Kim Janey marks her first year at the helm of EMPath
Jul 12, 2023
The former Boston mayor turned to the nonprofit herself when she was a ‘scared, pregnant teenager,’ and now has returned to lead the organization.
Kim Janey
Title: CEO and President at Boston-based nonprofit Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath)
Age: 58
Education: Smith College, Asa Comstock Scholars Program
Residence: Roxbury
Forty years ago, a teenager balancing young motherhood with her high school education walked into an Economic Mobility Pathways shelter in Brighton. Now, former Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey has returned to that same shelter, as she celebrates one year at the helm of the nonprofit that supported her at age 16.
During those four decades, Janey has been called a lot of different things. Daughter. Mom. City councilor. Mayor. CEO. But the constant for Janey is that she has “always been driven by (her) values,” she said.
Boston-based EMPath aims to help people in poverty move up the economic ladder. Janey says her previous jobs and experiences have equipped her with a toolkit to run the nonprofit, which is located at 308 Congress St.
“Although my title has changes from mayor to CEO, I’m still on Congress Street, and I’m still responsible for a lot of people,” Janey said.
Janey grew up in Boston down the street from community activists, including Mel King.
“I got to see a front row seat to his activism, and I took those lessons and became a community organizer pretty young,” Janey said.
When she was 16, she walked through the doors of EMPath’s shelter at 10 Perthshire Road in Brighton as a “scared pregnant teenager" who didn’t know where she would live, nor if she could graduate high school. Janey did graduate high school with her 18-month-old daughter by her side. She grew up with a lot of housing insecurity, and got her first apartment in Dorchester with a Section 8 voucher.