Alanna Marie Mallon
2021 Candidate for Cambridge City Council
Home address:
3 Maple Ave.
Cambridge, MA
02139
Contact information:
website: https://alannamallon.org
Twitter: twitter.com/Ammallon
Facebook: facebook.com/alannamallonforcitycouncil
Send contributions to:
https://alannamallon.org/donate
Alanna Mallon is currently serving her second term on the Cambridge City Council and honored to be serving her first as Vice Mayor.
Born and raised in Brockton, she has proudly called Cambridge her home since moving here in the summer of 2004. Alanna and her husband have two children, a junior at CRLS and an eight grader at Vassal Lane Upper School, and Alanna’s experiences as an active participant in her children’s education in Cambridge Public Schools were the catalyst to her civic engagement in Cambridge.
In 2013, Alanna founded the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program, organizing a unique way to not only address the hunger pains of these vulnerable students, but also establish strong relationships with their families and connect them to other vital community resources. Through this effort, 70,000 meals were delivered to students who would have otherwise lost important nutrition. During her time serving as the Education Liaison to Mayor David Maher in 2015-2016, Alanna experienced first-hand how dedicated public service combined with strategic public policy can be an effective tool for positive change. Since January of 2016, Alanna has worked at Food for Free, working closely on issues surrounding food insecurity for low-income communities across the Greater Boston area.
These public service experiences allowed Alanna to ‘hit the ground running’ when she first took office as a City Councillor in January 2018. Building broad coalitions of support for meaningful solutions to the complex, deeply intertwined challenges facing our residents has been a natural extension of her previous work.
This has enabled her to become an effective leader in municipal government as she tackles the issues most impacting our community.
Alanna’s top priorities are:
- Addressing COVID-19: Alanna has worked closely with City leadership since the pandemic first hit in March of 2020 to find creative solutions to protect public health and fill in resource gaps across Cambridge. She advocated for expanded, flexible COVID-19 testing for all residents, while leading efforts with Mayor Siddiqui to create financial assistance and relief programs for local small businesses, non-profits, and Arts organizations, helping them stay afloat during unprecedented levels of economic depression. When schools closed, she coordinated public meal sites to ensure no child went hungry, serving 70,000 meals in just the first three months, while facilitating book and child-sized mask giveaways, and advocating for City-funded at-home Internet plans to bridge the digital divide. By organizing a group of volunteers to secure vaccination appointments for the most vulnerable members of our community, she addresses the short-term public health needs of our community, while continuing to envision long-term efforts to bring vaccines directly to hard-hit neighborhoods.
- Ending Hunger & Poverty in Cambridge: Poverty alleviation is an issue close to Alanna’s heart and is a central part of every policy decision she makes. She has championed several initiatives to promote food security, including expanded access to free summer food sites, and hot breakfast every day for all CPS students regardless of family income. Alanna advocated for a Children’s Savings Account program, helping families build savings for post-secondary education, and is currently leading efforts to close the “SNAP Gap” in Cambridge and implement universal Pre-K. Alongside Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor McGovern, and non-profit partners, Alanna used her firsthand experience having been raised by a single mom to develop Cambridge RISE, the first guaranteed income pilot in New England, to directly support low-income single caregivers with monthly, no-strings-attached $500 payments.
- Public Safety: A long-time advocate of public safety reform, Alanna secured millions of dollars for desperately needed firehouse upgrades. To enhance diversity and Cambridge-residency within our police and fire departments, she also played a key role in re-establishing the Police Cadet Program and creating the Fire Cadet Program, offering young Cambridge residents a meaningful public service opportunity. Recognizing the need to shift funding to community partners to reduce recidivism, Alanna led the charge to hire a Cambridge ROCA outreach worker to help formerly incarcerated residents move away from the criminal justice system. She later amped up her efforts to start the discussion on developing an alternative co-response model and remains committed to ensuring public safety feels safe to everyone.
- Helping Small Businesses: One of Alanna’s very first efforts after joining the City Council was establishing a Business Improvement District (BID) in Central Square to make it a cleaner, safer, and more welcoming retail environment for our residents. As the current Chair of the Economic Development and University Relations Committee, Alanna championed an update to the zoning table of land use that reduces the time, cost, and stress associated with opening a small business, advocated for a Spending Disparity Study to uncover inequities in City purchasing, and supported expanded outdoor dining with efforts. Now, she is working to address vacant storefronts, advance workforce development opportunities, and reduce license and permit fees.
- The Arts: Having chaired the Mayor’s Arts Task Force, Alanna worked with leaders from the Central Square Cultural District to develop recommendations that have led to millions of dollars in investment in our local creative economy. Recognizing how the Arts are a central economic driving force, she also brought together the City’s Economic Development Division, the Office of Tourism, and the Arts Council to coordinate efforts. By advocating for City funding for Starlight Square, an outdoor placemaking and performance venue in the heart of Central Square, Alanna helped give Arts organizations a platform to continue their work, while ensuring residents had free opportunities to lift their spirits. Partnering with the Cambridge Community Foundation and Mayor Siddiqui, Alanna worked on creating two emergency relief grant funds to help support struggling artists and Arts organizations in Cambridge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first was an Artists relief grant in the early days of the shutdown, which distributed over $260,000 to artists. The second was a Cultural Capital Fund, and its $600,000 in COVID-related grants for Arts organizations ensured our cultural economy survived immediate economic devastation, while having a long-term goal of raising $5,000,000 to secure the future of our artists and our arts organizations.
- Make Housing Affordable: A staunch supporter of the Affordable Housing Overlay, Alanna worked closely with affordable housing developers to fine tune the petition to maximize its impact, while incorporating suggestions from community stakeholders. More broadly, she advocated for equitable affordable home ownership opportunities, and for leveraging City-owned vacant lots to construct affordable housing. Looking ahead, she is focused on reforming overly restrictive zoning, like the ban on multi-family homes, and addressing the continued impact of redlining.
As Vice Mayor, Alanna is committed to empowering our community, and ensuring Cambridge is a welcoming, responsive place to all. She is honored to serve the residents of Cambridge and looks forward to continuing to develop innovative ways to make our City the best it can be.
CCTV Candidate Video (2021) 2021 MCNA Candidate Forum (Mallon)