Michelle Hicks Email & Phone Number

Portland, Oregon, United States

Salem, Oregon, United States

▪ Managed the tracking, advocacy, and sponsorship of 31 bills in a short legislative session, 16 of which passed into law. Notably, SB 1579, which allocates $15 million of general fund dollars to Business Oregon to provide grants to culturally-responsive, community-based organizations that support entrepreneurship, workforce development, and paths to home and land ownership.▪ Managed an office of 8 and a budget of ~$161K.▪ Managed the Senator’s schedule and kept her apprised of all floor votes, committee proposals, and potential legislative actions through daily briefings.▪ Created a comprehensive communications framework to not only draft letters, speeches, talking points and testimonies for the Senator, but support others in learning how to draft persuasive political communications.

▪Monitored and reported field plan for the campaign Paid Field Team▪Supported Paid Field program in partnership with Next Up Action Fund, including data support, field turf cutting, training, and data quality assurance▪ Served as the liaison between Paid Field Team & General Consultant▪ Facilitated field events such as phonebanking and canvassing.

Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area

▪ Co-managed Juan Carlos Gonzalez for Oregon’s re-election campaign to Metro District 4 that includes the diverse areas of: Northern and Western Urban Washington County, including the communities of: Beaverton, Bethany, Aloha, Bonny Slope, Raleigh Hills, West Slope, Cedar Mill and Cedar Hills, Hillsboro, Cornelius and Forest Grove.▪ Created a comprehensive, cross cultural field infrastructure for candidate that allowed our team to identify the support scores of almost 1,000 voters and canvassed over 20,000 Oregonians.▪ Hosted 14 joint events with candidates throughout the district: ZelosZelos Marchandt, Brian Decker, Metro President Lynn Peterson, Councilor Pamela Treece, Washington County Chair Kathryn Harrington, Councilor-elect Kevin Teater, Councilor-elect Ashley Hartmeier-Prigg, Councilor-elect John Dugger, Representative Lisa Reynolds, and the No on 34-314 campaign.

Portland

▪Co-led APANO’s electoral work and community engagement by crafting a field plan for voter contact and registration, coordinating and managing the field calendar with endorsed candidates and ballot measures, and representing the organization key ballot measure coalitions.▪Co-led APANO’s legislative work for the 2021 legislative session by helping develop our political agenda, engaging in and leading parter coalitions, such as the Ranked Choice Voting workgroup and the Removing the Slavery Exception from Oregon’s state constitution workgroup, and in the legislature such as recruiting community members to testify and meeting with representatives.Conducted political research on candidates, jurisdictions, issue background and distills relevant information for our team and the public by creating engaging blogposts, social media, newsletters, and earned media.▪Supported the development of APANO’s grassroots Political Advocacy and Civic Engagement Committee integrated voter engagement strategies▪Actively maintained the Voter Activation Network (VAN) EveryAction Database and the organizations internal systems to update records, target lists for campaigns, and coordinate electoral organizing activities.

Portland, Oregon, United States

APANO is a statewide, grassroots organization, uniting Asians and Pacific Islanders to achieve social justice. In this role I work to further this mission through electoral organizing and community driven political engagement. Supported 13 candidate campaigns by writing communication materials, creating scripts, organizing phone and text banks, and providing technical assistance, to elect officials at all levels of governance. Supported 6 ballot measure campaigns such as, Preschool for All, Portlanders for Parks, and Measure 110, by creating scripts, organizing phone and text banks, and providing technical assistance, to enact change at all levels of governance.Crafted communication materials such as e-blasts, blog posts, social media posts, to ensure cohesive messaging across platforms that is accessible, inclusive, and exciting. Created materials and facilitated workshops for internal popular education from topics ranging from Disability Justice workshop to Defunding the Police and Prison Abolition 101.Co-organized the Disability Justice Committee at APANO that works to advance Disability Justice internally through policy and programmatic efforts to be more inclusive to disabled folks.Researched pertinent information and complied policy and candidate memos to enhance collective understanding of the situation.

Portland, Oregon, United States

As the Census and Communications intern, I researched relevant information such as the redistricting process, the history of the Census, and the deployment of the Census, and translated the information into memos that enhanced the collective understanding of the Census; supported the development of the Field and Communications plan for the 2020 Census; created daily posts to the APANO Social media, created a general toolkit for the differing social media platforms to ensure consistent and cohesive messaging, and conducted analyses for our social media to evaluate our growth and engagement; and I attended meetings with Census partners to bolster the statewide coalition and further Census efforts.

