First-time Candidate Frantz Pierre Running on Education, Housing Equity

First-time Cambridge City Council candidate Frantz Pierre, who is seeking to become the city’s first male Haitian American councilor, is running on a platform of improving access to education and housing.

Pierre, a lifelong Cantabrigian, has centered his campaign around reducing economic and educational inequality. If elected, he plans to expand youth opportunities, increase affordable housing options, improve eldercare, and develop entrepreneurship programs, per his campaign website.

Pierre, who grew up in a family of 15, held events throughout July 2021 to raise support for his candidacy and garner enough signatures to get on the ballot.

Pierre has raised just shy of $2,000 since the start of the year, according to state campaign finance filings — the third-least of any Cambridge City Council candidate. He had less than $400 in the bank at the end of September, filings show.

Pierre has been engaged in Cambridge civic action from a young age. He has worked at all five youth centers in the city, beginning at age 13 when he served as a junior counselor at the Area 4 Youth Center, a local child care provider. While attending the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, Pierre was the point guard for the basketball team and taught meditation skills to local elementary school students.

Pierre also held several roles at the Margaret Fuller House, a service organization that provides support to low-income residents, including working as an intensive care coordinator, recovery specialist, and housing specialist coach.

A father of three, Pierre is focusing his campaign on expanding educational opportunities. He wrote to the Cambridge Chronicle that “a thriving educational system will set the tone toward improving economic development.”

“I think it’s time that we get the kids in Cambridge a true chance to succeed,” he said at a virtual forum hosted by Create the Vote Cambridge on Oct. 19.

Pierre, who earned an associate's degree from Hesser College in 2006, currently works as a care coordinator at the Boston Medical Center and as an intensive care coordinator at the Home for Little Wanderers, which provides aid to at-risk children.

During an Oct. 7 virtual candidate forum, Pierre said he hopes to improve trust between local residents and the police.

“It brings a bad taste in certain communities when police only show up when things are going wrong,” he said at the forum. “If the person that’s getting called on is uncomfortable, and the police showing up is uncomfortable, then it’s going to be a disaster.”

In his statement to the Cambridge Chronicle, Pierre wrote that he “has witnessed the lack of cultural representation, support, and trust” in Cambridge. He added that he “understands the need for diverse resources, and the importance of following through with commitments.”