Suzette DeBeatham-Brown has the distinction of being the only mayor in Connecticut who is a person of color. She’s also the first of Jamaican ancestry to hold the office. DeBeatham-Brown is the mayor of Bloomfield, CT and it’s the only one of the state’s 169 towns to have a top elected official who is also Black.
DeBeatham was born in Jamaica. Her father was a college professor in Jamaica and her grandmother came to the U.S. as a domestic worker. After arriving in the U.S., the mayor’s father worked at a printing plant before eventually launching his own electrical contracting company.
The mayor won the election on her first run for office in 2018. DeBeatham-Brown is determined to leave the world a better place and that includes getting more people of color involved in politics and for leadership to more accurately reflect and represent the people they serve.
Even though she was duly elected, DeBeatham-Brown has faced racism in a variety of forms. She was told she shouldn’t be the face of the town, she needed to change the way she speaks, and the way she wears her hair. It actually firmed her resolve to run for office and cemented her belief that she was doing the right thing and for the right reasons.
She believes when it comes to governing, working toward the common good comes first. She urges everyone to get involved in their local communities whether it’s serving on the Board of Education or a library committee. The important thing is to make communities a better place to live.
DeBeatham is an Ordained Minister of the Church of God, a Chaplain for the Bloomfield Police Department, and a Youth Advocate for the Urban League of Greater Hartford. She also serves as Chair of the Bloomfield Citizen Awareness Taskforce and a board member of Ascend Mentoring Board. She also holds positions on the administration of the Education Committee, Community Services Committee and Finance Committee.
The mayor holds an MHS in Counseling and a B.A. in Sociology and Criminal Justice.
Photos – Suzette DeBeatham-Brown Facebook
