WORCESTER —Rev. Dr. Sarai Rivera said that when she was knocking on doors during her first bid for city council, someone looked down at her palm card and said, ‘oh, this is great. It would be so nice if you had an education.”

The other side of the palm card iterated her several degrees, including a masters in social work from UConn and a doctorate in urban ministries from the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.

“People always questioned my education, which was interesting because there are many people who served who didn’t have any education; even on the school committee, they didn’t have education higher than high school. Did they get those same questions that I would?” said Rivera. 

This was just one iteration of the racism and sexism Rivera was up against when running for Worcester City Council a little over a decade ago.  Rivera – who is of Puerto Rican descent and a co-pastor at the Christian Community Church, which she founded with her husband – didn’t let the slights get to her as she took to the streets of Worcester. Even though she was told to not even attempt to win the “white vote” and found it difficult to raise money, she used the local organizing savvy she garnered as a pastor to grow a following.

“It was community alone,” she said. “Fundraising little by little. It was door knocking and obviously I had to face a lot of racism. People said all sorts of stuff. “

The one local political figure who stuck his neck out for Rivera, she said, was State Representative Jim O’Day. 

“I think he just saw the vision of the changing of the city; he’s the kind of person who didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk,” Rivera said. Adding, “You can talk about diversity all you want, but when you actually have a viable candidate, somebody that’s connected to the community who is educated who can do the work, would you stand behind them? It’s good to see that he did.”

Despite the adversity she faced, Rivera managed to beat out incumbent Barbara Haller for the council seat, becoming the first Latina woman in Worcester elected to municipal government back in November 2011. She won as a Latina with only 22 percent of the Worcester population identified as Hispanic.

Currently serving her fifth term, Rivera says she’s the city’s longest sitting District 4 councilor, and her staying power, she says, comes from her unique perspective as a Latina woman. 

“Part of my commitment has been to build bridges and make sure that people that normally were never invited to decision making tables, have a seat and their voices are clearly heard,” she said.  “Actions are taken as a result – and I think because of that – it has been really helpful to open city hall.”

Though she may have opened the door, Rivera’s history making moment has been eclipsed by the recent city council election. She now shares seats with five minorities, including the recently elected nonbinary councilor of Southeast Asian (specifically Vietnamese) descent Thu Nguyen, Etel Haxhiaj, a refugee from Albania who is a Muslim as well as incumbents Sean Rose and Khrystian King, both African American. 

“This is about really providing an equity lens on that council floor,” Rivera said. Later adding, “Never did I think I would sit on a council where there is five of us from different walks of life but definitely representing a certain kind of group or population of diversity.”