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ABOUT KEN
REEVES:
Kenneth E. Reeves ("Ken") is currently serving third term as
Mayor of Cambridge.
Also, his eighteenth year as a member of the Cambridge, Massachusetts
City Councilor. As an attorney, Ken is also a former Vice Mayor and
two-term Mayor of the City from 1992- 1995. Ken was the first African
American Mayor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the first
openly gay African American Mayor in the nation. This is also his sixth
year as a chairperson of the Cambridge
School committee.
If there are unifying themes of Ken's
work on behalf of the City over the past two decades, most worthy to note
include the celebration of diversity; and the building of strong, safe,
and healthy communities for young people and families. Much of his work
as an elected official has been bringing people together to work
cooperatively. This work has resulted in resolving numerous zoning
disputes, neighborhood issues, and interface issues between the City and
various business and educational institutions. Ken's list of accomplishments
during his tenure as Mayor is both diverse and extensive.
- Unifying Cambridge Public
School System to provide a comprehensive,
challenging curriculum for all students.
- Preserving Affordable Housing Options
in Cambridge.
More
. . .
- Tax structure, fighting for low tax
structure for Cambridge
home owners.
- Mayor Reeves is a leader in helping young
people with the college process and athletic scholarships.
- Co-chair of community, neighborhood, and
crime taskforce to study crimes and develop jobs for young people in
crisis.
- Leading down zoning efforts for Massachusetts Avenue
and a citywide Interim Planning Overlay district, which resulted in
a building moratorium throughout the City.
- Giving a voice and a platform to
established and new immigrant communities in the city. More
. . .
- Fostering greater inclusion of gay and
lesbian communities in the city. More
. . .
- Leading educational and youth development
efforts, Ken founded and led the Commissions on the ‘Potential
of Students’, ‘The High School of the 21 st Century’ and the ‘Commission on
Black Male Student Success’. More
. . .
- Leading the expansion of the
City’s Youth Centers. More
. . .
- Fostering historical and cultural
development and preservation, Ken established the Cambridge African
American Heritage Trail at 20 Cambridge sites important in the
progress of African American and the nation’s history. Ken
helped to found the W.E.B. DuBois Academy
and supported a citywide Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, a
Citywide Holocaust Remembrance, and fostered greater Cambridge
participation in the Greater Boston annual Gay Pride celebration. In
addition, he established the Cambridge
Community Chorus and launched the Cambridge Carribean
Carnival. For more on Ken's work in favor of community and his
support of preservationist and cultural activities, click
here.
Ken Reeves is a Cum Laude graduate of Harvard College
and a graduate of the University
of Michigan Law School.
Upon graduation from Harvard he received the Michael Clark Rockefeller
Fellowship through which he studied and traveled extensively in Africa. He has also spent a fellowship-sponsored
year in Stockholm, Sweden, studying social
welfare legislation. In 1997-1998 he held a M.I.T. Fellowship in the Department
of Urban Studies and Planning. He has completed executive programs at
Harvard’s J.F.K.
School of
Government. As an attorney he served as the Managing Attorney of the
General Motors/United Auto Workers Legal Plan and as an attorney
specializing in insurance, utility and banking regulations for the
National Consumer Law Center in Boston. He has also been in private
practice as a principal in the law firm Singleton, Reeves, Bowzer & Huggins.
His current and former
organizational affiliations include:
Museum of Afro-American History
Cambridge Community Arts Center
W.E.B. DuBois
Academy
Cambridge Community Chorus
Men of Color Against Aids
Concillio Hispano
Cambridge Multi Cultural Arts Center
Roxbury Childrens
Services
National Black College Alliance
National Black Lesbian & Gay
Leadership Forum
Massachusetts Halfway Houses, Inc.
Ken is a founder of Men of Color Against
AIDS (MOCAA) in Boston, the Men of Color Health Task Force in Cambridge,
and the Gay and Lesbian Elected Officials (GLBLO) Caucus of the National
League of Cities. . He is a member of Christ
Church, Episcopal in Cambridge where he
is involved in various social justice endeavors. He and his partner of 36
years, Greg Johnson, first met at Harvard College,
where they were roommates. Greg is a non-profit executive.
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