Suhas Barua
President: Boston Bangla Center
Deval Patrick
Governor of Massachusetts
Greetings
Meet Mayor Martin J. Walsh
In April 1997, at the age of 29, Mayor Walsh won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the 13th Suffolk District in Boston, which ranks among the most diverse in the state. During his 16 years in the House, Mayor Walsh established himself as a leader on creating and protecting jobs and growing the economy. He authored landmark public construction law reforms that increased flexibility and accountability, helped pass transit-oriented mixed-use “smart growth district” legislation, and was a strong supporter of infrastructure and zoning improvements. During the state fiscal crisis, he was a key broker in compromise legislation giving municipalities more tools to negotiate substantial savings on health insurance benefits while protecting the rights of hardworking people to receive the decent pay and benefits they have earned.
A co-founder and former board member of the Neighborhood House Public Charter School, Mayor Walsh has long been an aggressive advocate for strong public schools. In the Legislature, he fought for annual funding for alternative schools and helped pass a law that allows the city to transform underperforming schools into pilot, magnet and in-district charter schools.
A champion for civil rights, Mayor Walsh was a vocal early advocate for marriage equality, which he calls his proudest vote ever as a state lawmaker, and he compiled a strong record in support of communities of color, immigrants, seniors and all the people of our city and state. He also became known as the State House leader on substance abuse and recovery issues.
Rising up through the leadership of his Laborers Local 223 union, Mayor Walsh eventually served for two years, 2011 to 2013, as head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District, where he worked with business and community leaders and city officials to promote high quality development and new jobs for the city. In partnership with the Boston Housing Authority, he created Building Pathways, a pre-apprentice program connecting building trades jobs and opportunities with those traditionally underrepresented in the industry, mainly women and people of color.
Mayor Walsh’s parents both emigrated from Ireland in the 1950s and came to Boston. John and Mary Walsh married and settled in a home on Taft Street in St. Margaret’s Parish, Dorchester, where they raised their two sons, Marty and Johnny, and where Mayor Walsh’s mother still lives. At age seven, Mayor Walsh survived a bout of Burkett’s lymphoma, a form of childhood cancer, thanks in part to experimental treatments and extraordinary care he received at Children’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
After attending St. Margaret’s School in Dorchester and Newman Prep High School, Mayor Walsh followed in his father’s footsteps to become a union laborer, working his first job at the age of 18 at Commonwealth Pier (now known as the World Trade Center) on the South Boston waterfront.
Mayor Walsh lives on Tuttle Street in Dorchester and is a graduate of Boston College. He shares his life with his longtime partner, Lorrie Higgins, and her daughter, Lauren.
Boston Bangla Center is a charitable non-profit organization with 501(C)-3 statuses and focuses on delivering services to Asian Americans that have immigrated to the United States and are living in the greater Boston area in Massachusetts. The organization delivers an array of services designed to improve the life of Asian Americans and help them succeed in their transition to life in America.
The organization potentially serves any person in the greater Boston community, but will initially focus on Asian Americans who have migrated, and have been coming from Asian countries to the greater Boston area through Diversity Visas, i.e. OP, OP-1, and DV-1 Lottery Visas, H1 visas, Student visas etc. The immigrants then become American citizens and often bring over their parents, wives, and children from respective countries to the greater Boston area.
Following is a summary of services Boston Bangla Center initially offers:
Teach English language
Introduce American culture, food, dress, manners, courtesy, basic rules and regulation needed for daily life
Teach basic immigration laws
Education and job searching skills
Training for job interviews
Interpreting Service
Basic job training
Small business formation information
Housing advice and assistance
Transportation assistance
How to use computer, modern appliances and electronics equipments, Publish bi-lingual books, news papers and information catalogues.
Boston Bangla Center will also, in future years, add an elderly daycare and cultural center for immigrants communities.
Thank you
Suhas Barua
Boston Bangla Center
99 Sydney St., Boston,
MA 02125, USA
Tel: 857-417-5457
Fax: 617-265-0667
Greetings from Thomas Manino
The 53rd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
from 1993 to 2014.