Sumbul Siddiqui for City Council, 2017
Siddiqui moved to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan, at the age of 2 with her parents and twin brother. Her family won a lottery to enter Cambridge’s affordable housing system, which placed them in Rindge Towers in North Cambridge and then in Roosevelt Towers in East Cambridge. Siddiqui attended Cambridge Public Schools and graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.
As a high school student, Siddiqui was elected student body president and co-founded the Cambridge Youth Involvement Subcommittee, now in its 15th year and called the Cambridge Youth Council. Her activism earned her a Cambridge Peace and Justice Award.
Siddiqui earned a degree in public policy and graduated with honors from Brown University. After college, she served as an AmeriCorps fellow at New Profit, a Boston nonprofit dedicated to improving social mobility for children, families and their communities, and earned a law degree from Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law. She returned home to Cambridge after graduation and is again active in the community. She serves on the boards of Cambridge School Volunteers and the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School Alumni Association and is a commissioner on the Human Services Commission.
She works at Northeast Legal Aid, a nonprofit legal services organization that provides free legal services to low-income and elderly people in northeastern Massachusetts. Siddiqui leads a practice helping low-income entrepreneurs with their small-business needs.
In addition, Siddiqui is a member of the Women’s Bar Association and the National Organization of Legal Services Workers-UAW Local 2320, and on the board of directors of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston.
Top priorities:
Affordable housing: As a lifelong resident of Cambridge who has grown up in public housing, this issue is of personal significance. My foremost goal as city councillor is to help plan for sustainable development that prioritizes socioeconomic diversity and affordable housing, and addresses displacement and social equity.
Economic development: Providing financial and technical support to small businesses and enhancing community development by advocating for affordable commercial space is a top goal. As a legal aid attorney to small businesses in developing communities in Lawrence and Lynn, I help small businesses facing challenging circumstances grow every day.
Civic engagement: One of my primary goals as a councillor is to promote broader civic engagement and improve the responsiveness of city government to each and every member of the community.
Excerpted from Scout Cambridge. Read the complete profile here.
Endorsements:
Cambridge Residents Alliance: “As an immigrant who grew up in public housing, she understands the importance of access to housing and jobs for vulnerable families trying to remain and thrive in the city. She proposes a new Office of Housing Stability to help individuals find and maintain housing in Cambridge, as well as scholarships and a local hiring program to help residents benefit from the innovation economy.”
Democratic Socialists of America
Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) General Construction Local 151
Massachusetts Voters for Animals
Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus
People For the American Way’s Next Up Victory Fund
Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 12
Nadeem Mazen, retiring city councillor
Siddiqui is another example of impressive homegrown talent – a product of Cambridge affordable housing and public education turned savvy professional, albeit one using her knowledge and skills to help the vulnerable rather than the powerful. She’s practiced the law and helped small businesses one-on-one, and now will hit the ground running to do the same for many at once, this time by passing legislation. This is a powerful candidate who says a lot about Cambridge as a community.
