My heart truly resides with our community. My husband Kenny and I live in Agua Dulce and are both natives of the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys. I graduated from all local schools – Highlands Elementary, Arroyo Seco Junior High, and Saugus High School, then CSUN for her undergraduate and again for my Master’s in Public Administration, which I obtained through the University Center at College of the Canyons while working full time.

With a track record of innovative leadership, public service, and lifelong community ties that extend throughout California’s 25^th District, I believe I am the right person to represent us in Washington. I am dedicated to the priorities and needs of our community, not special interests or divisive partisan politics.

Before stepping down to campaign full-time, I was the Executive Director and Deputy CEO of PATH, a not-for-profit corporation with the mission to end homelessness for individuals, families, and communities across California. In the last four years, PATH has helped more than 1,800 chronically homeless individuals, 2,100 veterans, and 2,600 families make it home into permanent housing.

From a young age, my family instilled in me that public service is the responsibility of every citizen. Every generation of my family has served in the military going back to the Revolutionary War and taking care of our veterans is a fundamental responsibility we share as a nation. While I have never served in the military, it’s important to me to fight for those who have fought for us. My work with PATH has focused on serving homeless veterans with the fundamental belief that no veteran should ever have to sleep on our streets.

My mother and both grandmothers are registered nurses, giving me lifelong insights into the ways our health system needs to be improved, the crucial role that nurses and other lines of staff play in caring for our most vulnerable, and the kind of supports they need to be able to do their jobs. Healthcare reform is unequivocally one of my top priorities in Congress.

I also have a unique point of view of the criminal justice system from both sides of the law. My father and father-in-law are both police officers, so I understand the fear of possibly losing a loved one to their dangerous job. Through my work in social services, I have seen the system fail time and time again. We need massive reform to provide the rehabilitation services and opportunities needed for people to reintegrate successfully into society. More funding needs to be invested in evidence-based interventions (drugs, gangs, education) than incarceration. The root social problems that cause people to commit crimes have to be dealt with at a systemic level, while still protecting our police and the public. I fundamentally believe it is possible to do both.

When it comes to the economy, we need to move away from the idea that old manufacturing jobs will never come back. We have to find innovative ways to build out new industries and create new, high paying jobs that are both economically and environmentally sustainable. In order to move our economy into the 21^st century and beyond, we need to invest in infrastructure at all levels — in small business, in the service economy, and in technology.

I understand my vision will require taxpayer investments. As someone who has had to develop and operate a lean, balanced budget for years while leading a large non-profit, I know it will require major tax reforms and the reallocation of resources. But the burden of critical investment should not be borne by working and middle class Americans. Corporations and the 1% should not get to pay a lower effective tax rate than the people of our district working hard to do their best for their families.

I am running for Congress to represent the community I love and can’t wait to represent us all in Washington.