I facilitate public engagement experiences that prioritize equity and accessibility, using interactive activities that draw people in and make participation feel natural and rewarding. My approach fosters deep listening, creative problem-solving, and collaborative decision-making in a way that is both productive and enjoyable. Everyone leaves feeling like they’ve accomplished something meaningful, gained new insights, and built stronger connections with their community.
My experience began with public engagement in 2018 after joining Whittier Alliance’s Housing and Land Use Development Committee in Minneapolis, MN. Through this experience, my passion for being involved in decision-making discussions of all kinds within the community I belonged to grew. Since then, I have strived to gain experience engaging in opportunities to have conversations with my neighbors, community members, and facilitate this process in beneficial ways.
In 2024, I facilitated a series of six workshops with the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement on the Oregon Heritage Vitality Study, gaining knowledge on best practices for engaging groups of people in productive discussions.Over 70 Oregon heritage, cultural, and historic preservation leaders and workers showed up to these events in Coos Bay, Medford, Portland, Cascade Locks, La Grande, and virtually to share their experiences and ideas to create recommendations based on found issues within the heritage sector.
I also contributed community engagement work to the Cascade Locks, OR Downtown Revitalization Plan. In this project, I managed the distribution of a survey that over 200 community members participated in, voicing their opinion for what they wanted to see in future downtown planning, code, and development. I then managed the planning of a community centered event and various activities that allowed residents to express their perspective on community change. I approached the management of this public engagement project with intentionality and a focus on listening rather than explaining, as they knew their community best.
