Please make checks payable to:
Committee to Elect Lesley Phillips
1643 Cambridge St, #52, Cambridge MA 02138
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Kelda Fontenot
for
ARLINGTON HOUSING AUTHORITY
About Kelda Fontenot
My family and I have been residents of Arlington for six years and love our community. We relocated to Arlington with our family to pursue a better quality of life. I was immediately drawn to the cultural diversity and opportunities in our small town. My son has adored Thompson School (especially the after school program and summer camp), as well as being free to spend much of his time with friends at the Arlington Boys and Girls Club. I have a bachelor's degree from the Harvard Extension School and ten years of experience working at the grass roots level on housing advocacy, understanding complicated housing codes and tenant rights. My experience running my own business and working with a non-profit includes, among other things, creating and balancing budgets, management and supervision, and evaluating evidence-based reports and recommendations based on current best practices. I’m successful at maintaining respectful and positive communication with people who both agree and disagree with my positions.
Following a disabling injury while living in unsafe housing, I’ve dedicated the past 10 years to housing advocacy and learning as much as possible about the factors surrounding access to safe and affordable housing. I have grown to learn how many of the barriers to affordable and safe housing relate to the gap between generational wealth and poverty. What is perceived as a reflection of personal success or struggle has little to do with anything personal at all! I saved for several years to buy my first home, but following my injury those savings quickly vanished and my income was limited. Having been through both economic sides of housing --- saving money to buy property and needing the full assistance of the shelter system to house my family --- I have gained an in-depth understanding of lesser-known and less-discussed housing issues.
I’ve come to know many “homeless” residents embarrassed to publicly discuss their situations within our own town and across the country. I’ve been forced to live in illegal, condemned apartments and rooming houses and I know first-hand the struggle in trying to be heard by the Arlington Housing Authority (AHA) while fearing retaliation that might affect my family’s most fundamental need --- shelter. I’m fueled by my own experience and the shared experiences of people I’ve met along my personal housing journey. I’ll work to eliminate the dehumanizing treatment of ALL residents experiencing housing instability, especially our seniors and residents with disabilities. I seek this seat to make a positive contribution to the lives of Arlington’s most vulnerable residents. We need to learn from our successes both here in Arlington, and in our surrounding communities to fix what is broken; by creating and implementing initiatives that make our residents’ lives better.
My intimate, first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing those who have been affected by the actions, inactions, and current culture created and maintained by the long-serving members and director of the AHA makes me the strongest candidate.