Ready to Serve

When you think about important qualities in a City Councilmember, what comes to mind?

Government experience? Community standing? Business background?

I want to encourage us to think bigger about what experience can prepare someone to serve. We need people making decisions who understand how those decisions affect everyday Fayetteville residents and who will carry their stories with them to City Hall.

How else can we expect them to represent us?

My work background is diverse: I’ve been an educator, a social worker, and now I work for a local nonprofit that strives to end poverty in our community. I’ve seen hardworking families struggle to make ends meet and wonder whether they can afford to continue calling Fayetteville home.

In my job as a Children and Families Coordinator, I’m tasked with connecting families with resources that help them maximize their budgets and build towards financial stability and upward mobility. I also work with kids ages 0 to 18 and their parents/caregivers to develop an educational curriculum for our programming, I oversee a volunteer team to help with childcare on programming nights, and I manage program budgeting to ensure every dollar has its maximum impact.

Every day I see the impact that our City government can have, for better or worse, on the families I work with.

I hear from parents trying to piece together childcare around their work schedules, families watching more of their paycheck disappear into housing and groceries, and people spending more time in traffic as Fayetteville grows.

When the affordable housing at Cobblestone Farms opened, I saw firsthand what stable, affordable housing can mean for a family.

I know not every idea will work, and I’ve learned that even well-intentioned policies can have unintended consequences. Good leadership means listening to the people who actually live with the decisions we make.

We need leadership shaped by experience working directly with Fayetteville residents and grounded in the realities they face every day.

That's the kind of leadership I believe in: listening, learning, and serving. 

And that's what I'll bring with me to City Hall.