After entering the legislative session 4 months late, we sponsored 85 bills, 58 of which passed into law inclusive of our 8 priority bills: HB 3073 Early Learning and Care, HB 2362 Equal Access to Care Act, HB 2021 Clean Energy, HB 2819 Leave No Worker Behind, HB 3352 Cover All People, HB 2842 Healthy Homes, HB 2001 Diversifying teacher Workforce, and HB 3265 Sanctuary Promise Act. We also engaged with community stakeholders to invest $2,000,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds in the district to increase the stock of affordable housing in district and support BIPOC, immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs. I connected the Representative to key stakeholders and constituents in district through a series of town halls, business tours, digital engagement, and meetings. I managed the Representatives schedule and kept her apprised of all floor votes, committee proposals, and potential legislative actions through daily briefings. I was also a proud participant in becoming the first legislature in the United States to unionize.

Attempted to contact the entire voting population of House District 47 via text, phone call, literature, mailer or digital organizing methods, three times amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 500 identified supporters. Managed and fundraised our entire campaign budget of over $32,000 and ensured payroll was conducted timely and effectively.Engaged and managed our core kitchen cabinet of 8 and our volunteer team of 30.Garnered key endorsements and connected the campaign to key stakeholders such as, fellow elected officials, community based organizations, unions, and community leaders.

Amidst the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, created and conducted innovative voter engagement strategies by attempting to text, phone call, literature, mailers, and digitally connect with the entire voting population three times with over 1,000 identified supporters. Managed and fundraised our entire campaign budget of $47,593 and ensured payroll was conducted accordingly Managed our core kitchen cabinet of 5 and our volunteer team of 40 volunteers. Engaged community members by hosting a variety of COVID-safe events wherein folks were able to connect with Nadia and learn about the duties of City CouncilGarnered key endorsements and connected the campaign to key stakeholders such as, fellow elected officials, community based organizations, unions, and community leaders.

Salem, Oregon

“La chispa De Salem” or the Salem Spark project aims to research environmental privilege and racism in the Salem-Keizer community, and to implement community projects. In this role, I was the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Clothing Share, an effort to make business more accessible by providing a communal closet wherein Willamette University students have access to free business clothes. In this role I managed the donation and distribution of clothes, managed the creation of volunteer schedules, volunteer coordination, and volunteer trainings; and created content for social media designed to effectively communicate the organization’s events and organizing goals.I also was the program coordinator of the "Waste Stream Beyond Life Around the Mill Stream: Composting Food Waste At Home", which allowed students who live off campus are able to receive composting materials and attend workshops on composting and food justice for free.

Salem, Oregon

The mission of the Asian Coalition for Equality (ACE) is to educate and promote interest and awareness of Asian American issues within the Willamette University community through the use of films, lectures, outings, and other events. As a co-president, I facilitated fundraising efforts, workshops and discussions with the greater club membership surrounding the complex issues of race and other social constructions that affect the Asian American community.

Salem, Oregon

Mosaics is a peer-mentoring program at Willamette University for multicultural students to connect with one another and share advice in their navigation of academia. The first year at University can often be incredibly isolating, especially for multicultural students, this program is designed to mitigate some of the issues they encounter. I mentored a first year student by providing a support system, sharing experiences, and furthering their network of resources.

Salem, Oregon

Mentored first year students at Willamette University through the Compass Mentoring program. It is a program designed for second, third and fourth year students to connect with an assigned group of first years in the College of Liberal Arts during the students’ first two semesters at Willamette University to support their academic and social integration into this community. I connected students with the skills and resources (e.g Title XI offices, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Academic Resources, etc.) they now utilize in traversing the uncertainties of their first year.

Salem, Oregon

The Campus Safety Advisory Committee is designed for students to collaborate with Campus Safety to foster a safer campus environment.I collaborated with the First Year Area Coordinator, the Compass Mentor Coordinator, and Campus Safety Officers to create workshops directed at first year students to increase awareness of the functions and programs of Campus Safety and Title XI resources. I also fostered a greater sense of community by hosting events that personalizes Campus Safety Officers and students.