[Danielle Balocca]: Hey Medford Bites listeners. Before I get started, I wanted to announce that the Medford Chamber of Commerce is running a promotion to support local businesses. If you make a purchase at four participating local businesses during the month of February, you could win two tickets to see Jonathan Van Ness. You might know him from Queer Eye or his podcast, Getting Curious, at the Chevalier Theatre on March 18th, plus $500 in cash. You can pick up a loyalty card at any participating business or in the lobby of the Chamber's office on 1 Shipyard Way in Medford Square. There's a link in today's show notes with information about participating businesses. To supplement today's interview, Chelly shared a speech she wrote titled, Racial Reckoning and Restoration. A link to the full speech can be found in the show notes. Special shout out to Grace Caldara, Medford resident and fellow Roberts Elementary parent for helping to connect me with Chelly and recommending reading about the history of West Medford. I hope you enjoy the interview. Okay, thank you so much for meeting with me today. If you don't mind just introducing yourself by saying your name and pronouns and a bit about yourself.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, so my name is Chelly Keshavan. My pronouns are she, her, hers. I am a long-term Medford resident and in part a product of the Medford Public Schools. I run a maternal health equity nonprofit by day. It's called the Boston Association of Childbirth Education. And then I wear a couple of hats in the city of Medford itself. So I'm newly elected chair of the Human Rights Commission and also recently elected vice president of WMCC, West Metro Community Center. And then lastly, I sit on the board of directors at Medford Health Matters. And I have two kids, three and raised in Medford. So I'm around very much so.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. Great. Thank you. So we'll talk about a different a couple different pieces of what you of what you just mentioned to hopefully. But the first question that I always ask every guest is what their favorite place to eat is in Medford and what they like to eat there.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, so I think my answer to that is always the Brazilian steakhouse. We have been going we sort of clamored our way in there. 17 years ago, 18 years ago when it opened and we've been going ever since. And it's come to the point where we've gotten to know Luciano and the sort of family there has watched my kids get older. We are always in there for kind of everything on the menu, but we will take feijoada on any day. So it's very, it's always been warm and welcoming and we appreciate an opportunity to get back.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, we don't, my family doesn't eat meat, so we haven't really been in there, but I've seen like the pictures of their smoothies on the outside, so hopefully.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I appreciate the bakery, they do some good fish too.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh yeah, we do fish. Oh nice, cool. Awesome. So I was hoping, you know, for this month being Black History Month, I was hoping to talk a little bit about your work at the West Medford Community Center. I've just been curious, I hear like a lot of folks kind of share their pride about being from West Medford, and I've actually been reading some, a book that the West Medford Community Center put out that sort of highlights the history of the West Medford neighborhood and it being sort of like historically a Black community within Medford. So I was wondering if you could share a little bit about your experience there and sort of your hopes as the VP.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, so I am looking at sort of two weeks in as VP. And I think that what is important to highlight about West Medford and the West Medford Community Center is that we're talking about um a historically middle class black middle class neighborhood um so we're not just got so so much so many narratives discussed like a lift the hood type of discussion and a lot of initiatives speak to um programming sorry programming that kind of You know, programming that's supposed to speak to lower income conversations, or speak to folks who are not going to be able to purchase their own properties and that's not the conversation here, or at least it wasn't. So I think maybe we're in a place where we need to be thinking about what it means to have to currently own or to have previously owned and what does it mean to be in a space where you could possibly potentially lose properties you've had, and how do we have conversations about how to prevent that happening. And what does that mean for preserving the culture of a community. nevermind conversations or like reparations or intergenerational wealth and just displacement. So if people maybe our age can't afford to buy or stay or they can't afford to choose West Medford to raise their own families who then who's who can and what does that mean where our trajectory is going. So those are all thoughts that have been on my mind in the last two weeks.
[Danielle Balocca]: So interesting like in the reading that I was doing it was talking about how like though that neighborhood was developed sort of within cooperation with like white developers or white contractors and that that's sort of like that and that was like something that's highlighted is how it was like the cooperation between. black people and white people in Medford that sort of helped form that neighborhood or that's kind of how it's phrased in the book. And I think that this issue that you're describing of like, what does it mean, like, some neighborhoods like might be changing or are changing due to like the cost of buying a home in Medford and who's that pushing out who's like what families are no longer able to stay in the city. And that's that that feels like an issue like across the city in whatever neighborhood. And I hear like a lot of different conversations that seem to be like kind of dividing people in the city. And this seems like something that, like, I'm sure disproportionately impacts like certain parts of the city, but also something that I think most residents might be able to relate to.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, I think it also brings up a conversation of the difference between what So I will back up. I have a tendency to not tell the whole story. I think COVID illuminated sort of systemic policy and systemic failure on a grand scale. And Medford is no stranger to that. But I included have spent the last few years talking about diversity and to buy is, and I think the mayor kind of push for the road around like racism of the public health crisis. They think we also should be spearheading conversation about the differences between sort of initiatives that are pro-diversity as opposed to pro-Black, and how much space between those conversations is there? And to what extent can we lift both either, is this both and or not? And also, is the city of Medford going to continue to welcome families in general? If we're hitting a place sort of market-wise, are we really just speaking to double-income, no-kid options? And if housing looks a certain way, what does that mean for what the schools look like? And if you're on the hook for a certain kind of bracket around housing, what do you need from the school systems to want to be here, stay here? Are you raising toddlers and leaving?
