, who would make a great addition to our community. They are also very successful in business and could afford to live in Lincoln. Sadly they ended up picking Newton instead, informing me that although they loved our trails and open spaces, they did not see enough faces that resembled their own while visiting the Town to make them comfortable that their children would feel normal and accepted. I really would like to figure out how in some future scenario we could get those two to pick Lincoln instead. Sincerely, Jim Hutchinson From: Lincoln <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Adam M Hogue Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2022 1:08 PM To: Lincoln WIDE <[email protected]> Cc: Lincoln Talk <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] Statement from WIDE on Increasing Housing Options in Lincoln Dear WIDE and the Residents of Lincoln, First, I want to publicly state that I fully support WIDE and its current work. Whether I win this election or not, I look forward to this group's reports and recommendations to help make Lincoln a more welcoming town. I believe that it is important to have groups and commissions with different stakeholders in town to advise and make recommendations to the Board of Selects to update the policies and rules that need to be updated. By now, I think everyone knows my stance on housing: we need more and diverse housing so people can afford to live in our great town. In addition, I agree with WIDE that building more housing isn't the only solution and that more work needs to be done. If I am elected as the next member of the Board of Selects, one of my proposals is to advocate for more community events in town and to make these events free so that they are accessible to all. I believe building community through a wide variety of events would be beneficial for the town. I would also advocate to work with community partners like LincFam, the Schools, Churches, Lincoln Veterans Association, Council on Aging, and other organizations to help reach out to the various communities in our town. When planning these events, it is important to welcome people onto the planning committees so that we can have new and diverse ideas for these events. Growing up in Lowell, MA, the wide variety of community events helped bring various community stakeholders together and I think increasing these types of events in Lincoln would be beneficial. Also, I would look to invest in our town website and allow our town organizations to be on the website so people can seek out organizations they might be interested in so they can get involved. For new members of our community, I would support a welcome packet to new residents to showcase our town organizations and events, so newcomers feel welcomed to the community. Lastly, we must have great schools that serve all families. As a member of the School Committee, I have advocated for language in the school's AIDE policy to address the huge achievement gap between various subgroups in our district, as well as the hiring of an HR Director to recruit and retain diverse staff. I have also advocated for expanded preschool so every child has access to a quality education from the start. While housing, in my opinion, is the number 1 issue facing us currently, the work doesn't stop there, and we must continuously work to make everyone feel connected in Lincoln. While these conversations may be difficult at times, we can't shy away from them. Anyone that knows me knows that I will not shy away from having these difficult conversations. Please reach out to me if anyone would like further details. Adam M Hogue Candidate for Select Board Adam M Hogue Cell: (978) 828-6184 On Sat, Mar 19, 2022 at 2:21 PM Lincoln WIDE <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: We are intrigued to hear conversations in town about the need for housing diversity. We would like to contribute to this very important conversation by expanding the focus. Rather than narrow the question to: "How will we create access?" we are suggesting that we broaden our thinking and shift the question. We would like to ask: "How will we ensure that Lincoln becomes a place that diverse groups of people not only consider moving to, but where they ultimately feel part of the community and want to stay?" In other words, the focus should not only be on increasing housing options, but also on plans to shift the climate and culture of Lincoln in order to ensure that diverse populations (both new and current residents) feel valued in the community. For the candidates who are running for the Select Board we would like to hear: If you were to move into this role how do you plan to ensure that we not only attract and create access for diverse individuals (meaning a breadth of people who represent diverse races, genders, sexualites, abilities, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, socioeconomic statuses, ages and immigration statuses) but also to ensure that Lincoln shifts its culture to become a community where all residents feel a true sense of belonging? What tools and strategies will you use to be sure that the desired outcomes of your plan are met and that the needs of residents from historically marginalized populations are met? For everyone in LIncoln, if you would like to support this work: 1. Contact your Select Candidate of choice to ensure they have a plan and encourage them to communicate that plan more broadly. 2. Contact neighbors and discuss these ideas. 3. Contact friends to get the word out. 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