A living wage means:

• Earning a wage that allows you to live in your own community

• Staunching the loss of healthcare and human services providers

• Money spent in the community stays in the community

• Not being a paycheck away from falling into houselessness

People like to ask "but how will we pay for it?" but the truth is: we are already paying for it. We pay for it in increased emergency services and in the loss to our tax base. Few people are asking how we're going to pay for it when corporations raise food and gas prices. 

We need to turn the conversation from subsidizing big business from outside the community to subsidizing and investing in people. Because investing in the community — investing in people — reaps far more dividends. 

A strong social safety net means:

• Free childcare for all

• Quality healthcare for all

• Safe housing for all

• No one goes hungry

These aren't just lofty ideals. At a state level, we've already voted in things like healthcare for all and universal pre-K. In Portland, we already have the resources to create a strong social safety net — it's about what we choose to prioritize. It's about making a commitment. I believe in prioritizing people. I believe communities are stronger and more resilient when all of us thrive, not just survive. 

I know it won't be easy: it takes hard work and collaboration to make these changes, and the ability to keep going in the face of being told "no." That kind of perseverance and creative collaboration is what I bring to the table. My role as the council member for District 3 is to work with the community to shape the policy that serves us best, and to push for those changes at the county and state level.

Small-business entrepreneurship means:

• Keeping money in our community

• Eliminating barriers to programs and services currently available to small businesses

• Finding ways to help small businesses offer living wages, insurance, and retirement benefits

• Reducing the environmental impacts from shipping in from other parts of the world

Small businesses are crucial to the health of local communities, providing employment opportunities, keeping money in the local community, and creating unique experiences that make people proud to shop locally and to call their community home. Many resources already exist that can help small-business entrepreneurs, but they're buried under the red tape of bureaucracy. We can remove those barriers, and we can find other policy solutions to encourage people to start small businesses and allow them to compete. 

It's time to move the conversation forward and invest in an on-ramp by putting people first.