We need to Ease the Squeeze on our core Montgomery County values that are currently under assault by the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress. District 1 is where I learned the virtues of volunteerism and the values of democracy, helping my mom set up the senior volunteer reading program she started at Wayside Elementary, joining her to vote in each election at the Potomac Community Center, and joining as a family to bring homemade dinners to a local homeless shelter each month growing up. I was raised to cherish these values that are at the heart of who we are and strive to be, and I will protect and represent them every day as our community’s Councilmember.

Embracing the Strength of our Diversity

Despite the divisive rhetoric and backwards policies coming out of Washington, diversity is our strength in Montgomery County – socially, culturally and economically – and we must join together to embrace it. In many ways, we are the international gateway to the Nation’s Capital, and we should safeguard that standing since it truly is what sets Montgomery County apart. As a Councilmember, I will look to capitalize on the great strength of our diversity as an opportunity to better prepare our students and better position our local businesses to compete and succeed in an increasingly global and interconnected economy.

Preserving the Montgomery County Way

As Chair of the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families, I’ve helped to lead our efforts to provide programming and support for our at-risk and disconnected youth. From addressing substance abuse and the escalating opioid epidemic, providing wrap-around services for children with severe behavioral health challenges, coordinating after-school programs to keep kids safe, and establishing a new re-engagement center in the East County to reconnect our young people who have dropped out of school and have been lost by our juvenile justice system to a job and a future.

Whether it’s supporting quality public education or access to healthcare, sticking up for our immigrant neighbors, protecting our natural resources, or simply embracing basic levels of decorum and human decency, we need to stand firmly and proudly for the core values that have always been a hallmark of the Montgomery County Way, and why talented and purpose-driven people from all over the world want to come here to live, work, and raise their family.