The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is reinforcing that we are all truly connected. That our collective future and collective health depend on one another. It has also reminded us of the importance of resilient communities and small acts of kindness.
Unfortunately, it has also laid bare deep inequities in our state – income inequality, housing insecurity, unequal access to health care, racism and disparities in educational opportunities. It has also revealed the need for compassionate leadership and fresh perspectives to transform our values into action. That is one reason I am running for New Hampshire Senate to represent Concord, Henniker, Hopkinton and Warner.
Crises can be a catalyst for change. As our friends and neighbors struggle to make ends meet, provide education to their children while also working themselves, we have seen our businesses, elected officials and organizations moving toward policies with which they might once have disagreed – including flexible work arrangements, paid family and sick leave, and improving access to health care. This pandemic has revealed the pre-existing need in our communities for proper public health preparedness, fair labor policies and a health care system designed to protect everyone. We need broad structural change to convert these needs into action, not empty talking points and political blockage.
Our health care system is not the only place where we need systemic change and leaders willing to follow the science, not deny it. As a lawyer, mom, community activist and native Granite Stater, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges we face in addressing the ongoing mental health, substance misuse, child protection, workforce and climate crises.
As a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Center-NH, I helped families navigate our health care system to receive the care they so desperately needed. As the policy director for the Children’s Behavioral Health Collaborative, I worked with Democrats and Republicans to increase services for children in crisis and improve the child protection system. At the Environmental Defense Fund I worked as a climate advocate for Moms Clean Air Force pursuing change that will protect this and future generations.
It is crystal clear during this crisis that New Hampshire needs policies that work for all of our families and that improve our collective health. We also need strong leaders with the experience and tenacity to take on the toughest issues. I am running for New Hampshire Senate because I am committed to re-imagining how we make a healthy New Hampshire for everyone – regardless of gender, economic status or ZIP code.
(Becky Whitley is lawyer and candidate for New Hampshire Senate District 15. After many years of living in Concord, she currently lives in Hopkinton with her husband and 6 year old son.)