Title: City councilor, at-large

Municipality: City of Durham

Positions Interested In: Cities over 200,000 - Durham

Q&A's:

TELL US WHY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SERVE IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION AT THE LEAGUE. IN PARTICULAR, SPECIFY GOALS YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH AS AN OFFICER OR BOARD MEMBER AND INDICATE HOW, IF ATTAINED, THEY WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE VISION 2030 – THE LEAGUE’S FUTURE VISION OF HOW CITIES AND TOWNS WILL OPERATE IN 2030?

Just like every other city and town in North Carolina, the City of Durham has a huge stake in state policy and politics. The City is grateful to hold one of the large city seats on the NCLM's board and has been proud to work collaboratively with the NCLM and its members to achieve Vision 2030. I seek to continue that effective collaboration by serving as a new member from the City of Durham and would be proud to follow in the footsteps of city council colleagues, such as Mark Anthony Middleton and Leonardo Williams, who have previously served on the board.

In particular, in our current political climate, the City of Durham is wrestling with a number of challenges that are impacted by our relationship with state government and the North Carolina General Assembly. These include: 1) our ability to maintain control over local revenue-raising to be able to meet the local service demands of our residents, 2) our ability to exercise control over land use planning as our city grows and is projected to keep growing, 3) our ability to use technology wisely as a tool to enhance the delivery of government services, and 4) our ability to work collaboratively with Durham County to achieve our shared goals for a thriving and prosperous community. All of these challenges are closely tied to the operating principles of the League's Vision 2030. Yet, we understand that, acting alone, the City of Durham will have great difficulty resolving these challenges with our partners in state government. Rather, being an active member of and collaborator with the NCLM and its members allows the City of Durham to have a greater voice and greater strength in conversations with legislators and state government officials. At the same time, as an active member of the NCLM, I and the City of Durham would seek not only to take advantage of the benefits of membership and collaboration, but also be an active contributor in sharing knowledge and experience about what works at the local level.

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TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A MUNICIPAL OFFICIAL. YOU MAY WANT TO INCLUDE INFORMATION ON YOUR SERVICE ON THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNING BODY, OTHER RELATED BOARDS AND SPECIAL AREAS OF INTEREST?

I am a first-term city council member in the City of Durham, elected in the fall of 2023. In my 2+ years on the city council, I have sought to combine a progressive vision for governance with a pragmatic approach to getting things done. The top issues that I ran for office to work on and which continue to be my main areas of interest include: 1) affordable housing - making sure that every Durham resident has access to a safe and affordable place to live, 2) community safety - making sure that all residents are safe and free from violence and that the public response when safety is threatened includes trained, unarmed counselors for people in crisis and armed police officers to address violent situations, and 3) shared economic prosperity - making sure that all residents have the opportunity to earn a living wage and build wealth while contributing to the economy as workers or entrepreneurs. To achieve these objectives and to help our city achieve its strategic vision, I have taken a particularly active role on several key boards and commissions that play critical roles in local governance. These include the Triangle West Transportation Planning Organization, the Upper Neuse River Basin Association, the Durham Housing Authority, the Durham Workforce Development Board, Downtown Durham, Inc. and the Durham Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. I am also an active member of a new association of elected officials known as the Abundance Elected Network that seeks to apply the framework developed by Ezra Klein (in his recent book, Abundance) to deliver more of what citizens want from local government, including affordable housing, public transit and green energy.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND, PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, AND/OR COMMUNITY OR CIVIC ACTIVITIES?

I am a graduate of Davidson College (’84) and have a graduate degree in public policy from Duke University (’91). I worked for almost thirty years for Washington, DC-based Prosperity Now (formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development) as a policy analyst and program director. The focus of my work was on designing and implementing programmatic innovations and advocating for public policies to promote wealth-building, economic opportunity, and financial inclusion for low-income adults and children across the United States. During my time at Prosperity Now, I was deeply involved in developing public policies and best practices to support the creation of wealth-building accounts (often known as Children’s Savings Accounts or Baby Bonds) to allow all children to build savings and future aspirations from birth. I have been a resident of Durham for more than 35 years and, for most of that time, have been active in Durham’s political life as a volunteer and board member in numerous local civic organizations, including the People’s Alliance, Self-Help Credit Union, and First Presbyterian Church Durham.

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HAVE YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING NCLM EVENTS OR COMMITTEES?

• Town & State Dinner or Town Hall Days

PLEASE PROVIDE ANY OTHER INFORMATION YOU WOULD LIKE THE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER?

I look forward to participating in the nominating process and hope to have the chance to serve on the NCLM board.