Thu Nguyen made history in November as Worcester’s first Southeast Asian American City Councillor and also the first nonbinary member elected to public office in Massachusetts.

Nguyen is a Vietnamese refugee and a youth worker. They came to Worcester at the age of one, when their family immigrated to the United States. They grew up in Main South and graduated from Claremont Academy and then Clark University.

They said their career has been dedicated to serving the people. Nguyen has facilitated after school programs at the Worcester Youth Center, hired young people at Recreation Worcester, helped build Mutual Aid Worcester and is currently the director of the Southeast Asian Coalition.

“Being on the ground, you really see the gaps that need to be filled,” Nguyen said. “These gaps were actually being filled by the community. Residents of Worcester were coming together to support people.”

They said they felt “hopeless,” which they knew many young people did as well. The pandemic combined with the 2020 presidential election created a sense of uncertainty for many.

“I felt the need to run so that other people could feel that hope and they could help shift their own communities,” Nguyen said. “For me, it’s not just about them imagining themselves in politics, but how do we influence the people around us.”

Nguyen said that their work through Mutual Aid Worcester, which provided $35 to people without any questions if they said they needed support, allowed them to see the ways in which Worcester can create community led solutions.

“If we gave (our community) more resources and governmental institutional backing, what can we do to really meet a bigger need,” Nguyen said. “My platform was about community led solutions at the forefront of City Hall. I think that the decisions we make has to come from the community.”

They noted that the community needs to be in partnership with City Council for an honest and transparent governmental process.

“I think it’s so crucial that we let them in and let them lead,” Nguyen said. “I am accountable to the community. I’m not here to impose my objectives. It’s about them leading me and guiding the projects, the budgets. It has to be community-led.”

Nguyen said that the trust they have formed by being on the ground with the people of Worcester is an integral part of their leadership. They said it goes beyond the Tuesday council meetings.

“I think relationship building with the community is crucial, and I plan on continuing to do that,” Nguyen said. “I was there when undocumented folks needed food and couldn’t go to a food bank because they didn’t feel safe showing their IDs. Being beside them in that way allows for when they have issues or when they have concerns, they can approach me.”

Nguyen added that young folks in the community do not often know who to call upon when an issue arises. They said that education is an important aspect of a counselor’s job to ensure everyone is readily equipped to receive any support needed.
Nguyen said they never imagined themselves going into politics, saying they are not a “career politician.” 2020, however, and the pandemic made them rethink their role, they said, and what they can do to serve their community.

“2020 because of the pandemic and because of that summer, where a lot of Black Lives Matter stuff was surfacing, I felt the need to really play my role,” Nguyen said. “I think as someone who went from refugee to college educated to director of the Southeast Asian Coalition, now that I’m in the position of a community leader, that I would run to represent my community and the diversity of our city.”

Being from an immigrant refugee community, Nguyen said that one thing that struck them as they were campaigning was that a lot of people supported them but could not vote. While recognizing the immigrant and refugee community may not provide them with votes, Nguyen still wants to “amplify their needs.”

“Elected officials still have to vote and listen to communities, even if there isn’t power or votes out of them,” Nguyen said. “That’s one of the things that’s important to me — to give them space and air time with elected officials.”

This leads to the “political reimagining” of Worcester that Nguyen is hoping to spark. They hope that other people who may not be “career politicians” can see themselves running for City Council one day as well.

“Folks that are similar to me, who are marginalized or folks with different identities, for them to actually start to imagine themselves at the table,” Nguyen said. “I hope I can create a model that we can run unapologetically and be ourselves. We don’t have to negotiate our bodies, our beings, or our platforms…They’d be supported the same way that I have been.”

Even more so, Nguyen said that as the first non-binary councilor within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it represents how society is at a point in time where people want to grow to be inclusive and loving.

“I think representation is important, “ Nguyen said. “In democracy it brings in a lot of different perspectives and lived experiences that is needed when it comes to making decisions. I also think that it’s life saving. We know that when people can see themselves and feel validated, it can save lives.”