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Wow. Yeah. It's a whole big picture. How does your work with the HRC kind of overlap with some of the stuff you're doing at the community center?
[Chelli Keshavan]: I'm so same. I've been chair for literally a week. My approach with any new role is to begin with needs assessments and listening audits. I can only bring my own perspective, so I need to present myself as a person who's willing to listen and learn first, and then discuss what thought partnering or thought leading could look like. So that's my fence for now. And maybe to also onboard HRC has and has had some really strong voices, but they are folks who are in a different place in life than at least I am. And I think it might be good to diversify along age lines too or generational lines. we haven't done it yet. And my sense is always saying, people like us parents are going to be, I mean, I don't want to say stuck, but we're going to need something different from Medford than folks who have, who have yet to raise or who have already raised children and have a little more mobility.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. And so being new to both of those roles, what kind of drove you to get involved with the community center and with the HRC?
[Chelli Keshavan]: So, I mentioned that my kids are the Cambridge principal, I am large, a largely through myself into getting involved after the statement on Floyd came out from sitting home. And at that time I had, I was sort of sleeping in Medford I didn't have a one. a social network here, and that was by choice. I was sort of fed up with the level of racism and feeling like we are two miles away from Cambridge, but light years away from the level of conversation that's happening socially in Cambridge, and I just kind of didn't deal with it for 10 years. And then after Floyd, lockdown helped me to have time for that, and I threw myself, and I decided to become a person who would at least participate instead of complaining. So kind of just one conversation led to another, and it became, I jumped on the commission, and then that became getting to know a lot of people very quickly. I got involved with council conversations, and then I worked with Wendy, and that became my first health matters. And then the commission work became like, well, what if you were chair? So, and as you, Medford's timepiece, so if you know 10 people, you know 101, exponentially.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, awesome. And so I guess like, you know, you're speaking, you spoke just now about kind of the sense that you had about the community of Medford before the murder of George Floyd, right? And that that sort of changed your sort of desire to engage maybe with the community and I wonder like what you have for hopes like so what you hope to see from Medford moving forward or kind of, you know, as we sort of, you know, hopefully begin to address some of these bigger like sort of issues of inclusivity and exclusivity.
[Chelli Keshavan]: I think that gentrification in the way that it has hit Camberville hasn't quite hit Medford to the same extent yet. So I wonder if we can capitalize on some intentionality before it does. And if we can be careful about how we're welcoming folks with young kids, folks, families, multi-generational families, because it used to be that Medford was a space where you could raise your kids, also take care of your parents. Yeah, live here I think a lot of people have their needs met in surrounding communities and sort of home, just to be home. So I wonder what it would look like to have more of a vibrant city to be a little bit more resource rich. to have greater connections with Tufts. I really want to see Tufts give back given how much of Metro they occupy and continue to purchase. I'd like to see us get away from vehicles if we can, although 92 is a hassle right in the center of the city. Educational equity conversations.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I heard I don't know if I don't know if it's a rumor or if it's like if this is happening, but the new like talks about great the green line extending into Medford again and sort of who that might impact what neighborhoods that might impact and that sort of speaks to that like yeah that sort of that sort of idea around gentrification.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Right now, where it's located only really serves Tufts, and Tufts already has their own shuttle, and they're already only 10 minutes from Davis. So it doesn't impact Metro Knights until it hits 16 at least.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. And I did see on the, I think it was on Facebook, that the West Metro Community Center is planning some events for Black History Month. Do you mind describing some of those?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah. So a couple of things. We're wanting to just teach, engage new people. I think the center needs to like build a new network. I think just teaching people about who we are, where we've been. So just sharing straight historical facts I have, I'd love to just share one a day. I also have a couple of panels in mind. I think for me, the most exciting panel is to partner with President Morell and Vice President Bayers and say, what does it look like for Medford to onboard a pro-Black agenda? And there are some community members who spoke to the Black Lives Matter banner issue two years ago. And we might start there in that panel, but I'd prefer to see us kind of approach it holistically or intersectionally and say, what can Medford be doing? And frankly, I haven't seen that energy. I personally haven't, maybe others have, but I personally haven't seen it come out of the council historically. How and when does that change?
