WORCESTER—When Sean Rose was young, his mother told him that he could grow up to become anything except a politician.
“It wasn’t because she didn’t think I had the capacity or the ability to do it,” Rose recalled. “There were no Black or brown politicians that she ever knew or grew up with.”
Rose said his mother’s heart melted when in 2017 he was elected the first Black District 1 city councilor in Worcester, two years after Khrystian King became the first African American man to be elected for a city-wide, councilor-at-large seat.
Rose was reelected twice before he decided not to run again this year. On Nov. 7, Jennifer “Jenny” Pacillo, the first woman who will represent District 1, was elected to succeed Rose.
When Rose, 47, attended a debate of the political candidates this fall, he was pleased to see how much more diverse the council had become during his six years in office. His campaign manager pointed out that Rose had helped to inspire others like him to run for office.
Rose was also the initial Black chair of the first Economic Development Committee composed solely of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) members and he oversaw $1 billion in public and private investments in that role.
Rose hopes he provided a role model for children when he spoke at schools about the importance of voting.
Assisting others has been a priority to Rose since he was young.
“I grew up a poor kid on food stamps and Section 8 (subsidized housing),” he said, “and moved around probably a dozen different towns before I was in seventh grade.”
Nevertheless, his mother, Pamela Rose, instilled in her four children the desire to give back. Rose said that she often told her children, “You may think you have it back, but somebody has it worse than you and we always need to be mindful to take care of the less fortunate.”
All four children worked for nonprofits at one time or another. Rose is president and CEO of Thrive, Support & Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that provides support and services to people with autism and other developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Rose saw another need when he coached basketball at Girls Inc. in 2016. So he and his wife paid for the uniforms and insurance and formed a travel basketball team called Worcester Union Athletics. The girls on the team took part in community service projects such as city cleanups and food drives.
The following year, Worcester Union switched from basketball to softball and there are now 108 girls on nine teams in the program for girls aged 10-18. Rose said the girls have taken part in thousands of community service projects over the years. Rose’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Ward, is the community service director.
Rose coaches their youngest daughter, Charlotte, 14, on the U14 team and he’s also coached their three older daughters, Teagan, 21; Anna, 19; and Isabelle, 18, in softball and basketball in Joe Schwartz Little League, Girls Inc, and travel leagues.
Rose used to own a therapeutic consultant practice in Worcester and he learned that gap-year programs refused to admit anyone on medication or who had a significant clinical diagnosis. So he founded Point School Puerto Rico, a gap year program in Isabela, P.R., for high school graduates with anxiety, mood disorders or trauma.
Rose also conducted diversity and equity inclusive training for Justice Resource Institute in Needham before founding Thrive, Support & Advocacy and he’s done training more recently as a consultant for O’Connor Professional Group in Boston.
After graduating from Middleboro High School and Lesley University, Rose earned a master’s degree in education and school administration at American International College.
Rose married into a political family. His father-in-law, Tom White, was a longtime state, senator, state, representative and city councilor. School Committee member Molly McCullough is a first cousin to Rose’s wife. James O’Brien, his wife’s grandfather, used to be mayor of Worcester. His wife’s uncle, also named James O’Brien, served on the Governor’s Council.
When Tony Economou decided to run for an At-Large City Council seat in 2017 and give up his District 1 position, McCullough urged Rose to run to replace him. His father-in-law told him the position wouldn’t be easy, but he’d support him.
One of Rose’s campaign pledges was to find city funds for a playground, softball field and rectangular field with lights at Indian Hill Park on Ararat Street. Rose expects the construction to be completed in the spring.
“There was so much pessimism in me getting that done,” he said, “and so the fact that I ran on it and actually got it done was probably one of my proudest accomplishments.”
He’s also proud of being a driving force behind the planned construction of a library at Great Brook Valley and a rectangular field and spray park on Tacoma Street.
He also worked to ban Jet skis on Indian Lake and secure funding to build an alum dosing station to mitigate bad nutrients in the lake.
Rose decided not to run again in 2023 in part because of the time commitment the position requires. He admitted that his 2021 reelection also took a toll on him.
“In full disclosure, the last race that I had took a lot of the wind out of my sails,” he said. “What they painted me as, the everyday drama of it all, the lies. My faith was shaken for a time there.”
Rose is proud of his record as a District 1 City Councilor.
“I feel like I made an incredible difference,” he said. “If you rack up a lot of things I’ve done in the time that I’ve been there, there have been dozens of councilors who haven’t accomplished what I have.”
His father-in-law told him to make decisions that didn’t keep him up at night and he followed that advice.
“I’m most proud of being someone,” Rose said, “who was very pragmatic and thoughtful and did my homework. I never rushed to judgment on a decision. I never made an emotional decision.”
Rose said he’s heard rumors that he plans to run for mayor, but he said they are not true. He won’t rule out a return to politics at some point, however.
Rose will be honored for his contribution to youth sports at the second annual WooSox Foundation Honors Gala at Polar Park on Dec. 2.
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
