Candidate for Boston City Council District 7 Tania Anderson today announced that her campaign has been endorsed by Representative Ayanna Pressley. Anderson won the preliminary election by nearly 800 votes, and would be the first Muslim and first African immigrant to serve on the Boston City Council if she prevails on November 2nd.
In a statement endorsing Anderson, U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley said: “Tania is a trailblazer. She is an advocate. She is a community builder. She has devoted her life to supporting and uplifting the residents of D7. Tania will bring all of her experience — as a peer counselor for survivors of sexual violence; as a mother, foster mother, and parent advocate; as the Executive Director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets — to the Boston City Council, and will ensure that the voices of every D7 resident and community have a champion in City Hall.”
“Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley represents our communities with moral clarity and courage in Congress, and I am deeply humbled by her endorsement,” Anderson said. “I look forward to working with Congresswoman Pressley to build an economy that guarantees affordable housing, quality education, healthcare for all, equitable development, and good paying jobs for all people in District 7.”
With her varied lived experience, versatile work history, and vibrant personality, Tania Anderson is an imposing presence in her community. Tania, born in Cape Verde, West Africa, has called the City of Boston home since the tender age of ten. While faced with the daunting fears of deportation as an undocumented American, Anderson became a central provider for her family, often doing yeoman like labor during nights and weekends while attending school during the day. Her initial employment was as a Peer Counselor for survivors of sexual assault and rape at the esteemed Roxbury Multi-Service Center. Anderson’s dogged determination paid off, as she graduated from the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, and she continued her pedagogical journey at Springfield College, where, as a single mother, she pursued her studies, and worked full time. Anderson engaged in a variety of essential work, including being a parent advocate in the Boston Public Schools, a program manager for a homeless women’s shelter, and a child social worker. Furthermore, in the midst of this flurry of activity, she found the time, will, and stamina to foster seventeen children over the course of ten years while also raising her two biological children.
With this formidable work history and personal experience behind her, Anderson forged on, founding Noah’s Advocate, where she brought deeply needed, trauma informed, mental health services to her community. With a rare empathy and energy, she created a non-profit to support and service at-risk youth through the aegis of theatre, fashion, and art. Her singularly spectacular productions routinely sell out the historical confines of the Strand Theatre in Dorchester. Today, Anderson is the incredibly proud mother of a Marine and an aspiring artist. Furthermore, she is currently the Executive Director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets, where she supports and promotes the excellent and eclectic small businesses that contribute to her community.
Her life’s work, incorporating stints as a non-profit executive, mental health provider, and community activist, has been in the service of fighting for people marginalized and oppressed by systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, and class inequality. As a proud member of the working class, Anderson entered this race to fight for working families in City Hall. Her campaign is focused on platforming the policies and positions that, if implemented, will provide working Bostonians of all backgrounds with the things we all need; affordable housing, quality education, equitable development, and good paying, worthwhile employment.
She has been endorsed by State Representative Liz Miranda, Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia, Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, Boston City Councilor Kenzie Bok, Former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, and groups like SEIU 32BJ, SEIU 509, UAW Region 9A, Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 534, the Greater Boston Building Trades Council, and Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts.
District 7 covers parts of Roxbury, Dorchester, South End, and Fenway.