Born in the Dominican Republic, City Councilor Julia Mejia arrived in the neighborhood of Dorchester when she was five years old. Raised by a single mother who was undocumented for most of her childhood, she was forced at an early age to speak up on behalf of her mother and others who felt ignored by the very institutions that were supposed to serve them. 

 

A proud graduate of the Boston Public schools, Julia was the first in her family to graduate high school and college and the first to purchase her own home in Boston. Driven by a lifelong pursuit of justice and equity, Councilor Mejia has created countless opportunities for others to step into their power and advocate for positive change. She created and led a civic engagement group focused on voter registration, is the founder of a nonprofit education network, and worked on national social justice campaigns as a producer for MTV.

 

Moved by a sense of urgency to uplift the voices of Bostonians who had been left out of the conversation time and time again, Julia announced her candidacy for City Councilor At-Large in November 2018. Following the 2019 election AND a historic two-month recount, Julia won her seat by a single vote and is now the first Afro-Latina to sit on the Boston City Council. Mejia is currently the Chair of the Committee on Civil Rights and the Committee of Small Business and Workforce Development.

 

Councilor Mejia is focused on influencing and inspiring constituents to be actively engaged in all areas of decision-making processes. Since assuming her role in January, Councilor Mejia and her office have executed a series of innovative COVID-related projects in response to the need of Boston’s hardest-hit constituents. Her office has created culturally responsive food access projects to support small businesses and feed our most vulnerable, as well as a COVID business readiness program to build capacity for Black, Brown, and immigrant-owned barbers and hairstylists. Her office has also designed and implemented a community-centered civic engagement model to address city-wide quality of life concerns and filed legislation to improve access and accountability in city government. Councilor Mejia was recently named Best City Politician 2020 by Boston Magazine.

 

We are putting power in the hands of the people because we know that nothing about us, without us, is for us.