About Me
Public Health & Safety
Affordability
I am running for office to bring leadership and teamwork experience to our Board of Commissioners and be an actual voice for our residents.
Affordability
Public Health & Safety
Affordability
Cooperating with farms and municipalities to provide fresh, affordable food will be essential. Eliminating tax incentives for businesses will put money back into the community. Housing construction and growth needs to be addressed and approached internally instead of externally.
Public Health & Safety
Public Health & Safety
Education & Opportunity
Healthcare is a human right. Safety should not mean sacrificing freedoms or liberties, we pay for it. We should expect safe and healthy environments, services, and equity from healthcare accessibility to law enforcement.
Education & Opportunity
Education & Opportunity
Education & Opportunity
Simply put, our teachers and students deserve better. Higher funding for facilities and per-pupil, higher pay for teachers, and increased health/mental health services are essential.
Community
Education & Opportunity
Voter Resources
Communities need to work together to achieve maximum success. Our county leaders should be in constant communication with municipal leaders and state leaders. We deserve leaders that listen, take responsibility, and provide transparency to keep the public informed.
Voter Resources
Education & Opportunity
Voter Resources
Use the resources below to check, confirm, and register to vote. If you have questions on candidates, voter ID requirements, or would like to see a sample ballot you can do so with these resources.
About Me
Originally from Florida, my mother and I followed suit with her siblings throughout the '90s and moved to NC in 1997. I graduated from Bandys High School (GO TROJANS!) in 2005 and joined the U.S. Army weeks later. After close to nine years of service, three deployments, and unforgettable experiences, I returned home and went back to school.
I graduated CVCC in 2017 with a degree in Health & Fitness Science. I went the entrepreneurship route and decided to open and operate a fitness studio in 2021. I am currently attending Lenoir-Rhyne University in pursuit of a degree in Political Science because I believe we are in need to better leadership and dramatic change.
I have experienced much diversity throughout my childhood, from urban life in south Florida to rural life in North Carolina. I grew up in what would be a poor household by economic standards. I was fortunate to never "go without" anything that I needed because my parents were both hard-working blue-collar folks.
The military provided me with extensive training and experience in leadership, team building, strategic planning, and possibly above all.... compassion and how to actually love and appreciate folks from all backgrounds. My mother raised me from the time I was 9 years old until I graduated and joined the military. College, experience, and action have educated me substantially in many aspects of our society and systems, from individuals to entire nations.
My oath is to the Constitution and everything that it affords the people of this nation. My passion, my purpose, is to lead and serve. I know what bad, good, and great leadership entails.
The greatest leaders serve those they lead.
Affordability
- Remove tax incentives for big businesses - Our current elected officials continue to offer tax incentives for businesses, but not the people. Multi-million-dollar corporations DO NOT need tax breaks and rebates! ESPECIALLY at the expense of taxpaying citizens.
- Seek opportunities for ACTUAL affordable housing - We need to ensure that we are not selling our land to out-of-state investors. We need to invest in local businesses to carry out initiatives that are affordable to US, based on OUR cost of living, not a company or conglomerate in a different state.
- Provide educational and small business services and grants for local residents - We all deserve a shot at our version of "The American Dream". We need to invest locally in our residents, our small businesses, etc. I believe that we can incentivize our community by providing educational and small business grants on the county level.
- Increase the number and availability of community produce markets - Now more than ever, we need to ensure that our folks have the accessibility to and availability of fresh food, free of the illness-causing issues we see around the nation. Plus, it helps support our communities and farmers.
- Create renewable energy projects on a commercial-level scale - For the amount of tax incentives that we are seeing given to big businesses, we can invest in renewable energy, especially wind and solar; provide grants and drop the utility cost(s) that major companies and others keep forcing on us.
- Break up contractual monopolies on utilities and services such as power, internet, trash collection, etc. - Large utility and service companies contract with local governments in ways that create a monopoly on services and extinguish the prospect of any local business trying to succeed by offering similar services, often at lower rates.
Public Health & Safety
- Increase spaces for outdoor fitness and recreation
- Ensure our elderly populations have well-funded programs to enjoy higher quality of life
- Increase the number of mental health professionals and services available to everyone
- Ensure community organizations get the funding they need to operate
- Improve services dealing with opioid addiction, substance abuse, mental health, homelessness, domestic violence, and family support systems
- Remove or reduce the amount of advertising for harmful substances and non-FDA approved "supplements" at convenient stores
Education & Opportunity
- OPPOSE the proposed school merger - SUPPORT a comprehensive study to determine the need/viability - We ALL have a stake in the quality and availability of educational and supportive resources. We, the stakeholders, demand transparency, information, and their elected officials to act on OUR behalf, not their own.
- SUPPORT the people voting for school board members - OPPOSE appointments - This is a democracy and we all have a voice. Not allowing the people choose their representation is unacceptable.
- Increase supplemental pay for educators - The state sets the pay schedules for our teachers, BUT the County Commissioners are able to provide supplemental pay to our educators!
- Ensure that our schools have the funding to create safe and modern facilities - Cuts to funding and dissolution of the Department of Education has proven to be an obstacle, if not a detriment, to local school systems. Protecting our youth is of utmost importance.
- Increase "safe spaces" in our schools and encourage programs/organizations/groups to be created in support of these spaces - We live in a sometimes chaotic, intolerant, and uncaring society; we are obligated to provide the support that our youth NEEDS and DESERVES! They literally are the future of our communities, nation, and world.
- Encourage voter registration initiatives for high school seniors - If we can automatically register our sons and daughters to fight for the country, we can automatically register them to vote.
Community
Ultimately, our community deserves transparency, accountability, and proper leadership at all levels. Community over corporations; people over profits; we need to leaders that listen and make decisions on behalf of our citizens, not themselves.
Resources
Voter Lookup
Voter Registration
Voter Registration
If you are unsure or just want to confirm your voter status, you can use the voter lookup tool through the Boad of Elections.
Candidates
Voter Registration
Voting Timeline
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Voting Timeline
Voter ID Requirements
Voting Timeline
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Polling Locations
Voter ID Requirements
Voter ID Requirements
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Voter ID Requirements
Voter ID Requirements
Voter ID Requirements
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Let Me Know Your Questions, Comments, and Concerns
Jesse Alden for Catawba County Commissioner
