In the lastest Camberville newsletter, Joshua Miller of The Boston Globe asked the three of us on the ballot for Mayor about the most pressing issue facing the City of Somerville. In the Mayor's response, she made the following statement:

"Our recent progress, I would say, is at risk if we elect a mayor who needs on-the-job training. And volunteer sports youth coaching is not executive experience."

I've been a volunteer youth soccer coach for over a decade. But no one has cited that as executive experience, and it's ridiculous to claim anyone has done so.

My executive experience came in part as President of Somerville Youth Soccer from 2018 to 2021. I poured myself into that role, spending the vast majority of my waking hours for three years on that work leading one of the largest youth non-profit organizations in Somerville.

During my time in charge of SYS from 2018 to 2021, we increased the size of the program from 799 registrants to 1,155 – and the vast majority of those new players were kids of color from immigrant families. I personally recruited many younger community members to coach, growing the organization's coaching staff from 172 to 232.

I guided the organization through the perils of the COVID shutdown in 2020 and SYS emerged stronger on the other side. Under my leadership, SYS’s budget nearly doubled, growing from $129,757 in 2018 to $255,086 in my final year, 2021.

In 2021, I received the Massachusetts Youth Soccer Administrator of the Year award in recognition of my leadership with SYS. When I departed the organization, I was replaced by a full-time Executive Director, a President, and a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. And Somerville Youth Soccer now gives out the Jake Wilson Leadership Award at their annual meeting.

I also honor the work the Mayor did at Girl’s LEAP, and commend anyone willing to dedicate themselves to our youth. But it’s sad to see her knowingly mischaracterize my time at SYS and my accomplishments in a desperate, last-ditch political smear.

The people of Somerville deserve better from their mayor, and it's a wild insult to the thousands of Somerville voters who have supported me in this campaign and previous campaigns because of their personal experience with SYS under my leadership. Fortunately, I'm confident the voters of Somerville are too smart to fall for this.

-Jake

We need YOU!

This is it! Labor Day is behind us and we're in the stretch run of the preliminary contest, with September 16 now less than two weeks away. "Doors win wars" is a common mantra in campaigns, and that's definitely true in Somerville. So we need you coming out and knocking doors with us to get Jake's message out!

We have late morning, mid-day, and afternoon shifts available on Saturday and Sunday mid-day and afternoon launches. Whether this is your first time or your 101st time canvassing, we'll make sure you have the training, talking points, campaign literature, and a turf in the MiniVAN app so you have a great time talking to your neighbors.

Then join us after the doors on Saturday night for our second family-friendly Campaign Cocktail Club. Jake will be tending bar, so enjoy a cocktail, mocktail, beer, glass of wine, or seltzer while supporting the campaign:

Join us at Casey's on Sept. 10

We're doing one final big campaign event before the Preliminary election. On Wednesday, September 10, we'll be gathering at Casey's in East Somerville for a celebratory fundraiser. It'll be a family-friendly event with pizza and wings provided by the campaign -- as well as a cash bar.

Come hear about the campaign we've built together, powered by Somerville people and Somerville money. And learn about the plan for Preliminary Day and how you can help out! As always, while campaign contributions are greatly appreciated, by no means are they required to attend any of our events.

RSVP here