Minority outreach wins praise

Presiding over a city that is almost half nonwhite, Brockton's mayor, James E. Harrington, has made outreach to racial and ethnic minorities a hallmark of his administration.

Since taking over the city's top job in January, Harrington has launched a 10-language translation service for visitors to City Hall. He holds ceremonies honoring a different ethnic group every month. And he meets regularly with a newly formed advisory committee of representatives of the city's main ethnic groups.

The approach is striking for a white politician who in his last election was labeled as part of the old guard in a tired city that needed change.

''This used to be two cities -- their city and our city," said Moises Rodrigues, the city's director of community services and Harrington's point man in relations with minority groups. ''We are trying to create a bridge."

Rodrigues, who was hired Feb. 1, is former president of the Cape Verdean Association of Brockton. Other key minority appointments Harrington has made are Wayne McAlister, an African-American, to the Planning Board, and Maria Rosa, who is Cape Verdean, to Brockton's cable television committee.

The 2000 Census reported 39 percent of Brockton's population as nonwhite. The city has large Cape Verdean, Haitian, African-American, and Latino populations, as well as a growing Asian community.

Despite the demographic changes, electoral politics in Brockton has been dominated by whites. Although nonwhite candidates have sought city office in every election year since the mid-1980s, Brockton has never had a nonwhite mayor or city councilor. The only nonwhite elected official in the city's history, Wayne Carter, who is black, resigned two years ago from the School Committee.

Nonwhite politicians, though, have started to show clout. Last year, political newcomer Jass Stewart, who is black, took 44 percent of the vote in the mayoral election against Harrington, who had been on the City Council for 16 years. In the campaign, Stewart sought to pin the ''old guard" label on Harrington.

Harrington said last week that he wants to end the divisiveness that has existed in Brockton.

''During the campaign, I felt there was a serious disconnect between the community and city government," he said. ''I have made a commitment to make this a city of one people."

The mayor's early moves on diversity have won praise from local activists.

''I have a very good impression of him," said Sarou Ou, who is Cambodian-American and an activist in Brockton's Asian community. ''He is opening up City Hall. He listens." Ou is a member of the mayor's community advisory committee.

Ossie Jordan, president of the Brockton Area NAACP and head of the city's Diversity Commission, said he has met with Harrington and come away with a generally positive impression.

''So far, he's been very good, but there is still a feeling of wait and see," said Jordan. ''One of the things I have always appreciated is that he is a person you could always sit down and talk to."

Harrington's hiring of Rodrigues may be the mayor's strongest signal of his intent to reach out to minorities.

Rodrigues, 44, who was head of translation services at Brockton Hospital, competed with Harrington in the 2003 City Council race. Rodrigues finished sixth in that election for at-large four seats. Harrington was first.

''I didn't consider him an opponent. There was an open seat I was hoping to win," Rodrigues said in an interview last week at City Hall.

''He was a shoo-in, anyway."

Harrington and Rodrigues developed a friendship during that campaign, and last year, Rodrigues volunteered for Harrington in his race against Stewart.

''I see him as someone who reminds me of me," Rodrigues said. ''He's not from Brockton originally. He moved here some years ago. He's been involved in many community ventures and worked his way up."

A Somerville native, Harrington moved to Brockton in 1972. He was active in school and community groups before winning a ward City Council seat and later an at-large councilor post.

Rodrigues was born in Cape Verde, the former Portuguese colony off the coast of Africa. His family moved to Angola, then another Portuguese colony, when he was 7. His mother was a seamstress and his father a factory supervisor. After war broke out in Angola, the family fled to Cape Verde in 1975. About a year later, the family moved to the United States, where Rodrigues's grandparents were living.

At 16, speaking no English, Rodrigues enrolled at Brockton High School. ''It was tough, really tough," he recalled. ''I survived."

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Rodrigues spent six years in the US Navy, then worked as a manager for the Bradlees and Caldor department store chains.

He is fluent in four languages -- English, Spanish, Cape Verdean Creole, and Brazilian Portuguese -- and speaks some French. He worked in translation services at Brockton Hospital for 12 years.

''I love Brockton," said Rodrigues.

''I think it's the best city in the Commonwealth, if not the country. I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else, and I've been all over the place."