As the grandson of sharecroppers, the product of public school education and the first person in his family to complete a BA, Andre Green knows the power of a quality education to create opportunities and change lives.
Because of his commitment to quality public schools for everyone, he’s a candidate for Somerville School Committee for Ward 4.
After graduating college at 19, Andre moved to Somerville to teach 5th grade at the former St. Benedict’s school in East Somerville, a job he calls “the hardest thing he’s ever done.” It also taught him the importance of doing everything possible to ensure teachers have the training and resources necessary to be successful.
After teaching, he worked briefly as a case manager in a juvenile detention center, teaching parenting and substance awareness classes. This experience left him committed to education, prevention and treatment being the keys to dealing with substance abuse. It also demonstrated the consequences of a school system that didn’t connect with all its students.
A former small business person, Andre knows the need for efficiency in management. He will work to streamline processes to increase the amount of money spent in the classroom – where it does the most good. As an IT consultant, he worked with schools to implement technological solutions for both management and curriculum.
For the last six years Andre has worked at YouthBuild USA, an organization that helps disadvantaged youths get their GED or High School Diploma while developing job skills and building affordable housing in their communities. During his time as a Data Analyst for them, Andre became well-versed both in the importance of good assessment as an integral part of system improvement and the dangers of bad incentives derived from poorly thought out assessment systems.
Andre is currently working on organizing and Federal advocacy for YouthBuild. He recently helped shepherd a 2 million dollar increase in funding for disconnected youth through a Republican House. Andre has the skills to bring people together to get things done.
Andre was an inaugural member of the Somerville Academy for Innovative Leadership, a partnership between the Kennedy School of Government and the City of Somerville to improve the quality of community leaders in the city. As part of that initiative, he has served the last 18 months on the Somerville Human Rights Commission, working to protect constitutional, civil, and human rights of all people in the city. Additionally he serves on the board of the Welcome Project, an organization committed to improving the status and well-being of Somerville’s immigrant population.
Andre lives with his wife Jessica and their daughter Madelynn on Governor Winthrop Road in a house that has been in her family since the 1950s. An avid trivia fan, Andre is a past champion on the television show “Jeopardy!”
Andre can be reached at andregreen@gmail.com.