Annissa Essaibi George, a mom, former Boston Public Schools school teacher, small business owner, first-generation America, and lifelong Boston resident was elected as an At-Large Boston City Councilor in November 2015 and sworn in on January 4, 2016.

 

Annissa is a daughter of immigrants. Her dad, Ezzeddine, immigrated to the United States from Tunisia in 1972. Her mom, Barbara, was born in a Displaced Persons’ camp in Germany to Polish parents and came to the U.S. in the early 1950s. Annissa’s maternal grandparents moved to Boston’s West End and, along with her parents, eventually made their home in Dorchester raising Annissa, her brother, and two sisters.

 

In the Boston City Council, she serves as the Chair of the Committee on Education. She is also a voting member of the following Committees: Committee on Civil Rights; Committee on Community Preservation Act; Committee on Healthy Women, Families and Communities; Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice; Committee on Small Business and Consumer Affairs; and Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Before her time on the Boston City Council, Annissa was an educator at East Boston High School for 13 years. Her lifelong commitment to public education is the driving force of her work as Chair of the Committee on Education and gave her a front-row seat to the challenges and inequities that Boston families face each and every day. Annissa has led the fight to place at least one full-time nurse and one full-time social-emotional support specialist in every public school, increase investments in Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, prioritize school safety and security measures, maintain accountability for the 10-year school facility investment plan “Build BPS,” and improve the process for individualized education plans for students with disabilities.

 

Annissa led the Council’s response to the impact of the opioid epidemic, the crisis of homelessness, and insufficient mental health care in Boston. She has fought for increasing the number of safe collection sites for sharps in the City of Boston, expanding access to mental health resources, challenging the stigma of addiction, rebuilding the Long Island Bridge and creating a recovery campus, and ensuring mental health clinicians become a part of each Boston Police Department precinct. In her last term, she received unanimous support for her Ordinance to create a Special Commission to end Family Homelessness.

 

In addition to her work in these committees, Annissa has worked hard to improve the everyday lives of Bostonians by working to improve compliance with Payment In Lieu of Tax Agreements (PILOT) with the City of Boston, increase patron safety in nightlife settings, provide Affordable WorkSpace and LifeSpace for Artist Housing, prevent elder scamming, and reform the city’s system of parking.

 

Annissa is the owner of Stitch House in Dorchester, a brick and mortar retail shop that sells yarn and fabrics and serves as a de facto community gathering place. She knows those small businesses play a special role in our neighborhoods and believes it’s critical to provide the necessary support to them and our Main Streets.

Born and raised in Boston, Annissa is a proud graduate of Boston Tech, Boston University, and UMass – Boston.

 

Annissa and her husband, Doug, are the proud parents of four boys: Douglas, age 15, and triplets, Charlie, Kayden and Samir, age 13.