Summer 2011 - University of Massachusetts Lowell

A L U M N I L I F E
u CLOSE-UP CLASS OF 2009
ALLEGRA WILLIAMS: COMMUNITY LIAISON
She’s visited more than 30 countries, and lived in five of them. She’s been on
committees and boards for a litany of organizations, including the Coalition for a
Better Acre and the Revolving Museum. She joined the Provost’s delegation on a
trip to Israel and co-chaired a homeless coalition.
Her name is Allegra Williams, and she will use all of her significant experience
to help Lowell become a sustainable city with healthy, vibrant neighborhoods.
“As the City’s neighborhood planner, I am the liaison between the planning
department and the neighborhood and residents’ groups – they contact me with
problems, concerns or questions, and I try to connect them with the right person
or group to make things better,” says Williams.
It’s a little more daunting than that. Lowell is home to more than 100,000
citizens, and upwards of a dozen community and neighborhood groups, each with
their own – sometimes competing – agenda items. And then there’s the everpresent
challenges posed by language barriers.
“People’s concerns are widespread, ranging from crime worries to an annoying
pothole to a desire for economic development of foreclosed properties,” says
Williams.
The scope of her position – and the sheer number of people, agendas, meetings
and groups – doesn’t seem to faze Williams. In fact, she embraces all of it with a
warm smile and enthusiasm for the people and future of her adopted city.
“If people share their opinions, it really does matter.”
Williams earned an M.A. in Community & Social Psychology in 2009, and has
a certificate from the Regional, Economic and Social Development Department.
Williams, center, organized a
Community Mosaic Making Day
in the summer of 2009 in Lowell.
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