I am Passionate About Driving Change for Anchorage.

I hope to inspire a renewed sense of community and an interest in civic engagement that is reflected in the commitment of time, talent, and financial resources for the overall betterment of Anchorage for current and future generations. There is power in the collective efforts of even the smallest of actions, and as these commitments are made by individuals and businesses, I believe showcasing their impacts will inspire and leverage additional support. The main incentive is a connected community across generations that provides a pipeline of students invested in local businesses, our university system, union jobs, the nonprofit sector and the municipality. This in turn will spur growth and strengthen our tax base and keep more Alaskans in Alaska, returning the initial business investment many times over.

Anchorage significantly lacks affordable, available quality child care. Across Alaska, this is an issue that is preventing up to 25,000 parents from entering the workforce, equating to 1 in 5 families. Volunteering on the Thread Alaska board, I am personally involved in the work to make critical improvements, which will take additional public and private investment. We need to creatively use the current Prop 14 municipal tax revenue dedicated to improving childcare to support stable operations and increase the number of child care facilities, as well as to boost professional development training and support. I will collaborate with community partners to review the potential to offer tax incentives for businesses to offer child care stipends or establish on-site child care support.

You can view the Early Care & Learning Economic Impact report here.

I believe the first opportunity we have is to conduct an energy audit to determine what impact could be made by reducing our current energy consumption in Anchorage, both from businesses as well as from residential use. During the recent cold snap, Enstar suggested turning down thermostats across the community and eliminating the use of non-essential heating devices, so we need to look at what we can do ourselves both in the short-term and long-term. We need to evaluate our renewable energy options and ensure we are diversifying our energy resources. We will need to work with our utilities, the state, and Cook Inlet producers to understand what opportunities and challenges lie ahead, and to move forward with the most viable, cost-effective option to keep energy affordable in and around Anchorage.

In order to make a meaningful impact and reduce homelessness, we need to address the existing root causes of why so many in our community are unhoused. The recent decrease in housing availability has skyrocketed rents, forcing many families out of their existing housing and into homelessness. We need to continue to increase the number of available and affordable housing units with the help of organizations like the Anchorage Affordable Housing and Land Trust. Equally important, we need to leverage public-private partnerships and seek grants to increase and expand mental health services and facilities to appropriately treat and support these community members. Finally, I will continually collaborate with existing programs and nonprofit organizations providing shelter and transitional housing to ensure we have an understanding of the needs, available resources, efficient processes, and gaps to continue to reduce homelessness long-term.

We are experiencing a housing crisis. Not only have hundreds of families fallen into homelessness after their rents have spiked, but middle-income families can’t move from renting to purchasing due to the escalating prices, if they can even find a home to purchase in the first place. We need to create a cohesive plan that includes data and benchmarks and blends various funding sources to fundamentally change our housing landscape. The recent study by Agnew Beck determined that Anchorage needs 2,300 new units and 4,700 rehabilitated units over the next 10 years to meet the needs of our community. I will work with existing organizations leading current housing initiatives including Housing Alaskans: A public-private partnership, the Anchorage Community Land Trust, the Anchorage Affordable Housing and Land Trust, the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, and other community partners to ensure we can meet the described housing needs.