Somervile Task Force Concluding Its Work With Feature Presentation

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city’s Anti-Displacement Task Force is inviting residents to a special film screening and panel discussion it is hosting on Thursday, June 12.

The event is slated to begin at East Somerville Community School on 50 Cross St. at 6 p.m.
The feature presentation will be a video documenting the task force’s findings published earlier this year on residential, business/nonprofits, and cultural arts displacement. It will be followed by the short film titled "Displacement Stories," which features real-life stories of Somerville residents who have been impacted by displacement. Atendees will be served a complementary dinner.

Three committees that make up the ADTF were formed in 2023 by Mayor Katjana Ballantyne in an effort to improve the status of housing in the city. The groups work to prevent the displacement of not only residents, but also small businesses and nonprofit organizations.

“The task force was an exercise in co-design, where our neighbors, together with City staff, set to preserving the tapestry that is our collective identity as a community,” Strategic Planning & Equity Manager in Somerville’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development Luis Quizhpe said. “Each thread of this tapestry represents our collective contribution to what makes this city a great place to live, work and create in, and what makes each thread worth preserving.”