Councilman John Goncalves

Councilman John Goncalves currently represents the residents of Ward One, which includes the neighborhoods of Fox Point, Wayland Square, College Hill, The Jewelry District, and Downtown Providence.  He currently serves as the Senior Deputy Majority Leader and is a member of the Committee on City Property, Committee on Claims and Pending Suits, Committee on Urban Redevelopment Renewal and Planning, and Special Committee on State Legislative Affairs. 

Councilman Goncalves has been a resident of Ward One as a Fox Point and East Side community member for over 25 years. He attended Vartan Gregorian Elementary, and he frequented the Fox Point Boys and Girls Club and the Providence Public Library as a child. Councilman Goncalves has a B.A. from Brown University and also a master’s degree from Brown University.

Professionally, Goncalves is a passionate educator and DEI Coordinator at the Wheeler School in Providence and a community advocate who has worked to advance issues on education, environmental justice, and neighborhood quality of life. Previously, Councilman Goncalves served as a board member of the Fox Point Neighborhood Association, and the Brown University AA Board of Governors. He was a co-founder in spearheading the Providence Coalition of Neighborhood Associations, which included representation from over 19 neighborhood associations across the city, including the FPNA, The Wayland Square Neighborhood Association, The College Hill Neighborhood Association, the Downtown Neighborhood Association and the Mile of History Association in Ward One. He has been a proponent for bringing neighborhoods across the city together in order to work collaboratively to tackle common neighborhood challenges and citywide issues. He was named Providence Monthly’s Who To Watch 2020 for his work in spearheading the coalition.

Prior to moving back to Providence, Councilman Goncalves served as an educator for several years in Minnesota, where he was a faculty leader serving on the school’s diversity and inclusion committees and as Faculty Council Chair and Annual Fund Chair.

Outside of being an educator, Councilman Goncalves has done work for several politicians and has been involved in many political campaigns including roles as Chair of the Minnesota Senate District 60 Committee, Administrative Director, Strategy Director, and Policy Aide/Advisor in key city council, mayoral, attorney general, and Minnesota senate races.

Councilman John Goncalves previously served as an elected board member of the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association, the oldest and largest neighborhood association in Minneapolis.

Additionally, Councilman Goncalves is the author of the children’s book It’s Important: Teaching The Importance of Kindness, Empathy, Inclusivity, Difference and Compassion. His books are designed to embrace multiculturalism and diversity and to promote social-emotional development and character growth.  

Councilman Goncalves is a Democrat who champions neighborhood quality of life issues that put people and community first. Councilman Goncalves fights earnestly for Ward One taxpayers and resident services, Providence public education, robust economic development, tax transparency, historic preservation, affordable housing, parks and recreation, environmental justice, social justice, women and LGBTQIA+ rights, and ultimately issues that will improve the quality of life of children, families, and senior citizens in Ward One and Providence.

Councilman Goncalves currently lives with his partner in Fox Point.