MEDFORD — On Tuesday night, Medford is expected to become the first city in Massachusetts to adopt a municipal divestment ordinance that prohibits city investments in fossil fuel companies, weapons manufacturers, prisons, and firms linked to human rights violations.
A press release issued by Lara Jirmanus on behalf of several Medford-based advocacy groups—including the city’s Energy & Environment Committee, Safe Medford, and others—states that the proposed ordinance, slated for a vote at the Medford City Council meeting on June 24, 2025, expands Boston’s 2021 fossil fuel divestment measure to also address global conflicts and immigration detention.
“We are in a new era where taxpayers are not just concerned with the services they receive as part of a city and town, but also how city and town resources are impacting global issues,” said Medford City Council President Zac Bears, who sponsored the ordinance. “It’s heartening to see Medford take this on. We hope this proactive approach to ensure that municipal resources contribute to the public good and not to major forms of harm will become a trend.”
Supporters of the ordinance plan to gather outside Medford City Hall at 6:30 p.m. for a brief rally, which will be live-streamed on Instagram. The City Council meeting itself will be broadcast on Zoom and YouTube.
(Photo credit: Medford City Council)
“The City of Medford will strive to invest its funds in ways that promote the well-being of our communities and our environment,” the ordinance states, “favoring investment in entities that support the needs of peacetime daily life, and meets the stated goals of the draft preamble of the proposed City Charter to conduct local government in an ‘accountable, transparent, innovative, stable, ethical, representative, and responsible’ way.”
Medford resident and attorney Micah-Shalom Kesselman framed the ordinance as a response to broader public sentiment. “There is expanding clarity among the American public about how they want public money to be used and not used,” Kesselman said. “That includes not just tax dollars but also investment dollars that stem from taxes.”
Healthcare worker and Medford resident Dina Alami echoed that sentiment in the statement. “We just saw millions of Americans rise up to say ‘No Kings!’ But our elected officials just keep doing business as usual,” Alami said. “It’s time to make sure we put our money where our mouth is.”
Medford’s official Energy & Environment Committee also submitted a letter of support. “Supporting divestment from the fossil fuel industry is clearly in line with that appointed mission and the goals of our Climate Action & Adaptation Plan,” the committee wrote.
Anna Meyer, a Medford history teacher and immigration advocate, urged the council to pass the measure: “ICE is detaining students, tearing apart families, and detaining people in for-profit facilities where they are subject to medical neglect and lack of due process. The tax dollars of Medford residents should not be invested in companies that profit from maintaining these inhumane conditions.”
Inspired by the global divestment movement that began during the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa, local advocates say this effort aligns Medford’s finances with its values. Similar divestment initiatives have gained traction in cities like Dearborn, Michigan, and Portland, Maine.
The coalition supporting the measure includes Safe Medford, the Energy & Environment Committee, Medford for Palestine, and the New England Jewish Labor Bund.
