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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJan StroutFrom:webadmin@bozeman.net To:Agenda Subject:Citizen Advisory Board Application Date:Thursday, September 30, 2021 9:18:53 PM A new entry to a form/survey has been submitted. Form Name:Citizen Advisory Board Application Date & Time:09/30/2021 9:18 PM Response #:96 Submitter ID:44253 IP address:2601:601:d02:940::f41b Time to complete:6 min. , 29 sec. Survey Details Page 1 WELCOME Thank you for your interest in joining a Citizen Advisory Board. The City of Bozeman elected officials and staff believe in the value of public participation and local governance in the decision-making process and encourage all interested members of our community to apply. As set forth in Resolution 5323, the City is committed to building Advisory Boards that advance the City’s goals of increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because of this goal, the City is actively working to achieve membership that reflects, at the least, the demographics of our community. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. CONTACT INFORMATION The City will need to communicate with all board members via email for a number of annual communications, so a valid email address is required for all applicants. Please notify the City Clerk's Office if your email address changes for any reason. The City will need to communicate with all board members via email for a number of annual communications, so a valid email address is required for all applicants. Please notify the City Clerk's Office if your email address changes for any reason. Please note that your application will become public information. All required fields are marked with a red asterisk *. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT Each official and employee serving on a multimember agency is expected to devote the time and effort necessary to ensure the successful functioning of such agency (Bozeman Municipal Code, Section 2.03.490.C.). Additional standards of conduct and norms are included in Resolution 5323. Applicant Information First Name Jan Last Name Strout Physical Address 2322 W.Beall St. #3 PO Box (if different from physical address) PO Box 11902, Bozeman, 59719 City Bozeman State Montana Zip Code 59718 Primary Phone (206) 251-0880 Additional Phone (406) 404-1198 Current Occupation Retired Employer MSU-Bozeman Email janchangethatworks@yahoo.com Which position are you applying for? (○) Sustainability Board Do You Live in the City Limits? (Some positions do require you live within Bozeman city limits while others do not.) (○) Yes How long have you lived in the Bozeman Area? (○) 11 years or more Have you ever served on a City or County Board or Commission? (○) No Please describe your professional and personal experiences, interest, and qualifications that make you a good fit for this board. Our Bozeman Community is a place where many can thrive, can benefit and contribute to a sustainable eco- and social system. And with intentional policies, programs and resources lead by our City, partnerships with non-profit as well as business organizations, together to foster equity, diversity and inclusion, these add tremendous value to our growing City with its challenges and opportunities. I am excited about serving on the new Sustainability Board with its mission to advance the human and environmental conditions needed for healthy and equitable access to climate changes mitigation and prevention, all enhancing forms of recreation and city beautification. Having lived here during two different decades (1977-87 and 2009-present), I have gained a great deal by giving back to my community in ways that I believe has made it more sustainable by addressing and preventing policies and practices that are unlivable, unsafe and inequitable. That same community which has also given me opportunities to heal from harm, to grow, learn and teach others and to be sustained in a fair, healthy nurturing environment. Having worked and traveled outside Bozeman and Montana for parts of my life, I have knowledge of best practices that may be useful as we look at changes to preserve and care for this last best place. I have worked professionally at MSU-Bozeman during both decades of my life here: starting in On-campus Living where I discovered a number of non-student spouses were experience intimate partner violence, then hired as the founding director of the MSU Women's Center until I moved to a larger role at Princeton University. I returned to head up a Health care for All campaign in 2009 and remained to teach 1st year students Critical Thinking and Communication skills for 10 years in the College of Letters and Science which I retired two years ago. We engaged with numerous texts, discussions and debates on what constitutes Sustainability, climate health and justice for under-served and under-represented groups of people and why equity matters. I also supported my students to gain knowledge and best practices in these areas with Citizens Climate Lobby, MSU SNOW, Gallatin Valley Land Trust through Community Engagement projects where they volunteered and integrated these experiences into the curriculum of this required core class. I also have advanced human rights education, policies, practices and co-founded and co-lead community as well as global organizations starting in 1979 as a co-founder of HAVEN and helped the City purchase its current and original shelter, to 2015 as co-leader of the successful City of Bozeman Equal Pay for Equal Work Resolution, and throughout this time, organized and co-lead delegations to Latin America to explore and exchange around human rights and sustainability and justice. Currently I am co-leading a campaign to adopt a Bozeman City for CEDAW Resolution that uses a human rights framework to advance the status and safety for all women in girls and those most under-represented in our community. I envision Sustainability as a human right deserving of ways to protect and restore the health, cultures and ecosystems of our lands with deep and multi-cultural knowledge, equitable human relations, environmental science and best practices, personal and community empowerment and economic supports to not only keep us physically, mentally and spiritually healthy from climate