3. While there is a technical definition of full employment, my definition is simply that everyone who wants a job can get one. Right now our official unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the nation. That doesn’t mean that everyone who wants to work can, however. That’s why the City is investing in workforce development programs for youth and adults, and why we have our own internship, apprenticeship, and training programs within City government – creating career pathways into good, family supporting jobs. It’s also why we’re tackling the issues that make lifehard for working families, like lack of childcare, lack of affordable housing, and long commute times. We need to keep removing barriers that make it harder for people to get – and keep – good jobs.
4. I am a collaborative leader who believes in setting a vision, agreeing on an approach, and letting my team do their jobs to implement. I value data, both quantitative and qualitative, and evidence-based solutions. I am values-driven, with a bias towards action, and am impatient with the answer “because we’ve always done it that way”. I’ve learned the importance of robust change management, including creating significant, meaningful and iterative opportunities for engagement of all stakeholders. I’ve also learned that the loudest voices are often the least representative of the community, and that finding new and innovative ways of engaging with people who have previously been left out is critical. Fundamentally, I am a leader who gets things done, which is exactly what Madison needs to tackle the very real problems our community faces.
5. I promised to work to weave racial equity into everything the city does and I am proud of the work we’ve done so far. My administration created a new Division of Equity and Social Justice in the Department of Civil Rights and incorporated a racial equity review into every hiring process and in our budgeting.

Under my leadership, Madison has helped small businesses, particularly those owned by people of color, weather the pandemic and keep people employed; funded employment opportunities and job training programs – especially for historically underrepresented populations; and we invested in our Black and Brown youth through education, community-building, and employment opportunities. We budgeted for a Spanish speaking position in the City Clerk’s office (where business licenses and alcohol licenses are obtained) to streamline processes and make them easier for people to understand. If elected to a second term, I will continue to work on wealth building opportunities and to reduce employment disparities. This will include everything mentioned above as well as expanding opportunities for home ownership, building small businesses, and establishing a new TIF district to bring $115 million in investment to South Madison.

The City is investing in our young people via our work with childcare providers, with Madison Out of School Time and our investments in youth programming, with our investments in workforce development, and more. While the responsibility for curriculum lies with the School District, the City can and does support young people and their families outside of school with opportunities for learning and engagement. Perhaps more importantly, we’re working to reduce the burdens on working families by providing more affordable housing, more accessible transit, helping to lower household bills, improving access to healthy food, and more. All this work reduces stress for families and helps create a more stable environment for young people, which supports their learning and should reduce educational disparities.

I believe we need to stop expecting police to solve all our problems, which is why I’ve started to remove functions from the police department and invest in other solutions. We created the

Madison Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) teams to respond to non-violent mental and behavioral health emergencies, getting our most vulnerable residents the care they need instead of involving law enforcement. The program has been so successful that we’ve expanded the hours and geographic coverage, added a second team and a second location, and have several expansions planned for 2023.

I also think we need to take a public health approach to violence reduction and prevention. My budgets have made significant investments in our violence prevention unit (housed in our Public Health Department), which has developed and is implementing a roadmap to violence reduction. Their work is evidence based and data informed, and is expanding to include community-based staff that can interrupt and prevent violence. We also dedicated ARPA funds to this unit, which is contracting with community organizations that work in violence reduction.

And I believe we need to invest in people to prevent the conditions that create violence. Madison is unusual in investing significant funding via our Community Development Division in nonprofit organizations that work with youth, provide job training, support people who are homeless or experiencing domestic violence, and much more. Investments like these, along with investments in affordable housing, are violence prevention work. Madison is also one of the first dozen cities in the country to pilot a guaranteed income program. Only a few months in, we can already tell that this program is helping to stabilize families and improve lives. All this work will help reduce the disparities in our criminal justice system.

6. Over the past four years, my administration has more than doubled the Affordable Housing Fund and expanded its use to a wider range of projects such as preserving affordable housing, promoting homeownership, creating cooperatives, land trusts and more – especially in areas at risk for displacement. We amended the zoning code to make it easier to build ‘missing middle’ housing, to make it easier to establish cooperative housing, to allow up to five unrelated persons to rent together, and to allow higher density mixed use outside downtown. We launched the Backyard Homes Project and new financing to help people build backyard cottages to add small scale housing opportunities to every neighborhood. We created a transit overlay zone to allow more housing near high frequency transit, and just introduced a density bonus for affordable housing downtown. We adopted an official land-banking policy that prioritized affordablehousing, and boosted the land banking fund by $3.6 million in 2022 to seize opportunities to support anti-displacement projects.

Going forward, we need to expand our incentives for building affordable and sustainable housing. We need to take advantage of unprecedented federal funding to scale up programs to improve the quality of existing housing. And we need to expand options for affordable home ownership.

7. The City is currently planning a bus terminal on Lake St. that will provide a safe and convenient place for inter-city buses to pick up and drop off passengers, who will then be able to connect with the forthcoming bus rapid transit system and the rest of the Metro Transit system or to easy parking or pick up and drop off options. We’re also studying potential locations for a future passenger rail station, and will prioritize proximity to Metro Transit, in addition to meeting Amtrak’s needs for access and parking. We’re also in conversation with the Dane County Airport about improving Metro Transit service to the airport. Building a comprehensive, multimodal transportation system is a key priority of my administration and something we’ve worked hard on over the past four years.