Want to know how my office and I have been working with folks around Malden in the past few months?
Between August 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, our office responded to 316 individual constituent inquiries and requests for assistance.
The plurality of these inquiries and requests for assistance came in November. This was the peak of an upward trend which began in August (20) and continued through September (50), October (79) and November (93) before a slight decline in December (55).
Representative Ultrino and staff connected 292 constituents (92%) with the resources they needed to resolve their situations and, and will continue to work on the remaining 24 (8%) requests for assistance until these constituents have all that they need.
Nearly two-thirds (65.9%) of requests for assistance were unemployment related, with housing (16.7%), food (7.6%) and transportation (5.3%) being the next most requested forms of assistance respectively. The remaining 4.5% of requests were related to veterans issues, local issues, and healthcare.
Constituent calls on issues in the legislature addressed a diverse array of topics, with one third of calls (33.3%) addressing the budget, with police and criminal justice reform (13.8%), reproductive justice (10.6%), and civil rights and voting rights (9.5%) being the next most requested forms of assistance. The remaining 32.8% of inquiries addressed environment, education, housing, taxation, healthcare and transportation legislation. Representative Ultrino and staff responded to and resolved 100% of these inquiries.
I'm grateful to all the members of our community who put their trust in my office to help with a variety of issues, some extremely sensitive and hard to discuss. My staff and I see each member of our community as family, and like any family, we are here to offer each other love and support, so please never hesitate to reach out if there's anything you need. We are only a phone call or an email away.
I'm also incredibly thankful for our partners in the community, without whom we could not do the work we do. While we've worked with too many people and organizations to provide a full thanks on a single page, or even many pages, I'd like to give a particular shoutout to Action for Boston Community Development, the Malden Redevelopment Authority, Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and Portal to Hope. These organizations have gone above and beyond to serve the Malden community during this incredibly difficult time, and to them, and all the organizations who have helped our community through this difficult year, I am eternally grateful.
Again, please never hesitate to reach out. We are here and ready to help.
Yours in Service,
Steven Ultrino, Ed.D. State Representative 33rd Middlesex