Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring, and why would those contributions be valuable in the office you are seeking?

We are living at the critical intersection of a global pandemic, economic strife and widespread racial inequity. These problems seem larger than any person can handle but on the local level they manifest in very real ways and can be solved through collective action. We can address many of the issues we face, if we work together and include everyone’s voice in the process. For far too long, Berwyn has been led and controlled by the few. That needs to change if we ever want to address issues of housing injustice, food insecurity, youth empowerment and elder care. 

As a leader in the social impact sector, I spend much of my time solving complex problems with multiple stakeholders, while ensuring that voices who are historically silenced are centered. My expertise in community and civic relations also positions me to be a strong facilitator who can help build (with many other leaders) a civic ecosystem in Berwyn that creates space for folks to advocate, organize and lead around issues that impact their lives. As a current school board member at Berwyn North District 98, I have learned how to listen and learn from students, teachers, administrators and parents to be a better advocate for their children. I will live into these values as an alderperson. As a facilitator, I will bring together residents and center community voice. As an advocate, I will fight for our community and take on difficult issues to improve the quality of life of our community.

2. When in the past have you had to balance competing interests? What process did you use? What did you learn?

As a school board member, competing interests are often at the center of any conflict or decision. This is an experience I am far too familiar with on the board and even in my work in civic and community relations. In order to navigate this situation, I use an equity analysis and ask myself the question. Who will this benefit and who may this harm? These questions help me see the issue through an equity lens and unpack the issue. I also push myself to hold empathy for all parties in the situation. Using a trauma informed lens is one way I can root myself in my values and also make decisions without it being personal. This is difficult work and is often complicated, but I think it is important to hold all of these lenses while navigating competing interests. 

3. What does transparency in government mean to you? How would you put it into practice?

Transparency in government manifests when people and institutions are clear, open and proactive with how they communicate change and policy. This is critical for a healthy and engaging democracy, especially on the local level. I would like to bring a higher standard for transparency by releasing an ongoing newsletter to 5th ward residents to keep them engaged and aware of what is happening at city hall, in the community and include ways for folks to get involved. This newsletter will be one tool I will use to center transparency but it won’t be the only one. I also plan on continuing to hold listening sessions and push for diverse means of getting information to residents from the city. Transparency means nothing if the information is not accessible. We need a functional website, universal translation in all city services and a language access policy to make sure this is enforced. 

4. As more of our local discourse happens in social media, what is your view on how local elected officials should communicate with and respond to constituents? How will you engage with the breadth of the community, and not only those on social media?

Social media has its benefits and its disadvantages. While I believe it creates an access point to public & elected officials, it can also create echo chambers and divide folks. I plan on making myself accessible through social media and my alderperson page if I am elected. I will interact with constituents in a respectful and timely manner. However, I plan on engaging, connecting and building with residents out in the community. 

Throughout the last five months, I have ignored most campaign experts and advisors and knocked on every door in the 5th ward several times. I spoke with registered and non registered voters, democrats and republicans, hard to reach community members including renters, immigrant families and seniors. Regardless of the election results, I pledge to continue to walk my ward and actively pursue feedback from residents. I hope this helps create opportunities to build relationships and strengthen trust from residents who are often neglected. 

5. What barriers do you see for community members who wish to engage with Berwyn’s city government? How would you work to reduce or eliminate those barriers?

The main barriers at the moment are centered around language, accessibility and how information is shared. We need translation at all levels of city government, so that all residents can access information and feel included in the community. We also need a much more accessible and functioning website. It is 2021 and our website would have been confusing to most folks a decade ago. The city also needs to do a better job of sharing information when a change occurs. Posting something on the City of Berwyn Facebook page is not adequate communication to the public. If residents do not know what is happening, how can they engage? If they don’t feel included, why would they engage? 

6. What do you feel are the three biggest issues facing Berwyn, and how do you intend to address them? How will you prioritize among competing priorities?

Housing Justice, Public Safety and Public Accountability.

Over the past decade we have prioritized corporate development over community development. Property taxes continue to rise and homes are becoming unaffordable due to real estate interests setting roots in our community. Seniors deserve to age in place. Renters deserve to build a future in our community. Working class families deserve to buy a home in our neighborhood. In order for this to happen, we must do the following to course correct. We need to deweaponize the blight department. It currently serves as a poor tax and can lead to displacing residents. We need to lift the ban on rent control and support renters’ right to organize. We need to stabilize property values in order to slow down the process of gentrification. If we cannot do this we will not have a diverse and vibrant community to call home.

