Issues Facing the Community of District 12

I am a proud graduate of Butler Traditional High School in Southwest Louisville and have since dedicated the past decade of my life as a public school teacher at my alma mater. My middle sister is a teacher at Pleasure Ridge Park High School and my youngest sister is pursuing a career as a special education teacher. Our family understands the importance of the classroom and those who are within it. I understand the importance of education as I have spent the overwhelming majority of my life within a classroom wall both as a student and as a teacher. From the teachers to the students to the administration - some of our community’s greatest assets are within the hallways of our schools. Each day I see a plethora of students who are eager to learn and change the world. We have teachers who are some of the very best, most selfless, and dedicated people that I know. We have administrators who desire to lead their buildings and have visions for the decades to come. Education is the bedrock of our society and the answer to many of our issues as a community. We look for so many solutions, temporary fixes, etc. - but if we want to see a real change in our society, much begins in our schools and within the field of education. But even more so, who our children are and will become starts at home. The future is the southend and I desire to walk with our schools and families as we build a southend that puts our schools, our youth, and our faculty first. In the fight for education - we will be heard and we will lead the city of Louisville by example. I will be a tireless fighter for our southend schools. Our community deserves the very best. Our kids deserve it. Our families deserve it. As Southwest Louisville, the future cannot wait. It is our time.

 We have so much to offer when it comes to businesses up, down, off, and on the Dixie Highway corridor, yet over the years it seems as a good number of businesses both corporate and small are choosing to take their resources elsewhere. If families choose to travel outside of the southend for business, food, shopping, etc., let it be because of their personal desire and choice and not because of lack of options. I am pro-small business and know that when we are supporting the creation of small business, we are not funding the pockets of CEOs on Wall Street, but we are supporting a child’s football equipment, a teenager’s art lessons, a high school student’s ACT tutoring session, and food on the table for a family. I am also very aware that many businesses are choosing to build in other areas of town and have seemed to “give up” on the promise of the southend. With these businesses, I am ready to sit at the table representing the southend and let them know that we have been expecting them. For businesses - both small and/ or corporate, we will make it known that for them to build and invest in the southend, the time is now. It is our time. 

 As a lifelong resident of Southwest Louisville, I have seen firsthand the impact that crime is having within our area and the reputation our city has gained with constant turmoil at the decisions of a select few individuals. Crime in our area of town is causing individuals to relocate, raise families elsewhere, and lessening the value of an area that means so much to so many. We will not let the actions of a few decimate the good and honest work of the many. We will not let the actions of the few tear down the legacies of those southenders who have gone before us. This issue must be addressed and must be addressed now. It is our time to take back our community.