OHCA The Oregon Caregiver Fall Winter 2020

www.ohca.com FALL/WINTER 2020 The Oregon Caregiver 23 PROFILE need to protect the safety net and protect people who need access to services and supports right now. At the same time, we need to not make it harder on businesses to operate. We need an active and diverse economy. There is an opportunity for us to approach our role as public policy makers in a way that is driven by priorities—hopefully more than ideology. We all have a lot in common as Oregonians when it comes to our priorities and doing things “the Oregon way.” I hope we look at this budget cycle as a way to be strategic and to invest where it is most needed to recover from these crises. You were the executive director of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition. What is your favorite part of Oregon’s culture and history? I’m from Southern Oregon. When I was young, my family moved a lot, so I was always the new kid. Since I’ve always been a bit shy, one of the ways I would meet other kids was through involvement in things like choir and theater. I personally have always loved education and the arts, which is why the Cultural Advocacy Coalition was meaningful to me. I love to go down to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and see plays with my family. Through my experiences when I was younger, I even had the opportunity to perform on those stages. I have always viewed arts and culture to better understand someone else’s story while at the same time building new connections with people. The arts give so much to our communities by offering access to parts of our lives that we sometimes take for granted. Finally, in challenging times, people often look to leaders for inspiration and hope. What does leadership in these times look like to you? Leadership looks like care. It looks like listening to your community to understand their challenges and needs and then to act on it. From what I’ve seen this year, folks in my local community have embodied that in a way that has been really inspiring. In my region, we have a group of folks who got together every single week and did a Facebook Live event to help inform people about what was going on. It is our police chief, our fire chief, our mayor, our local pastor, and so many others. They created an opportunity to share with the public what was happening, what was needed, and where people could go for help. What is notable is that no one asked them to do this, but they created a commitment to community that was responsive to the needs of the area. To me, that’s leadership—when you see a need and step in to do everything you can to meet that need.