Many folks talk about how Berwyn has changed but what they leave out of that equation is how our city has responded to said change. I remember coming back to Berwyn after being away at college and the biggest change I saw was the militarization of the police department. Our community is safer when we build relationships with our neighbors, have strong social services and lead with collective care. I would like to bring my expertise around community building, restorative justice and organizing to make our community more resilient and safe. 

Berwyn is run by a machine. Favor politics is at the core of how folks interact with that power structure. We need public accountability not private relationships. If we want to live into our values and reach our aspirations, we need to hold each other accountable for our action and inaction. I want that from my constituents.

7. How do you define racial equity? Have recent events and discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking?

Racial equity is centering the margins while also structurally dismantling white supremacy in institutions, spaces and community. Over the past decade or more, I have worked hard to learn and unlearn years of harmful ideology. I’ve studied African and Black Diaspora studies and Justice studies to learn more about Black feminist, social justice and racial capitalism theory. I helped found and co-lead my organization's equity task force because I believe it is important to move our work closer to inclusive and equitable practices. The past several years have been full of tension, pain and harm. The racial disparities broadened and the COVID-19 pandemic shined to light the rot that always existed in our society. These past several years have taught me that racism is systemic. Racial equity is the response to these systemic issues. I hope to continue to bring this lens to my role as a leader in Berwyn. 

8. How do you plan to solicit feedback from people who may be experiencing Berwyn in a different way than you? What barriers do you believe may exist in this process?

Feedback is crucial to the growth and development of us all. I would proactively seek feedback from residents by making myself accessible, holding monthly listening sessions and co-governing with 5th ward residents. I am deeply committed to bringing community voice to the political process and I won’t be able to do this unless I seek feedback and steward collaboration. One critical barrier to this process would be that many residents have not ever been engaged this way locally. I will have to work hard to build trust with my neighbors and even with residents who did not support me in this race. I hope that folks will unify around the idea that I am centering public accountability in how I represent the 5th ward.

9. Name an influential Berwyn community member. How did this person’s influence change Berwyn? As an elected official, what do you imagine your influence will be on the community?

Elizabeth Ojeda Jimenez has been fighting for issues of equity for years in Berwyn. She is a union leader, community organizer and educator who leads with passion, purpose and perseverance. If you look at many of the major progressive changes that have occurred you will notice that Elizabeth was at the table. She played a critical role in both the Welcoming City ordinance and the minimum wage campaign and one of the most telling things about her is that you will never learn this from her. She is a leader but she is humble. She is a fighter but she has empathy and compassion. She stands strong in her values but she is ready to collaborate if it means improving the quality of life of our community. 

As an elected official, I hope to move residents to make connections with their neighbors, activate around an issue or cause and stand strong in their values even when they are alone. Berwyn is ready for a new generation of independent leaders and my hope is to help create space and opportunities for those individuals to thrive and grow.

10. How do you plan to encourage the youth of Berwyn to interact and engage with Berwyn’s city government?

As a former youth development specialist, creating opportunities for youth was a core aspect of my job. In order to engage youth you need to build authentic relationships with them that center their voices and experiences. Once they feel like their voices are heard and they can make a difference in issues they are passionate about they will engage. Until we do the work to create space for youth in decision making processes and stop tokenizing them this will be a challenge. 

My goal of supporting the growth of a diverse civic ecosystem includes youth at the table. Youth voice is a critical piece of improving the quality of life of our community. I cannot wait to create opportunities for them to build connections and find their cause.

11. Do you feel that Berwyn should do more to support housing affordability? If so, what specific policies would you support?

I hear a lot of talk about Berwyn being a diverse and inclusive community. While I agree that we are diverse, we will never reach inclusivity if folks continue to be displaced by real estate interests, blight fines and rising property taxes. We need to fight back against gentrification and propose strong policies that help stabilize our property values. I may have a different view than some folks on housing but I believe housing is a basic right. I believe in development without displacement and want to see our community improve without losing the folks who made this community beautiful in the first place. 

As I have mentioned earlier, I support the following policies or actions.

• Support renters in organizing tenant collectives.

• Prioritize community development over corporate development.

• Deweaponize the blight department.

• Protect landlords with four units or less.

• Fight for affordable housing.

• Lift the ban on rent control.

