| Jared Nicholson | |
| Term Start: | January 4, 2022 |
| Predecessor: | Thomas M. McGee |
| Successor: | Incumbent |
| Birth Date: | 3 December 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Framingham, Massachusetts |
| Nationality: | American |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Residence: | Lynn, Massachusetts |
| Profession: | Attorney |
Jared C. Nicholson (born December 3, 1985) is the 59th Mayor of the City of Lynn, Massachusetts.
Nicholson was born on December 3, 1985, in Framingham, Massachusetts to Stephen and Lindsay Nicholson.[1] He is a Sudbury, Massachusetts native and attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, graduating in 2004.[2] He went on to graduate from Princeton University summa cum laude in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs in 2008.[3] He earned his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2014,[3] where he was Executive Director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.[4] Nicholson is bilingual in English and Spanish.[5]
Nicholson received the Skadden Fellowship out of Harvard Law School, and designed, launched, and led a new community economic development practice in Lynn, Massachusetts.[3] Here he represented underserved communities in entrepreneurial and small business legal matters.[6] He also helped make recommendations adopted by the Lynn City Council to support economic development in the city.[7] In 2016 he was elected to the Lynn School Committee, serving three two-year terms.[8] During that time, he helped develop a new initiative for students across the district to learn job skills after school,[9] and founded the city's wrestling team.[10] Since 2016, Nicholson, who wrestled at Princeton, has hosted a beach wrestling tournament every summer to support Lynn wrestling.[11] Prior to being elected Mayor, Nicholson worked as a business lawyer for startups at Latham & Watkins[12] and later as a law professor at Northeastern University, where he worked with and researched small businesses.[13] He stopped teaching once elected as Mayor.
In 2021 Nicholson was elected mayor of Lynn defeating City Council President Darren Cyr in all 28 precincts of the city.[14] Cyr had a significant fundraising advantage over Nicholson and Paris Alston of GBH reflected that “[s]ome wondered if Nicholson was too new to the city to become its top executive. But voters were persuaded by his ideas around the city’s growth and development being inclusive for all.” The Mayor also serves as the Chairperson of the School Committee of the Lynn Public Schools.[15]
Nicholson has made the cost of housing one of his administration’s top priorities,[16] creating an affordable housing trust fund with the City Council[17] that has funded projects creating hundreds of affordable units.[18] One of Nicholson’s first accomplishments in office was to reform the City’s development process, working with the City Council, to allow for a more coherent and coordinated review by City officials.[19] The streamlined process soon yielded a historic contribution by a developer on a major project to affordable housing.[20] Property tax relief programs for senior citizens were also increased early in Nicholson’s administration.[21] In his first year in office, Nicholson delivered on a campaign commitment to deliver inclusionary zoning, working with the City Council, that has been calibrated to encourage continued growth[22] while also creating affordable housing for Lynn residents.[23] Nicholson’s administration also designed and implemented a program to provide free legal representation to residents being evicted from their homes.[24] Governor Healey appointed Nicholson to her Administration’s statewide Housing Advisory Council.[25]
Another of Nicholson’s top priorities has been the conditions of Lynn’s schools. To alleviate overcrowding, Nicholson is leading a multi-year process to build a new middle school[26] and worked with the state legislative delegation to improve state funding for school projects to make the project feasible.[27] He has also focused expanding access to quality pre-K education, with Lynn Public Schools adding 97 seats for the 2023 school year and another 118 for 2024.[28] The schools also opened the Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy on North Shore Community College’s campus, a pioneering partnership between the Lynn Public Schools and North Shore Community college that gives high school students the opportunity to attend college-level courses at no cost to them while still enrolled in high school.[29] The Nicholson Administration also received approval[30] for the purchase of a headquarters building of a bank that was downsizing to allow for the creation of additional classroom space in school building offices.[31]
Nicholson has pushed to bring good-paying jobs to Lynn and connect Lynn to the region’s innovation economy, achieving an upgrade in MassBIO’s designation of Lynn’s readiness for life sciences growth from bronze to platinum,[32] supporting the vocational school’s launch of a preparatory program for careers in biotechnology,[33] and working with the City Council to rezone key parcels to facilitate job growth.[34] The focus of Nicholson’s administration on jobs has included a major increase in the City’s involvement in workforce development by preparing Lynn residents for good careers, funding Commercial Driver’s License training to fill a City hiring need,[35] expanding access to English classes,[36] and supporting the vocational school’s expansion of adult education in high demand trades.[37]
A focal point for inclusive long-term growth has been Lynn’s waterfront, the subject of an extensive, coordinated planning effort.[38] The City approved what would be the largest private sector development in the City’s history, a $450 million mixed-use development of 850 units, 26,000 square feet of commercial space, and an 8-acre public park.[39] A new 20+ acre public park is scheduled to open on the site of a former landfill in 2025.[40]
Nicholson has made inclusivity a hallmark of his Administration, leading an effort to improve language access to city services for multilingual residents by hiring a team of interpreters.[41] He has announced plans for the City to launch an independent, unarmed crisis response team to address mental health needs and further racial justice.[42] The schools have dramatically increased their mental health support for students through the hiring of social workers and clinicians.[43] Nicholson has also sought to increase the availability and utilization of lifesaving Nalaxone as part of the efforts to combat the opioid crisis[44] as the City has experienced a promising downward trend in opioid overdose deaths.[45] His administration instituted a door-to-door canvassing program for City officials to visit neighborhoods experiencing community violence,[46] launched a mentor connection program,[47] and drastically expanded summer youth jobs.[48]
Nicholson has also focused on improving the City’s infrastructure, including major upgrades to the City’s streets,[49] an overhaul of the parks system,[50] a noticeable escalation in the City’s efforts to combat litter,[51] [52] a committed approach to the clean-up of the City’s main beach, King’s Beach,[53] and the establishment of a new senior center,[54] as well as financial stability, attaining a credit rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s from A to A+[55] and paying off ahead of schedule the debt the City had previously issued under state oversight to balance its budget.[56] Nicholson also led the creation of the City’s first comprehensive plan, “Vision Lynn,”[57] which won multiple planning awards.[58] He has worked with the City’s legislative delegation to successfully advocate for the return of the Lynn ferry service[59] and a temporary platform after Lynn’s commuter rail station was closed,[60] as well as future expansion of service[61] and electrification for near-rapid transit service.[62] Nicholson also finalized a conservation restriction for Lynn Woods, a 2,200 acre municipal forest park, permanently guaranteeing its preservation.[63]
In 2024, Nicholson accepted a Municipal Innovation Award on behalf of the City in recognition of its efforts to combat hunger through a collaborative, multi-service food hub.[64]
Nicholson lives in Lynn with his wife, Katherine, and their sons, Henry and Benjamin.[65]
Nicholson has a younger brother.