Retaining talent in the Boston area is a topic of much discussion. Encouraging Boston’s leading civic institutions to be more inclusive is a good strategy to help ensure that tech entrepreneurs feel more welcome and won’t flee to New York or Silicon Valley (“To keep newcomers, promote a more welcoming civic life,” editorial, Feb. 25). This strategy parallels efforts in Boston’s neighborhoods to encourage newer residents to become rooted and committed community members and to keep long-term residents engaged and energized.
In a neighborhood too often defined by transience and turnover, the Allston Brighton Community Development Corp. believes that in order to build a stronger, more stable community, we must foster an environment where all residents feel welcome and empowered to participate in civic life. Our community engagement program helps to amplify voices for community leadership that bring diverse ideas and fresh engagement. By supporting residents in implementing their ideas for community improvement projects in their corner of the neighborhood, we are helping them strengthen ties among each other and to the community. If Boston’s next great civic or business leader is in fact sitting in Brighton right now “in jeans and flip-flops, dreaming of ways to shape the future,” we want her to know that the neighborhood shares and welcomes her dream.
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