Equity & Community

A healthy, equitable community is a community that offers social, physical, and mental well-being to its residents.

So, how can Newport do this? To start, it’s through healthy housing, healthy neighborhoods, healthy schools, and a healthy economy.

And what does that mean for City Council? Well, we need to be knowledgeable on what equity is and what that means for a better quality of life for the citizens of Newport. Systemic racism and discrimination are problems at all levels of society. We must recognize it, acknowledge it, or it will continue to BE a problem.

How can Newport improve?

It’s important to talk to our residents to see what resources they need for a better, equitable Newport. Community feedback is the key!

Council has done an excellent job so far with the implementation of workshops on specific topics that require more information, more thoughtfulness, and more community input.

However, as is with most processes and procedures, improvements are always needed, feedback is always needed, and various perspectives are always mandatory.

The greatest piece of this process is YOU, the Newport residents. YOUR INPUT is the most valuable part of any issue that happens within our city, and of any issue that is brought before Council because at the end of the day it’s YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE that is going to be impacted the most by the decisions that Council makes. 

One of the many issues that I have seen, especially over the past few years, when issues have come before Council, is a lack of empathy, communication, transparency, and overall hearing what the people want and need to succeed in this City.

It’s one of the reasons why I decided to run for office……THE PEOPLE NEED A VOICE; THEY NEED AN ADVOCATE!!

How can I help?

I worked at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) for 17 years in the Contracts Department. And I was fortunate enough that that wasn’t the only hat that I wore during my career there.

I was also a National Association for Government Employees (NAGE) Union Steward, Labor Negotiator, and Vice President. I managed numerous grievances for employees who were experiencing situations that greatly impacted their quality of life at work and their health and well-being.

I had the opportunity to work as a Process Improvement Facilitator in which I helped the various departments at NUWC fix problematic processes and procedures that the departments faced and lead initiatives, events, and symposiums in finding critical and creative thinking ways of handling those issues. 

And I had the opportunity to serve on the Federal Women’s Program Committee with the Equal Employment Opportunity office to work towards and find ways of NUWC becoming a more equitable place for people to work.

I left NUWC in 2023 to take a job at the Naval War College in the Contracts Department and was fortunate enough to be able to also work as a Workforce Resolution Facilitator. This role enables me to utilize my skills and training to help employees in areas that Human Resources and the local Union are not able to help them.

The piece of all of this that I loved the most was bringing the work community together. There is nothing more important, when you’re trying to tackle a problem, than bringing the stakeholders together to have a 360-degree perspective view of what the problem is and facilitating tough opposing discussions that lead to critical and creative thinking on how to resolve the issues.

There is nothing more powerful then when a community can come together to fight for each other, to support each other, and to celebrate the differences that each person brings to the table.

And this is what Newport needs more of to have an equitable community to thrive in!!