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Biography
A resident of Boston for over 30 years, Boston City Councillor Felix D. Arroyo is a public servant, educator, organizer, activist, father, and grandfather.
Raised in a public housing project by his late father, Felicito Arroyo, a World War II Veteran and police detective, and his late mother, Elisa Arroyo, a garment seamstress and an ILGWU member, Councillor Arroyo was instilled with a deep respect for hard work and education. Councillor Arroyo understands that his family supports and strengthens his ideals. His five children (Ana, Felix Jr., Ernesto, Ricardo, and Julian) have all either graduated or currently attend Boston Public Schools. He also has three granddaughters, Adriana,Elsa and Anaelis.
From left to right: Felix Jr, Councillor Arroyo, Ricardo, Ana, Julian, Ernesto
Education
Councillor Arroyo was the first member of his family to earn a college degree. He completed his undergraduate studies and received a Masters in Secondary Education at the University of Puerto Rico. Councilor Arroyo continued with his graduate studies at Harvard University, MIT, and the University of Puerto Rico.
Work Experience
Councillor Arroyo has served as a Boston City Councillor At-Large since January 2003. Approaching every decision within the framework of his core principles of Equity and Respect, he has advocated for the equitable distribution of services to Boston's wonderfully diverse neighborhoods. He has focused his work on six critical issues facing the Council and Boston – Education, Affordable Housing, Economic Vitality, Health, the Environment, and Public Safety.
Councillor Arroyo shocked many in 1992 when he resigned from his salaried position as the Director of Personnel for the City of Boston to accept a volunteer position on the Boston School Committee. Serving on the School Committee for eight years, he led the fight to preserve bilingual education, opposed the MCAS as the key criterion for grade promotion or graduation, and sought to preserve services for children with special needs. He also ensured that every high school student had access to a free MBTA pass and, as chair of the BPS Arts Policy Committee, made arts education part of the every day curriculum.
Councillor Arroyo has served the people of Boston as:
- Boston City Councillor At-Large
- Committee Chair: New Bostonians and Youth Affairs
- Committee Vice Chair: Human Rights
- Committee Member: Environment; Health & Human Services; Housing
- Director of Advocacy at the Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation
- President, Vice President and Member of the Boston School Committee
- Director of Personnel for the City of Boston
- Education Advisor to Mayor Raymond Flynn
- Chair of the Boston Arson Commission
- Teacher at Springfield College (Boston Campus), UMass-Boston, Roxbury Community College, Boston University, and Emmanuel College
- Community Advocate
For more than 30 years, Councillor Arroyo has worked to promote peace and justice on a local and global level. Locally, he has sought to curtail domestic violence, gang violence, and hate crimes and was a vocal advocate against the War in Iraq. Working globally for peace, he has traveled to Nicaragua with Witness for Peace and to El Salvador with Sister Cities Program. He has traveled to Haiti and visited Israel as a peace delegate, and went to the Dominican Republic in 1999 to distribute supplies with a hurricane relief delegation. Councillor Arroyo has worked with or served on the boards of many peace and justice promoting organizations, including:
- The Office for Children
- Egleston Square Neighborhood Association
- Sociedad Latina
- Freedom House
- Kennedy Volunteer Corps
- American Friends Service Committee
- American Red Cross
- Casa Myrna Vasquez