I have spent my entire life engaged in advocacy for communities, large and small. Growing up in the city of Newburgh, I helped my mother push for improved conditions in the poorly maintained rental properties and for the protection of Newburgh’s historic homes and landmarks. In college, I actively campaigned for the Presidential nominee John Kerry in Florida. After graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelors of Science in International Relations, I worked with the International League for Peace and Freedom’s Nuclear Disarmament office at the United Nations. There, I produced content on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, updated our website with the latest news about North Korea and Iran, created and edited daily Reports for NGOs and Ambassadors during the week long Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Conference, and ran workshops and information sessions with NGOs and interested international officials.

I attended the Hunter College School of Social Work at the City University of New York and graduated with a Masters in Social Work in Clinical work with Individuals, Children and Families. During and after my graduate program, I worked for the Bronx Community College (BCC) Psychological Services office. My role there was not just counseling but also running a grant project that established resources for BCC students encountering housing or food insecurity. Using the information learned under the Food/Homelessness grant and from working clinically with students, I assisted the Associate Dean to push the BCC administration for more robust student support services. 

I worked with Good Shepherd Services in their Bronx foster care offices as a parenting coach and creator of a series of psychosocial informational packets about trauma and children for the foster parents and bio families. In their alternative to incarceration initiatives in Brooklyn (the first of its kind in New York) my colleagues and I created family centered non-secure placements for teen boys and girls based on the Missouri Method of rehabilitation. I was their therapist, but my role extended to providing information and recommendations to the Family Court System of New York City, the Administration for Children’s Services, local police precincts, schools, and other community resources. I served as one of the authors and architects entrusted with blending the Missouri Method with Good Shepherd’s Sanctuary Model of trauma-informed care for these unique residences. 

 As a mother to three school aged children, I have taken a step back from full-time clinical work to provide freelance services as a consultant and forensic social worker for private practitioners.

During this time, my husband and I had watched joyfully as the town blossomed from the development of the Walkway over the Hudson and improved connectivity in the Rail Trail System. We would come to Lloyd to see my family and could not help wishing we could live here. In 2020, we decided we had found an incredible town to set down our roots and raise our children: a warm and welcoming community, safe and family friendly, with quality schools, and unparalleled natural beauty. 

This year, I was appointed to the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee. Reading our comprehensive plan goals and seeing where we are moving with policies and actions; it is evident to me how fragile our quality of life is here in Lloyd. The rampant development and socio-economic changes in the Hudson Valley are complicated, but some Town decisions are taking us in the opposite direction of our stated goals.

While doing work for the CPIC I became aware of the proposal to place an industrial facility - the Pet Crematorium - within a few hundred feet of the elementary school. This proposal did not sit right with my conscience. Since then, my time has been spent conducting in-depth policy research, organizing with neighbors, consulting with experts, spending hours reviewing the zoning laws and maps of other municipalities in New York State, speaking to reporters, an hour long interview with John Bowermaster on RadioKingston, and advocating in front of our Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Town Board for decisions that prioritize public health, responsible growth, and government accountability.

All this work as a volunteer committee member and grassroots organizer is not enough. I believe our town needs new leadership that is prepared, principled, and truly responsive to its residents. Too often are community members coming away from public meetings to feel their concerns are not heard or taken seriously. This is not the Lloyd this community deserves.

I bring to the table not only a strong background in research and problem solving in situations with multiple players, but also a deep commitment to listening, connecting, and acting in the public interest. I possess the ability to reach across party lines in our community to find common ground to get things done. The Town of Lloyd government should be working for its residents and not for the short term win of a business or developer coming to town. We have so much here to protect and strengthen. 

We need to start acting like there is a future and set in motion the steps to get there.