Priorities
My priorities reflect the issues my District 62B neighbors and community tell me matter most to them, and the areas where our State Legislature has power to bring about meaningful change.
Championing Public Education and Minneapolis Public Schools
I worked as an educator for 19 years at Minneapolis Public Schools, making sure every student and family felt welcome and had a place in our schools so they were ready to learn. This vision drove me to lead the Minneapolis Park Board on joining Minneapolis Public Schools and the City of Minneapolis to establish our first full-service community schools. This vision drove me to fight for and win expanding unemployment insurance for hourly educators last session so they could afford to stay in our schools. Our students and the educators have urgent needs and that’s why I will continue to bring this vision to our Capitol:
Immediately provide the funding Minneapolis Public Schools needs to avoid layoffs and halt the elimination of crucial programs like Spanish immersion, music and academic intervention.
Expanding the full-service community school model to all our schools so every family has the support they need for their kids to be ready to learn.
Expanding the Teachers of Color Act so that our school communities reflect our diverse neighborhoods.
Passing the Education Support Professionals Bill of Rights because all our educators deserve affordable healthcare, a livable wage and the time to receive the training they need to succeed.
Expanding the North Star Promise to cover not just tuition but also student fees and room and board so everyone can afford college.
Expanding the student loan tax credit to relieve existing student debt that is placing an unfair burden on young people.
Expanding funding for childcare providers to ensure childcare workers are receiving a living wage and reverse the decline in the number of providers without passing the cost on to parents.
Environmental Justice and Climate Change
We must meet the urgency of climate change immediately. Community solutions here in District 62B like the East Phillips community’s victory at the Roof Depot provide a blueprint for how we can tackle environmental injustices in our neighborhoods while also empowering our communities to reduce emissions. We saw significant victories last session like the cumulative impact law and new transit funding and I’m looking forward to building on those:
Closing major polluters like Smith Foundry and the HERC incinerator that are putting our families at risk and ensuring a just transition for workers there into union renewable-energy jobs.
Establishing Just Transition funds that are community-controlled to support climate resilience projects and restorative investments in neighborhoods most impacted by pollution.
Ensuring future transit funding goes toward increasing the frequency and reliability of public transit and making transit zero fare for all riders.
Expanding state funding for tree canopy restoration in neighborhoods that have been damaged by emerald ash borer and the tornado in North Minneapolis in 2011, instead of forcing the cost onto residents with assessments.
Supporting the I-94 Boulevard Conversion to reduce emissions while also beginning to undo the devastating impact highway construction had on Twin Cities Black communities.
Healthcare and Bodily Autonomy
Whatever the color of our skin or the neighborhood we live in, when it comes to our health, we all want to make sure we can prevent, treat or recover from illness or injury without fearing we’ll go bankrupt. But today our healthcare is being undercut by insurance corporations and pharmaceutical lobbyists while they rake in record profits. Working as an hourly educator for 19 years I struggled firsthand with the lack of affordable healthcare. We need a healthcare system that takes care of all of us:
Establishing single-payer healthcare, such as the Minnesota Health Plan, to ensure everyone and their families can get the care they need.
Passing the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act to put patients before profits and address our hospital short-staffing and retention crisis.
Funding overdose prevention centers as part of a public health approach to the opioid crisis to reduce overdose deaths and connect people with resources.
Expanding and updating the "Good Samaritan" law to protect people who call for help during an overdose from facing drug-related charges.
Ensuring all students receive comprehensive sex education that is medically accurate, age-appropriate, and LGBTQ inclusive.
Maintaining access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for all people and defending the right to choose.
Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Every single person in Minnesota deserves to be safe, no matter where they live or who they are. As a Park Board Commissioner, I led the effort that successfully eliminated programming fees and expanded youth employment opportunities to get our kids off the street corners and into our parks. As a community leader with the Justice for All campaign, I helped lay the groundwork for last session’s victory to restore the vote for formerly incarcerated folks. We must continue to build safer, more equitable communities:
Funding youth employment programs to connect youth to their communities and keep them from entering the criminal justice system in the first place.
Supporting gun violence prevention that centers the communities most impacted by gun violence so they can be at the table to lead and receive resources.
Increasing funding for comprehensive public safety programs that actually keep people safe, including mental health co-responders, violence interrupters and victim services.
Limiting the use of cash bail for misdemeanor offenses. The balance of your bank account shouldn’t determine whether or not you sit in jail awaiting trial.
Banning no-knock warrants.
Housing and Homelessness
Living in South Minneapolis as an hourly school worker for two decades, I know what it's like to struggle to pay the rent earning $35,000 a year while working multiple jobs. After the murder of George Floyd, I stood with our unhoused neighbors to make sure they had a safe place to be during the Uprising. No one believes encampments are a suitable place for our most vulnerable residents, but encampment evictions that only shuffle people from block to block solve nothing. I will fight for a Minnesota that we can all afford to call home:
Mandating a “Housing first” approach to homelessness with increased coordination between counties, state agencies, and service providers to find unhoused residents permanent housing and provide the wrap-around services needed for success.
Holding predatory landlords accountable for their mistreatment of our neighbors and strengthening renter protections so everyone can have dignified housing.
Reducing barriers like parking minimums and zoning restrictions so everyone can have quality, affordable housing in their communities.
Passing Rep. Esther Agbaje’s proposed ban on corporate landlords continuing to buy up single family homes to convert to rental properties.
Expanding funding to public housing to ensure all our public housing residents have safe and clean homes.
Repealing the pre-emption that prevents cities from passing policies to limit rent hikes that are forcing families from their homes.
Worker Rights and Strong Unions
I served as a union shop steward for 15 years at Minneapolis Public Schools. We’re all better off when everyone in Minnesota has a right to dignity on the job, living wages and a safe workplace. Last session saw major victories like the ban on union busting captive audience meetings and a Labor Standards Board for nursing home workers. I look forward fighting for everyone to earn a living wage and go home safe and healthy after every shift:
Raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour so everyone can afford to thrive, not just survive.
Expanding collective bargaining rights to more Minnesotan workers and opposing any attempts to implement right-to-work laws.
Reducing barriers to employment by building on Governor Walz’s executive order last year and incentivizing employers to drop requirements for four-year degrees.
Treating wage theft as the crime that it is and expanding co-enforcement by labor organizations who best know the needs of workers in their industries.
Expanding unemployment insurance to workers forced to go on strike by their employers. Workers on strike should have the same right to unemployment insurance as everyone else in Minnesota who is out of a job.
Supporting our Registered Apprenticeship Programs to meet our need for skilled workers to build quality infrastructure while creating a pathway to well-paying union jobs.
Eliminating loopholes in our statewide minimum wage that exempt rideshare drivers and other gig workers because everyone working for a living should earn a living wage.