I have been an active member of our union for over a year, and am serving as a General Council member and Bargaining delegate for the DAS contract. I am someone who recognizes the unique situation many of our members are in living in the Multnomah area, an area very different from the rest Oregon. My goal is simple; I want out members to thrive. Many of us are doing okay and getting by, but I want all of us to be in a position to succeed. Be it by having higher wages, educational benefits, improving worker’s rights, etc. We have the ability to shape our jobs and futures and this position puts me in a position to help make our voices heard and our need recognized. Our region has unique challenges and needs. My goal for the region is to empower our members to be able to make changes that improve the lives of everyone in the region, by emphasizing the ways of improving quality of life: dealing with rent and commute issues, the stuggles of home owning, retiring,etc. and overall recognizing that we have the power to impact not just our workplaces but our whole community. The biggest crisis is going to be the budget cuts coming from state and local governments. And my push will be to focus on getting aid first from the federal government to assist with our recovery after COVID-19 and on negotiations to make sure that our most vulnerable members and clients are not the ones shouldering all the burden. The last thing I want to say is that I have a passion for making sure that we succeed as a group. Because until everyone of us is in a position where we are thriving, we have not succeeded at our job.