changes which are most human-made, but to also develop strategies to mitigate and prevent those harms from happening. The purpose of Sustainable community safety values is to prevent harm and trauma to people and our planet in the first place. Recreational opportunities when managed with Sustainable values and practices, so all can participate, will add to the human development, land preservation and community safety of Bozeman and surrounds. I would be honored to offer my lived and professional experience, to help care for and ensure the leadership of the City of Bozeman for our community's present and future growth in these fundamental ways to mitigate and prevent climate change. As an outdoor recreational enthusiast with all forms of water sports and activities and having owned a rafting company, I love how roles to preserve and strengthen our recreational programs as well as city beautification efforts must contribute to Sustainability values and goals.. The City of Bozeman strongly values diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Describe any efforts you have engaged in to expand your understanding of DEI. Many of my personal life experiences have helped me to understand the importance of and realization that lead to my life-long learning and commitment to advance equity, diversity and inclusion of all, especially those most vulnerable and marginalized. These life experiences include being a survivor of sexual and intimate partner violence, a First Generation college student, and facing/resisting death threats when I co- founded in 1979 what is now called the HAVEN to address and prevent gender, race and homophobic- based violence. What I have also learned from my work and community leadership experience over time is how critical to center those with life experiences that not only are identified as vulnerable or marginalized, but to discover the assets and resiliency of these and all people - especially, women and girls, BIPOC, low income, LGBTQIA+, differently-abled and more in order to benefit the entire community. Based on my lived experiences, I wanted to educate and serve the Bozeman community about how to address and prevent the trauma, harm, disparities and inequalities that make this Bozeman unsustainable for a number of our residents and those who work here. For example, in my teaching 1st year Student Seminars at MSU-Bozeman for the past 10 years, I created community engagement opportunities for my course, "Engaged Knowledge and Community," where students identified their issues of important, I arranged for speakers to come from non-partisan, non-profit service and advocacy groups and agencies and then they voted on a community project to make a difference and integrated their learnings into the class assignments. Many semesters they voted for serving HRDC's Warming Center, the HAVEN, Bridgercare, Community Cafe, and others relevant to addressing community sustainability and harm reduction. Their experiences with researching their issues, working together on site and evaluating those experiences contributed to class discussions and assignments by thinking outside of the box, bringing a holistic mind/body connection between western, indigenous and eastern cultures and created respect, curiosity, and human dignity. As director of 2 Women's Centers - here at MSU and at Princeton University - we collaborated with the Department of Native American Studies to focus on Indigenous women's students success transferring from Tribal colleges as well as support for Missing and Murdered family members. I earned a great deal about the intersection of sustainability issues that included affordable housing, mental health and child care could positively shape a person's life and healthy outcomes as well as the identity issues that could generate discrimination, poverty, violence and life-long disparities. A final example was my job in 2012 as an organizer for the non-partisan Montana Women Vote to engage and reach from under-served and represented communities to become voters in this 3 county area of SW Montana. These 4,000 people we registered and engaged to get out the vote included single parent Moms, women with lo/low incomes, who had disabilities, were ex-felons, Indigenous and women of color, young women whose voting actions strengthened and expanded our Democracy. My team of asserts were women from these communities who not only related to the challenges, but understood and supported solutions needed to succeed. Without diverse representation of voices, lived experiences, solutions and possibilities at the Table, we are all on the Menu! From my experiences, I personally know I am better as a participant, contributor and co-leader when this happens, but the outcomes are as well. Thank you References: Please provide name, phone, and email contact information for two references. Reference 1 Because my references are over-committed and not always easily available, I have offered these three: Erica Aytes Coyle, Executive Director, HAVEN 406/586-7689 erica@havenmt.org Rev. Connie Campbell-Pearson, HRDC Affordable Housing advocate/leader and co-leader, Montana Faith and Coalition, Deacon, St. James Episcopal Church. 406.579-5408 connie.campbell54@gmail.com Reference 2 Shane Doyle, Crow Nation, Indigenous Environmental and Cultural Consultant 406/209-0605 shanemrdoyle@yahoo.com The Bozeman City Charter, voted in by the citizens of Bozeman in 2008, requires annual ethics training. If appointed, do you understand you will be expected to take online and in person ethics training? (○) Yes How did you hear about this board or vacancy? Chris Coburn and other City leaders Is there any other information that you feel we need to know? No If you have a disability that requires assistance or need accommodations, please contact our ADA Coordinator, Mike Gray, at 582-3232 (TDD 582-2301). Please note that for most Citizen Advisory Boards, materials are distributed electronically for each meeting. Your application and all information submitted is considered a public record. All applications are included in the City Commission’s Meeting materials for consideration which are electronically archived and available to the public. Thank you, City Of Bozeman This is an automated message generated by Granicus. Please do not reply directly to this email.