Vote Naima Sait for Somerville Ward 5 City Councilor on November 7th!
Hello!
Naima is a long-time Somerville resident and educator, an Algerian immigrant, and a mother. As a Somerville High School teacher for the last seven years, she sees the issues in our schools as symptoms of broader issues in our city.
Meet Naima
My name is Naima Sait. I am running for Ward 5 Somerville City Council. I am a first-generation immigrant from Algeria, a mother, a long-time Somerville resident and educator. I speak four languages – English, French, Arabic and Tamazighrt, the native language of indigenous people in North Africa. I have lived in Somerville for almost 10 years, first as a renter and now as a homeowner. Somerville is the community that welcomed me as a first-generation immigrant. It’s the place where I had the opportunity to serve the community as an educator for 7 years at Somerville High School and today it's the place where I am raising my child.
In my years teaching, I saw that a lot of the issues playing out in our schools are issues we are dealing with as a broader community: affordable housing, sustainable infrastructure, mental health and language access. I am running because as an educator working in the community, I have been seeing and hearing about the daily effects of the housing crisis and the state of the municipal infrastructure on our residents, about how the pandemic and its aftermath have been affecting people’s mental health and I have been hearing from our most vulnerable populations on the importance of having translation and interpretation services. I have organized with other Somerville educators on the 10% school budget increase and living wage for teachers’ aides, also called paraprofessionals.
As an educator and a community member, I have also been involved in organizing around climate change and environmental justice. I helped push for more sustainable modes of transportation that allowed teachers to have access to reduced MBTA fares and Blue Bike passes. I led efforts to make Somerville the first school district in Massachusetts to implement a climate change curriculum in all grades and subjects. This will help prepare our youth for the high-skill green jobs of the future. I worked with the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association’s Climate Action Network on helping unions in Massachusetts advocate for climate change education and climate resilient schools. I worked with students in MA and Somerville Sunrise Youth members to develop strategies to advocate around climate policy.
I am eager to serve the community as a City Councilor, where I will have an opportunity to work together with you to build the Somerville we want. We should put our growing prosperity to work for all of us, including long-term residents who want to stay in their home, and new young people and immigrants wishing to settle down here. We should use our naturally close-knit neighborhoods to create a truly livable city, with safe streets, a clean environment, and a lively cultural scene.
I believe my commitment to Somerville and my lived experience – as a first-generation immigrant, an educator, a mother and a community member – make me a good candidate for Ward 5 City Councilor.