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-My name is Zachary DeWolf.
I'm a citizen of the Chippewa Cree Nation.
I'm a program manager at All Home,
which coordinates homelessness
efforts across King County,
and I serve as a director
on the Seattle School Board,
working on behalf of students, teachers,
and families every day.
And I'm running now as I did for school board
for the 4,280 students experiencing
homelessness in Seattle public schools.
These students' housing status and how
they get around absolutely affects
their public education,
but schools alone cannot address
their needs and opportunity gaps.
Creating a Seattle where these students
and their families and all of
our neighbors can thrive
is deeply important to me.
But our current representation
isn't working for all of us.
We need leadership that urgently
and successfully drives toward solutions,
especially on homelessness,
housing affordability,
transportation, safety,
the climate crisis, and public education.
And in native culture, we often talk about the
Seven Generations Principle
which says that what we do now must create positive
and sustainable and meaningful
solutions for today and seven generations
into the future.
And in order to do that,
you deserve a council member
who shares your values, has an incredible work ethic,
and someone who has a record of getting things done.
As president of the Capitol Community Council,
in alliance with our friends from
Chinatown-International District, we
expanded law-enforcement assisted diversion
to both our neighborhoods.
We created the country's first renters' commission.
We piloted pedestrian-only streets.
We created a law that requires landlords to provide
voter registration to new tenants.
And as your school board director,
I was proud to have helped develop
one of the most innovative, strategic plans
in decades, proud to embed
racial equity in our BEX V Levy,
helped fix our databases for trans students,
proud to adopt science curriculum
after almost 30 years,
proud to move our work sessions out
into the community.
And I was proud this year to lead
on bringing community workforce agreements
to Seattle public schools, a first in the state --
commitments I made on the campaign trail
to you and followed through on.
Just recently, I passed out diplomas
at the Garfield High School graduation.
And at this ceremony, all 18 valedictorians
gave a speech, and in it,
they implored all of us to act.
See, in 11 years, in 2030, our earth
will reach a critical milestone
for when we will have needed to drastically reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
It is up to us to act urgently on this issue
and so much more for the future of these young folks
and the future of our city.
I have the values, the hard work,
and the record of results we need right now
to create a Seattle we can all be proud of for today
and seven generations in to the future.