A Letter from Portland Greens' Chair, Anna Trevorrow
Dear Friends and Fellow Greens,
I am writing today to tell you about a dynamic Green candidate who presents an exciting opportunity for the Green Party in Portland, Maine. Josephine Okot, Green candidate for At-Large School Board, first came to Maine as a refugee from South Sudan at the age of 12. She navigated Portland Public Schools, benefiting from mentoring programs that helped her to catch-up with classmates and cope with school bullying. Now 29, she has a two children with one in Portland’s public schools and works as a multi-cultural youth educator for United Somali Women of Maine. Josephine is running for Portland’s School Board on a platform of promoting holistic approaches to address school bullying, expanding mentoring programs to encourage higher education, and safe & cost-efficient alternative transportation for students. When elected, Josephine will be the first African immigrant to serve in Maine’s history and a beacon for Portland’s burgeoning immigrant communities.
In a public school system where students speak more than 40 languages, and in a city with an increasing population of immigrant residents, Josephine’s election is instrumental in bringing much needed representation to the School Board and to Portland’s city government. But even more than that, Josephine is a keen thinker with real-policy ideas to address fundamental issues.
This past Sunday I had the pleasure of knocking on doors with Josephine. We kicked-off her campaign by canvassing her neighborhood and were pleased to identify 65% of voters that we spoke with as affirmative supporters. Not bad right out of the starting gate! Over the next seven weeks Josephine will continue to pound the pavement, develop campaign literature, attend events and candidate forums, put up signs, and work hard in every way possible to ensure success on Election Day.
But in order to make it all possible, Josephine needs YOUR Support! She has a fundraising goal of $3,000 in order to print literature, paint signs and run her campaign. In a citywide race with at least 20,000 projected voters this November, broad name recognition is extremely important and Josephine will need every last sign she can purchase. Electing Josephine, who has been a Green for a many years, sends the message that the Green Party is serious about putting strong and diverse candidates into office. After canvassing with her today, I was so inspired that I personally made an initial campaign contribution of $50 and pledged another $50. Please join me in digging deep to support this amazing young woman’s candidacy! It is as important to the Green Party’s goals as it is to the City of Portland.
See below for details on how YOU can make a contribution to Josephine’s campaign. Thank you for your continued work and support for the Green Party!
In Solidarity,
Anna Trevorrow
Maine Green Independent Party
Donate Online: http://josephineokot.blogspot.com/
Donate by Check:
Payable to: Josephine Okot
Memo: Campaign Contribution
Mail To: Tom MacMillan, Treasurer
Josephine Okot for School Board
8 Salem St. # 8
Portland, ME 04102
