As your School Board member, my priorities are to:

 

Ensure Continued Accountability and Excellence 

 

I’m proud to have spent a career advancing health equity for working-class people through my work with nonprofits, government, and labor organizations. I believe that our state can, and must, serve to reduce the systemic barriers to health care - a critical piece of improving the lives of Oregonians. 

 

While we act to address the threat of climate change, it’s critical that we prioritize protecting our most vulnerable communities who are most impacted by climate change but contribute the least to the crisis. I’ll fight for investments in carbon-neutral modes of transportation, and the creation of green-jobs. 

 

As a public health professional and social worker, I have been on the frontlines of environmental justice projects to address aging housing stock and the proximity of homes to a health hazard site in Latinx communities, expanding access to affordable and accessible health care, promoting supportive housing for houseless communities, providing care for people experiencing domestic violence and sexual assault, developing the health care workforce equitably, and more. In all of my work, I have been driven by building healthier communities and removing barriers for those who are too frequently left behind.

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Promote Mental Health and Well-Being 

 

I stand ready to fight for fully-funded schools in Salem. By increasing access to preschool for students of all backgrounds to investing in workforce-readiness programs, we can prepare our students for their futures. COVID-19, like in so many other areas, has highlighted the central role that our public schools play throughout our communities.

 

As a public health professional, social worker, school board member, a parent with a child in the public schools, and a granddaughter of educators, I know how vital supporting our students is for our future as a community. In Salem, I’ll fight to make sure that we are supporting our students' love for learning by investing in recruiting, preparing and retaining diverse and talented educators.

 

Create an Even Stronger Culture of Beloging

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To create stronger communities, we must ensure that Oregonians can thrive in their communities by creating strong, living wage jobs that allow our communities to flourish with dignity.  We need immediate investments into housing solutions as our state faces a crisis of limited supply and rising costs. Finally, to create vibrant communities across our district, we must address systemic inequities and biases.