This featured guest piece is an excerpt of our November 2023 newsletter.

Dear Colleagues:  

It’s hard to believe November is upon us, and yet, election season is here. In just a few days, communities across Massachusetts will hold local elections for Mayor, City or Town Council, and select board, to name a few. I hope you take the time to check your voter registration status. No matter who you vote for, make sure you get on out there and VOTE!  

I was first appointed to the Commission by Senate President Karen E. Spilka in November 2021. Over the years, I’ve seen us engage thousands of voters and future voters in sharing their concerns, policy impacts, and advocacy with their legislators.  

As the Vice-Chair of the MCSW’s Legislative and Public Policy Committee, I’m also very carefully tracking progress of our priority legislation in the Statehouse. We’re roughly halfway through the 2023-2024 193^rd General Court of the Massachusetts Legislature, and while the second half of any legislative cycle typically always sees the most activity, we’re seeing this powerhouse all-female corner office making MOVES. From home construction to historic preservation to affordable housing, The Healey Administration is making a major housing push from the Berkshires to Boston that the Governor herself calls “historic” and “urgent” to combat our housing crisis.  

But indeed as women, we do not lead single issue lives. Housing is just one aspect of the overall economic, social, and cultural well being of the people in our Commonwealth. Join our virtual housing hearing on Thursday, January 25^th, 2024 – our first event of the new year – and tell us what’s on your mind so we can be sure to incorporate the voices of real women facing real issues across this Commonwealth in our online messaging, our research reporting, and our legislative advocacy. As a result, the MCSW will continue to push its ambitious legislative agenda that crosses multiple sectors, issues, and priorities.  

That’s why we need you. Your input, your voices, and your experiences ultimately inform our 2023-2024 legislative priorities. Everything we do, from data collection in our regional districts to public hearings across the state is focused on listening to – and responding to – the needs of women. We seek to represent the incredible diversity of women across the Commonwealth in our advocacy. Learn more about our 2023-2024 Legislative Priorities here and register for our housing hearing here. 

In Solidarity,  

Guimel DeCarvalho, Natick 

Legislative & Public Policy Committee Vice-Chair 

Guimel speaks fluent Portuguese and lives in Natick with her wife and son. She is Wayside Youth & Family Support Network’s first Vice President of People and Culture and Chief Diversity Officer. Before her current role, Guimel was the Program Director for Wayside’s Framingham Family Networks and worked for the Department of Children and Family Services in Compton, California. In 2020 and 2023 she was named to the 50 Most Influential Business People of the Color list by Newton-Needham Metrowest Regional Chamber. Guimel cofounded Natick Is United, a community antiracist organization, and recently launched the Wayside Equity Training Center to provide antiracist trainings and strategic planning support for non-profits and community organizations.