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Chelli Keshavan]: We're also going to host a panel that features a couple of Black artists, locally known Black artists, sort of Metro Boston now, because the center historically was well connected with Cambridge, Roxbury, Mattapan, Newton. So it would be, I want to get back there. I don't see why we can't get back there. And I see like connecting with folks who represent other communities as one vehicle to do that. So these guys are going to talk about what it means to be an artist, document, and speak to a narrative that doesn't always feel welcome. And I think artists in general, I don't know that we're right. I think of us as being a heavily academic and science-based community. I'm working on screening the racial reckoning documentary that PBS has been discussing. And again, asking them to highlight the reasons why West Meckler was historically middle class and more, as opposed to a different story. There was a conversation with you the people, although it's an again in an effort to just create new networks. We'll see where that goes. I am a brand new board member I'm not sure how the board would feel about becoming an entity that offers racial justice discussions or trainings. Yeah, there's, I think there's, we can only move forward, kind of stagnant, so we can only move forward. But those are the kind of couple of things happening for the last three months right now.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great. So you said the conversation with President Morell and Vice President Perez was about, I'm sorry, I'm forgetting the words that you described, was it a black, what was it?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, so So it hasn't happened yet. It's a panel in fruition. But to say given that the council, you know, council leadership just changed. Could we I don't want the conversation to get out of hand. It's probably going to be like a 45 minute zoom. So we'll have we'll host just the two of them for now. But to take advantage of the moment at hand and use your new leadership to partner and like, please view the West Metro Community Center as a thought partner in this agenda. And also to raise the, I think the center has space to become present, sort of in the city landscape and climate, and this could be a reason to do that.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, and I think that, A couple episodes ago, we talked about the incident at the holiday celebration around the representation of Judaism there and misrepresentation. It seems like that was a lesson that City Hall took from that. It was like, what are the groups that we can rely on to help us do the right thing in these situations? And it seems like the West Medford Community Center is a really important resource when thinking about the Black community in Medford.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, for sure. I mean, also, as you can probably our own leadership has changed. We also have a new president, we have a new executive director. So it's the right moment for us internally as well.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, I wanted to make space to talk about anything else that you hope to talk about. So with any of your the other work that you're doing, or the other groups that you're part of?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Um, I mean yeah I'm a, I'm a doula and a CLC so I'm always putting in plugs for like when will I maybe it's me, maybe it's my nonprofit but I don't see Medford as a space that hosts perinatal options. I could be right and also my kids are suddenly not babies anymore so I'm not really looking for that. But I have had conversations where we around the how we could be like other cities have programming that sort of tracks, all the newborns that are, you know, that come to us, and could be doing that. Could we be doing that with like cultural sensitivity. Yeah, just what does that look like? I'm not sure that we have DD options in the city. We don't have any breastfeeding groups. We don't have accessible diaper pantry. There are so many things. Also, documentation issues. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: sort of some of those like, like sort of the social determinants of health, the ways that that like mothers can be supported to sort of help support the health of their own health, the health of their kids, and then also the health of our community and keeping it like a diverse and equitable place.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Well, yeah, upstream initiative. Yeah, I think we have, we have. I also would like to learn more about preschool. I have a lot of homework to do. Yeah. Yeah. I think that determines very much fall upstream. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: And how do you hope like sort of to include the community or is there anything that like the community or people listening to the podcast could know in terms of how to support your work or support the community center?
[Chelli Keshavan]: I would want communities to know that I'd love to see them show up on council calls. I think there are sort of a grouping of folks who show up typically, and then there are a whole bunch of people the council doesn't often hear from. I'd also like people to know that I always want them to think about the candidates that are running, make choices around voting, think about what campaigns matter for their lived experience. And I think in leadership, we need to make that easier to make it as easy as possible to communicate with the administration.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great. Yeah. Awesome. Anything else you'd like to add or like plug before we wrap up?
[Chelli Keshavan]: And I don't think so. Although I'm often the type of person who thinks of 10 things after the fact. So my fault for that. No, no.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, I really appreciate you making the time. And hopefully we can reconnect once you've been in those positions for a little while and see what else is going on. Yeah.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Awesome.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you so much to Chelly for today's interview. The West Medford Community Center will be hosting a virtual event tonight, February 21st, at 6.30 p.m. This will be the first of many conversations in partnership with City Council. Speakers will include City Council President Nicole Morell, City Council Vice President Zach Bares, Community Activist Grace Caldara, and Community Activist Crystal Chandler, as well as today's podcast guest, Chelly Keshavan. Zoom links can be found on the WMCC's Facebook page. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode, and as always, if you have feedback about this episode or ideas for future episodes, you can email medfordpod at gmail.com. You can also subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.