12. What impact can a municipality such as Berwyn have on climate change, and how will you prioritize that work among other issues?

Climate change is one of the most critical issues of this generation and it disproportionately impacts BIPOC folk. We must do our part to change our habits and bring eco-justice to our community. This means planting more trees and native plants, creating more green spaces and community gardens, and offering subsidies for solar power and LEED certified homes and commercial development. At my current organization, I have managed our environmental projects for several years and it was a great learning experience to see how so many organizations are doing amazing work to preserve, conserve and protect the environment. I think we can learn from other communities and truly transform our community into a sustainable and eco-friendly space. 

13. What actions would you take to address the continuing problem of Berwyn’s municipal debt?

If elected as alderperson, I will work diligently to move us out of debt. The current budget clearly shows how we prioritize our tax dollars and if we really want to move Berwyn forward we need to start with where we spend most of our money and ask ourselves the question: What has been our return on investment? If we are not satisfied with the results, we need to make practical decisions for the future of our community. I will clearly say that this does not mean making austerity cuts, raising fines or ticket fees and putting the burden of these decisions on the backs of working class families. 

I think it is important for me to share that for the majority of my professional career I have worked in the nonprofit sector. I have a great deal of experience doing a whole lot with very little, writing grants to expand services and being pragmatic with budgets that have ranged from thirty thousand dollars to several million.

14. One of the most important responsibilities of the City Council is to pass a budget. How would you approach the development of Berwyn’s budget? Do you believe there has been sufficient transparency in the budgeting process in recent years?

All alderpersons get a small amount of money to work on community building projects. I plan on using a collective process of deciding how to use that money called participatory budgeting to engage residents and share that responsibility with them. If we can practice this method and create a structure that could be scaled up to the city's budget it would be beautiful to bring participatory budgeting to City Council. 

I propose that we eventually move to participatory budgeting at the City level because there has not been sufficient transparency in the budgeting process. His specific process centers resident voice over special interests or political priorities.

15. Given the visible community efforts around the Black Lives Matter movement including the mural in the Berwyn Municipal Building parking lot, do you anticipate working for changes in policing policy or oversight moving forward? What specific changes would you support?

Yes! Police accountability is a critical piece of my platform. Over several years, I have learned that our city needs community oversight of the Berwyn Police Department. It is the only way to ensure that our police department and the Police and Fire commission are held accountable for harmful practices and personnel decisions. 

I also would like to see more of a focus on trauma informed care and antiracism as a response to violence and trauma in our community.

16. Many Berwyn residents have expressed confusion about the disparate roles of the City and the Township, particularly in the past year as the importance of the Health Department increased due to the pandemic. Do you believe action is necessary to increase public awareness of the various taxing bodies and their functions? What steps would you take?

Yes. As someone who has sat on the board of one of our many taxing bodies, I think it is important to educate the public on how different taxing bodies function. It is even more critical for folks to know how they support the community during a pandemic and economic strife. I would like to work with the township supervisor to host educational sessions in the 5th ward to increase awareness. If we don’t know how our government works, how can we make it work for us?

17. As an elected official, what lessons will you draw from the experience of the pandemic about the purpose and role of government?

Government needs to work for the people and not the other way around. In order to become a more resilient community we need to fortify the following stakeholders: 

Independent small businesses who provide crucial services to our residents need to be supported and we need to do a better job of building their resiliency and capacity to withstand difficult times. I would like to propose a capacity building program for independent small businesses (who are locally owned) so that they have all the tools that they need to bounce back and thrive.

Seniors should be valued members of our community. We must reimagine how we interact with them and move from the transactional to the transformational. Our city needs to take on a lens of elder care where we prioritize aging/thriving in place and senior services. I cannot tell you how many seniors shared they were nervous to leave the house or answer the door and no one had come to check on them. This is terrible and all seniors should have access to services that bring them dignity, decrease social isolation and center them as important members of our community. 

The multiracial working class of our community has been forgotten. COVID-19 has magnified issues of inequities, and yet we are not taking their struggles seriously. We are on the precipice of an eviction crisis, unemployment has decimated folks financials and all while many of our working class neighbors were on the front lines of this pandemic serving as essential workers. We need to change how we treat each other and how we support each other. None of our CARES Act money should have gone to the police department. It should go to directly support folks who need it the most.

What Berwyn needs is a culture of collective care and I hope we can build it together.

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/2/21.]