Pair of Public Policy Students Elected to Local Public Office

Two School of Public Policy graduate students were elected to municipal government positions in their communities on Nov. 2.

Israel “Izzy” Rivera was elected to the Holyoke City Council, while Brad Riley was elected to the Easthampton City Council. Both are students in SPP’s master of public policy and administration program.

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Riley received his undergraduate degree in workplace diversity and equity from UMass Amherst’s University Without Walls program. As a UMass graduate student senator, he serves on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and on the Flexible Learning Task Force. He is also a member of the Easthampton Affordable and Fair Housing Partnership and recently interned with state Senator Jo Comerford.

“I love the city of Easthampton and I want it to succeed,” Riley said. “Coupling the skills I've learned at SPP with a foundation in social epidemiology creates a different set of eyes to view the challenges of local government that aren't adequately present on the council. I want to help the council continue to do the good work they already do.”

Rivera received his undergraduate degree in sociology at UMass and works for the Holyoke Public Schools as the family access and community engagement manager. As a young man, he served time in prison for a drug conviction, an experience that drives his commitment to improving his city, where he serves on the Community Preservation Committee and chairs the Parks and Recreation Commission, among other activities. In 2018, Rivera received a commendation from the Black and Latino Caucus of the Massachusetts Legislature for his community work.

Rivera ran for the City Council “to provide a voice for the unheard and the disenfranchised,” he said. “I was raised in one of the poorest communities in Holyoke and I aim to provide a different perspective to the council — a perspective focused around building and fostering community engagement within the local communities, altering the narrative, and engaging residents in meaningful discourse that will allow for the government to be in direct communication with all the people it is intended to serve. I intend to do more than just write and enforce policy.”

Other School of Public Policy alumni who won office on Election Day include Cobi Frongillo, SPP ’19, who received UMass undergraduate degrees in political science and economics and was re-elected to the Franklin Town Council, and Mike Nicholson, SPP ’17, who studied history and political science as a UMass undergraduate and was elected to his second term as mayor of Gardner.