Our Accomplishments

When I authored the resolution which created the first ever Race Equity Advisory Council, I knew it was the best thing we could do in order to bring community voice into decision-making. Now that the Council has been meeting for over a year now, they’ve created their first report on Race Inequity in Hennepin County, and I’ve amended our 2022 State Legislative Platform to ensure we can provide stipends for residents willing to roll up their sleeves and co-govern to eliminate racial disparities in one of the largest counties in the nation.

After many briefings on our shelter system and after seeing the largest homeless encampment in our state's history right in Powderhorn Park during the summer of 2020, I knew we had to move fast to house the unhoused. Housing is a fundamental human right. I championed an emergency shelter for people who identify as women; this shelter is now slated to be opened soon in the Whittier neighborhood. With the support of county staff and my colleagues on the board, we’ve piloted a Single Room Occupancy housing project with success, and invested an unprecedented $74M into housing supports targeting unsheltered homelessness.

When my colleague, Commissioner Fernando (district 2) and I co-authored the resolution to officially declare racism a public health crisis in Hennepin County, we knew that racial injustice and racism are social determinants of health that can literally take lives. Since the declaration, I have authored a resolution to fund Undoing Racism Training in the community immediately surrounding George Floyd Square, authored a resolution to invest $10M into maternal health efforts that eliminate the disparities for Black, Brown and Indigenous birthing people and hosted a district dialogue with county staff and residents discussing the impacts of violent crime and victim services on Black and Brown communities, ultimately adding more funding to their budget and subsequently expanding services.

Safe and sustainable transportation has been a focus of mine as well. I’ve commissioned several traffic studies along major county roads in the fourth district, supported permanent and safer improvements to key intersections like 39th and Park, Cedar/Edgewater, 47th and Cedar and will soon begin looking at safer Park and Portland avenues for all modes of mobility.