I have been living in downtown Saint Paul for eight years now and believe that city leadership should focus on a people-centered, walkable, bike-friendly, and sustainable infrastructure. Currently, street and road improvements primarily continue to be car-centered, which is too expensive for the city to maintain and directly impacts the safety and health of Saint Paul residents. In addition Saint Paul has a unique housing opportunity, with the Ford Plant site development, Hillcrest redevelopment, the Sears building site, and Totem Town, all of which would bring the Saint Paul federal and state infrastructure funding, because they are all new developments. I see all these developments creating the opportunity for communities to reimagine the city’s infrastructure and believe that it requires us to enlighten city staff to change its focus from an unstainable car-centered infrastructure to a sustainable people-entered infrastructure. Over the past several years, I have volunteered at community organizations like TakeAction MN and have been advocating for Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. I have over 15 years of experience of community organizing experience working on political and issue campaigns. I recently advocated for the anti-tobacco ordinance, which prohibits local vendors from accepting price discounts on tobacco products. I have also advocated for affordable housing in Saint Paul and have met with each Councilmember several times over the past few years. I served on the Capitol River Council (2018 -2020) and the Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO) Commission (2019 – 2022), where I chaired the Procurement and Contract Compliance Committee. Both the District Council and Commission focused on affordable housing, homelessness, fair wages, and equitable infrastructure improvements. Currently, I am the Community Engagement Organizer for Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation (MSFG) and I have also been organizing for the Association for Nonsmokers Minnesota (ANSR) for almost two years. Sustainability, to me, is a social justice issue because it directly impacts the health and wealth of BIPOC communities. Also, my vocation includes, congregational organizing with the faith community focusing on affordable housing and ending homelessness; labor organizing, negotiating higher wages for school service workers.

Term expires: January 2026