By Beth Treffeisen
Spark Boston, which acts as the voice of young adults here in Boston selected Amy Mahler as director to push it forward, activate more young people to join in the conversation and get more people involved in this particularly political tremulous time.
Spark Boston works to open up new lines of communication between millennials and leadership in City government. The organization works to engage young people to help set priorities, address city issues, and plan for Boston’s future.
Spark Boston was once ONEin3, which has worked to connect Boston’s young adults since 2004.
“It is an opportunity to start to create something that can help get people to the right fit in what they need,” said Mahler. “People ask me all the time: how can we get involved? What can we do about the EPA? What can we do about housing?”
Mahler hopes to use the platform of Spark Boston to get people connected to the services and the knowledge they need to make a difference in their lives and for others who are sharing similar concerns right here in Boston.
“We are a youthful brand,” said Mahler. “We hope to provide a lens of comfort for those who are uncertain in the political process.”
Mahler leads a council of 36 members that work together to be an advisor and ambassador to Mayor Martin Walsh. Spark Boston Council members work in groups to innovate and execute programming connecting millennials with opportunities to engage with city government and influence public policy decisions.
“The average person might know who their state representative is but not always how to connect with them,” said Mahler. “In the future we hope to create spaces to get people more proactively involved.”
This past Monday, April 24, Spark Boston hosted a Boston Civic Engagement Workshop at Boston City Hall. Today, Thursday, April 27, Spark Boston will be hosting a SPARK Social at Sam Adams Brewery with a free brewery tour and networking event.
During Mahler’s time at Boston City Hall, she has worked as the Mayor’s Liaison for the South End, the Bay Village, Allston and Brighton and most recently was the Policy Manager for Joyce Linehan.
Mahler said that as the Mayor’s Liaison she went out to meetings but ended up seeing the same faces over and over again. As director she hopes to get young people more involved because they will be living in Boston for years to come and should be the ones driving the landscape into the future.
“It’s my job to get the right information to people,” said Mahler. “It is so easy to get discouraged by everything from rising rents, long walks to work, and student loans… but the more clarification and information people have the stronger sense of how they can be useful surrounds them.”
Mahler joined the Walsh Administration from Governors Deval Patrick and Baker’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, where she was the Press Secretary and communicated for and worked on initiatives and programs like urban agriculture, wildlife public awareness, ground fish federal disaster relief, and more.
Before that, Mahler ran several state representative campaigns and worked at the flash sales site Joss & Main.
Mahler graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. She is originally from South Florida and now currently lives in Audubon Circle.
“I want to better engage with my generation and have successful advocates because that would be amazing,” said Mahler. “I think it is very important that people can lead at a problem and start to fix it.”
To learn more at Spark Boston and see more upcoming events visit www.sparkbos.com.