Dear Friends and Neighbors,
My message this month is short: Vote.
Your vote is your voice.
I urge you to vote for candidates who you think will help build a more accountable, equitable, sustainable society - one where decisions are based on facts and where all people are able to thrive.
If you live in Portland, make sure you understand how to fill in your ranked-choice ballot and then fill it out.
Please be sure to vote for the people you want to have as your local elected leaders, vote on local and state measures, and vote for the people you want to represent you in Washington, D.C. And, of course, vote for president.
- Return your ballot by mail using the postage-paid return envelope postmarked on or before November 5, 2024. Or,
- Return your ballot to an Official Ballot Drop Site no later than 8:00 p.m. on November 5, 2024.
Vote!
Thank you,
Jennifer
Siniva Bennett, performance auditor, has a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii in Pacific Islands studies for her thesis “Warriors, at What Cost?” a political analysis of U.S. militarization and American Samoa. She has a J.D. from the University of Oregon. She is a board member of Samoa Pacific Development Corporation, a non-profit founded in Portland to serve and empower the Samoan and Pacific Islander communities. Some of her background includes implementing equity through procurements and operationalizing equity tools. She enjoys reading, watching movies, taking her son to the park, and playing volleyball. She loves spending time with family and friends.
On October 15, Constituent Relations and DEI Engagement Specialist Raymond De Silva joined hundreds of community members for the Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration at Barbie’s Village in NE Portland. The Future Generations Collaborative (FGC) event featured a coastal jam, a powwow for children, vendors, and Native cuisine. The gathering featured cultural songs and dances from their rich traditions to invite people of all backgrounds to learn, recognize, and celebrate our local resilient Native and Indigenous communities. In Multnomah County, Indigenous Peoples Day is both a celebration and movement toward building inclusive and equitable communities today and future generations.
On October 18, I attended the FGC's Data Sovereignty Gala. Attendees had frank, heartfelt conversations about how data have been used in ways that perpetuate erasure of Indigenous people, and how people are more complex and possess strengths that data focused on disparate outcomes often does not show. Abigail Echo-Hawk, MA (Pawnee), Executive Vice President of the Seattle Indian Health Board and the Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, shared her data story and the power of Indigenous peoples telling their own stories and data.
If you’d like me and or staff to attend or speak at a meeting with your community group, simply fill out this form.