Derrick Rice for Ward 3 City Council
Hi, Neighbor!
My name is Derrick Rice, and I hope to earn the opportunity to serve Somerville as your next Ward 3 City Councilor.
In the 22 years that I’ve called Somerville home, I’ve had many occasions to be proud of my city. But I have also seen how frustratingly slow progress is, even on widely popular or urgent issues like street maintenance, vacant properties, civilian oversight of police, and sidewalk snow clearing. Good things should be happening faster.
As a community organizer, I know that bringing people together to fight for solutions can be truly transformative. Now, I’m running for City Council to empower community voices and build a Somerville that works for all of us. Together can we shape a government where transparency, accountability, and public engagement thrive.
You should expect more from your city. Join me. Join your neighbors. Let’s get to work.
Meet Derrick
I’ve called Somerville my home for my entire adult life. My son was born here, in what I intend to be my forever home. I am fiercely defensive, caring, and loving of this community which has given me so much.
For the last 10 years, I’ve devoted myself to advocacy and community organizing. I’ve been a union organizer, a community organizer, a nonprofit board member, and a volunteer to city councilors. I’ve fought for transparency and accountability on a wide variety of public wellness issues, ranging from pedestrian safety, humane treatment of our unhoused neighbors, housing affordability, and policing. I’m ready to take the work to the inside of City Hall.
My civic engagement journey in Somerville began as many do: at a community meeting related to a local development. I can’t recall what the meeting was about. What I remember was who was in the room — or more importantly — who wasn’t. The Somerville that I know and love is diverse across many dimensions: age, race, profession, style, gender, passions. The thought I had in the meeting: “Where are the rest of my neighbors?”
I watched and learned how important community-impacting decisions get made. Following the business of city hall led me to understand that we can do much better to represent the constituents of the city. I began community organizing and supporting candidates who wanted to improve our city’s democracy and to advocate for those absent voices. As I knocked doors for one issue or the other, I understood how deeply my neighbors care and the opportunities we have as a community.
In my day job, I advocate for the public’s privacy interests against corporate incentives. I’ve committed my professional career to delivering public good by advocating for those silent voices. I know that large systems tend to fail those of us on the edges. I have over a decade of experience of changing these systems to be more human — to be more transparent and accountable to all of us. That’s why I’m stepping up.