Joel Richards, the teacher running for the District 3 Council seat, has a platform that consists of working to improve the public schools and provide affordable housing as well as safe and reliable public transportation.

There is a personal element to his campaign, which the Fields Corner resident kicked off last December. His oldest child, JC, doesn’t have a gym at school because they turned the one inside the Russell Elementary on Columbia Road into classroom space.

As a father and teacher at the Blackstone School in the South End, Richards understands how education impacts a child’s identity. Taking his children out of Boston Public Schools isn’t an option for the family, financially speaking, but even if it were, Richards, a member of the Boston Teachers Union, feels it would disconnect them from the community. He and his wife, Madeligne, have a second son, Johan, and celebrated the birth of a third over the weekend.

“I want them to do jujitsu here. I want them to go to the Boys and Girls Club. I want them to be on the swim team at DotHouse so that they love this area just as much as me,” he said. “I feel like a lot of time the schools don’t service our kids the way they can. I have students who say, ‘I want to leave here as soon as I can because the city did not take care of me in that way.’”

Richards said the city’s issues with the housing crisis, below-standard public transportation, and its schools are indicative of one another and must be worked on simultaneously. He noted that Boston is losing people, especially those who work in education, transportation, and emergency medical care, because they can’t afford to live in the city.

“I feel like the city itself should be buying and purchasing run-down houses and vacant houses and fixing them up for our working-class people, for our teachers, our nurses, our police officers, our firefighters so that they can afford to live in the city,” he said. 

If elected, he said, “Instead of fighting for the right policy, I can actually write the right policy.”

Richards moved to Dorchester in 2010, where he has served as a pastor and community advocate, served on the board of Little Saigon, been the president of Fields Corner Main Streets organization, and founded the Dorchester Juneteenth celebration. 

He ran for a seat on the Council two years ago, when now-state Attorney General Andrea Campbell ran for mayor instead of reelection in District 4. Richards was one of nine candidates in the District 4 preliminary, coming in third, behind Evandro Carvalho and eventual winner Brian Worrell.

Richards said he learned from that experience and was inspired by his wife and colleagues to run again this year, when his home precinct was shifted from District 4 to District 3 in redistricting legislation.

He said he is relying on family, friends, and his faith as he makes his second run for public office. On the personal level, he wants to focus his efforts on housing, education, and transportation to improve the city, but also because he needs these issues resolved for his family’s well-being.

“This isn’t about pointing fingers or trying to call out people. I just want to get in there and do the work, unite people, talk to people, and get it done,” Richards said. “I feel blessed to live in Dorchester and I just want other people to experience the same thing that I have and to also improve.”

If he’s elected to the 13-member Council, he said, he’ll still have a two-bedroom home and children in schools that need significant upgrades, he said. “The things I am talking about are not political issues or theory. This is where we are.”

Visit DotNews.com for more coverage of District 3.