Sumbul Siddiqui (born 1988) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 77th mayor of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

. Siddiqui was elected mayor in 2020 by the Cambridge City Council, after serving in the body for 3 years. She succeeded Marc C. McGovern in January 2020, becoming the first Muslim mayor in Massachusetts history.

Early life

Siddiqui was born in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former ...

, Pakistan in 1988. She immigrated to the United States from Pakistan when she was two years old, with her parents and twin brother. Her family moved to Cambridge after receiving a lottery spot in Cambridge's affordable housing system. Siddiqui was raised in

Rindge Towers Rindge Towers is an affordable housing development in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

North Cambridge North Cambridge, also known as "Area 11", is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts bounded by Porter Square and the Fitchburg Line railroad tracks on the south, the city of Somerville on the northeast, Alewife Brook and the town of Arlington ...

and Roosevelt Towers in

East Cambridge East Cambridge is a neighborhood of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Referred to in modern times as Area 1, East Cambridge is bounded by the Charles River and the Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on the east, the Somerville, Mass ...

. She attended schools in the

Cambridge Public School District ''For primary schools named "Cambridge" see: Cambridge Elementary School (disambiguation)'' The Cambridge Public School District or Cambridge Public Schools is a school district serving Cambridge, Massachusetts in Greater Boston, in the United Stat ...

and graduated from

Cambridge Rindge and Latin School The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, also known as CRLS or "Rindge," is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of the Cambridge Public School District. In 1977, two separate schools, the Rindge Technical ...

in 2006. Siddiqui attended Brown University, where she was involved in the university's

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

n Students Association. She graduated from Brown in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

and American institutions. Siddiqui later attended the

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law schoo ...

, graduating in 2014 with a JD.

Career

As mayor

In January 2020, Marc C. McGovern announced that he would not seek re-election and endorsed fellow council member Sumbul Siddiqui as his successor. Siddiqui was sworn in on January 6, 2020.

Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund

She launched the ''Mayor’s Disaster Relief Fund'' for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

on 16 April 2020, raising over $5 million to help individuals, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

Awards

*2020:

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

award *2021: Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts Emerging Women Leaders in the Law award *2021: South Asian Bar Association 2021 Member of the Year *2021: Margaret Fuller House Gala award *2021: Greater Boston Labor Council Labor Champion award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqui, Sumbul 1988 births American people of Pakistani descent American politicians of Pakistani descent Living people Mayors of Cambridge, Massachusetts American mayors of Asian descent Brown University alumni Politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge Rindge and Latin School alumni Pakistani emigrants to the United States