TRAVIS DEFINES, DISCUSSES, DEMONSTRATES ROLE OF DIVERSITY IN BUILDING STRONG COMMUNITY, INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT, AND ROBUST ECONOMY

Sophia Travis, County Council at-large candidate, today outlined the specifics behind one of her campaign?s central themes, namely the value of promoting diversity in local government.

"The issue of diversity and its flipside, fairness, emerged early in my campaign as themes which resonate with local voters," said Travis, "I think it's time to underscore what I mean by diversity and what it means to Monroe County."

"We know that diverse systems in nature are robust systems while collections of similar organisms, what farmers call monocultures, are easily diseased. Melting-pots like our own great nation, prosper and grow" she continued. "Diversity is dynamic"

"Unfortunately," noted Travis, "while Monroe County is diverse, local government isn't. This holds back both it and the people it serves." She went on to note several statistics:

• Although women make up nearly 52% of the county?s population, they make up just 20% of its elected policy-making officials.
• Occupational diversity within the county council and county commissioners does not match the occupational diversity of the county at large.  Whereas 60% of current county commissioners and councilpersons hold occupations or other financial interests related to real estate and land development, less than 10% of county residents do.
• Monroe County has over ten thousand people of Hispanic, African American, Asian, and/or American Indian origin. This represents a quarter of the roughly 40,000 people expected to vote in the county's November election. Yet no currently elected officeholders are members of any of those groups.

Travis continued: "Any government that doesn't reflect the diversity of its constituents is an inherently unfair government. I'll bring more balance, as well as a voice for those currently without a voice, to our government."