Good luck to all the candidates. Thank you to all voters.

Posted 7/15/21

It is exciting to see that we have so many candidates running in the 2021 CHCA Board of Directors election. It shows a robust level of community engagement and interest in the work of the community association.

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Good luck to all the candidates. Thank you to all voters.

Posted

It is exciting to see that we have so many candidates running in the 2021 CHCA Board of Directors election. It shows a robust level of community engagement and interest in the work of the community association. I thank all the candidates for their commitment to serve our community.

I greatly appreciate all the CHCA members who will cast their vote over the next week. Voters will choose from sixteen candidates for nine open board seats. Nine of those candidates have formed a slate with a unified and specific agenda. The stated motivation for multiple members of this slate, according to their biographies, is a wish to maintain a certain way of life in Chestnut Hill. This desire to preserve a way of life that works well for them has been repeated over and over, phrased as a want to “keep the feel and vision of this village we all call Chestnut Hill”, “keep the quality of our community”, “not lose the very qualities that have made Chestnut Hill the Chestnut Hill we all know and love”, and to keep “preserving that quality of life”. 

But we believe that Chestnut Hill is special not only for its historic architecture, nor for a perception of “quality”, but for its people. Chestnut Hill and the Chestnut Hill Community Association board are at our best when we embrace diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability, age, income, and background, as well as a variety of opinions. All of our residents and CHCA members are valued in their uniqueness.

We welcome the changes that come with our commitment to meet the needs of our dynamic community. With those changes we see new faces, new friends, new businesses filling empty store fronts, new customers, new parishioners in pews, new parents of young children, and a multiplicity of ideas to build on the current work being done by the CHCA’s talented staff and volunteers to create Chestnut Hill in 2021 and beyond. Ideas such as continuing to expand the impact of the Chestnut Hill Green Initiative and launching new committees that are focused on our young people, and a partnership with other CH leadership institutions to foster practices to better protect the environment locally.

 It is the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s responsibility to serve the entirety of our community and promote inclusion and equity, a role, along with that of the convening Registered Community Organization (RCO) in Chestnut Hill, we take very seriously. With that in mind, I recommend voters look at all candidates as individuals and consider the value of diversity of ideas and approaches as we continue to work toward our mission of: Growing a Stronger Community Together.

Good luck to all the candidates. Thank you to all voters; this election is very important. Please read the bios and print material carefully. Which candidates best reflect your vision for your community?  Send in your ballot via email or drop it off at the CHCA at 8434 Germantown Avenue. The future of the CHCA and our work in Chestnut Hill relies on you.

Kathi Clayton
President
Chestnut Hill Community Association