Richard Harding

RICHARD HARDING, JR. began his service as an intern at Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy’s Citizen’s Energy, then served as Director of Constituent Services for Senator Steven Tolman and is the past Chair of the Ward 2 Democratic Committee.  He has served on the national board of the Young People’s Project and on the board of the Community Arts Center, a community-based organization that served him as a young person.  Member Harding is the President of the Port Life Foundation and a founder of the Port Action Group, a neighborhood group focused on violence prevention. 

Member Harding has co-chaired the Kids Council and brought his leadership to the Neighborhood Safety Task Force’s Employment Sub-Committee.  Member Harding has worked with local advocates and law enforcement to build better relationships between community members, especially Black and brown young people, and police, through the Cambridge Police Commissioner’s Advisory Committee.

Among the many public programs Member Harding has organized and facilitated are two community wide conversations around justice — Civil Rights: Policing, Discretion and Race, and Not Guilty, a forum that examined police conduct in the Eurie Stamps and DJ Henry incidents. 

Member Harding continues his leadership as Vice-President of the Cambridge NAACP and currently runs the Men of Color Health Initiative in the Cambridge Public Health Department and is a consultant to the job training program, CambridgeWorks. Member Harding served as a Harvard Catalyst Community Investigator examining the disparities in obesity. Member Harding was the second sponsoring signatory on the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Massachusetts.

Member Harding is a product of the Cambridge Public Schools, receiving his high school diploma from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, and is a graduate of Fitchburg State College, where he excelled in academics and athletics as a four-year starter and 1,000-point scorer.  He is a proud past recipient of the NAACP Education Excellence Award and the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award.