Dalida Rocha was appointed political director at the New England district of SEIU 32BJ, the largest property service workers union in the nation, with 163,000 members up and down the East Coast. The New England district represents 18,000 janitors, security officers and other property service workers at office buildings, universities, convention centers and other major institutions across Greater Boston and Rhode Island. Rocha moves into the position after serving as the district’s political coordinator for the past year, where she worked with community groups and leaders to support various worker campaigns for higher wages, benefits, and respect on the job. She joined the union after working as director of the Youth Jobs Coalition (now known as I Have a Future), which advocates at the State House for up to $14 million to fund youth jobs across Massachusetts.
A native of Cape Verde, Rocha moved to Dorchester with her family as a teenager. Despite the shock of a new culture and language, she quickly developed an after school radio program, GRLZRadio.org, that is still in existence today, as a response to a rise in youth violence among girls in Dorchester. Rocha is now a mother of three, a graduate of UMass Boston, and a resident of Upham’s Corner, the same Dorchester neighborhood she moved into as a teenager.
