S2 EP1: Democracy with RaShelle Davis, Whitney Keyes, and Kayla Demonte

In this podcast we are excited to hear from three members of our local democracy who all contribute to our civic life in different ways. We are lucky to have RaShelle Davis. Rashelle is a Senior Policy Advisor for Governor Jay Inslee. She is joined by Whitney Keyes, Executive Director Seattle City Club and Kayla Demonte, Managing Director of Citizen University. 

Our guests discuss why they decided to enter into civil service and how they got started in the work of democracy. They spend time discussing the impact of their families, the experiences learned from other sectors, the inspiration that came from leaders and mentors, traveling, rank-choice voting, and how to stay engaged. 

All three shared personal and professional projects towards the end.   

RaShelle wanted to let listeners know about Washington Senate Bill 5010 which prohibits the use of credit scores to determine rates for personal lines of insurance. 

Whitney spoke about how City Club was looking to start a Dialogue across Differences and are looking for organizations to partner with. Kayla pitched the great work of The Better Arguments Project and their approach and framework. She also talked about a new book out called The Sum of Us. RaShelle advocated for the Aspen Institute's Ideas Festival and agreed to introduce her to folks from there.

Kayla asked listeners for two things. First, she pitched for people to be trained in the Civic Saturday programs so they can lead these civic events in their own communities. Second, she plugged the push by Fair Vote Washington to push forth the ability of Washington House Bill 1156 to allow for rank-choice voting in local cities and counties.

Responses for any of these endeavors can be sent to us at f.nam@civic-commons.org. We will happily forward along any notes to our guests. We thank our guests for their service, the work they continue to do, and we'll see you at our next episode! 

Special thanks to Big Phony for providing music for the We Belong Here podcast.