Who is NaTisha Washington?
NaTisha Washington is a Wilkinsburg native that has a passion to make communities stronger and healthier with her residents. As a long-term community advocate and resident, NaTisha is no stranger to the issues and personal needs in this district. She currently serves as an Environmental Justice Organizer for 412 Justice, where she uses community engagement, education, and policy change to support residents in improving their environments through collective power. Even through her environmental work she's foudn herself working to improve many isssues around housing, education, health and safety.
In addtion to organizing she is also a business owner of a environmental consulting business and a co-owner of a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion consulting business.
Personally NaTisha is an avid gardener and educator that wants to help better prepare our youth for this green transitioning economy, and she loves highlighting local business owner and artist to further improve the local economy,
ISSUES & POLITICAL CONCERNS
"We need to live in a society where people do not merely support progressive change, but fight for it!" Natisha Washington believes in many core values, such as Social Justice for our disinvested communities, Environmental Justice, Safer communities, Quality Education, Affordable Healthcare and resources, Growing local Economies, and Equitable investments. Learn more about the issues NaTisha Washington plans to address in Allegheny below.
EQUITABLE INVESTMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
NaTisha has been a long-time advocate for Environmental Justice and has made it her life's goal to ensure that everyone is provided with a clean, healthy, and safe environment. She wants to ensure that the residents she serves have clean water, clean air, maintained vacant lots, and a path to the growing green economy. Through her environmental work, she's connected her work across many issues, from advocating for energy-efficient homes through the Whole Home Repair Bill to prioritizing local contracts for green infrastructure development. Working with groups like the Our Water table, Breathe Collaborative, Black Environmental, Get the Lead Out Coalition, and many more she works to create safe and accessible spaces for residents of all ages to enjoy.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
After being involved in many community development plans, NaTisha has seen and personally experienced the need for affordable housing. It has been an issue that she sees as the number one reason for displacement and unstable living conditions for many residents. After seeing the conditions of housing run by slum lords and running into barriers in assisting renters as well as homeowners has emphasized to NaTisha just how necessary of an effort affordable housing is. She wants to make sure that all living conditions are not only reasonable but also healthy and clean for the families that live in them.
QUALITY EDUCATION
Watching her mom work to help and advocate for her fellow students showed NaTisha how possible change was even at a young age. In high school, she became a Junior Council member to lift the voices of the youth in her community, which kickstarted her advocacy. Later in life, she started working as an Out-of-school educator with the youth group Junior Green Corp which deepened her love for youth advocacy. NaTisha worked to empower her youth to make their voices heard and showcase the impact they make in their communities. Now as a member of the Education Rights Network at 412 Justice and a board member of Communitopia, NaTisha has found even more love in advocating and supporting policies that could positively improve the education of students. As a former public school student, NaTisha wants to positively improve Public education for students all over the county and state.
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE & RESOURCES
Through her, work NaTisha has consistently advocated for health issues in underserved communities. During her time with these communities, she's worked to deal with the disproportionate health issues of residents living in hazardous environments that lack access to affordable healthcare. From helping out at health fairs to sharing affordable resources across the count, NaTisha constantly works to ensure the communities she serves are on a healthier path.
JUST & EQUITABLE INVESMENT
In having conversations with older residents in many communities, NaTisha learned just how thriving many communities were before the decrease in population due to disinvestment of resources. NaTisha wants to work to revive disinvested communities through equitable investments and shared resources with a focus on minority and women-owned businesses. As a minority woman business owner herself, she wants to make sure that all opportunities are diversified and prioritized for local businesses.
As many of us read in the many local articles Pittsburgh is, unfortunately, one of the worst places for Black women to thrive is in this city, and we are ranked one of the worse cities for black businesses, but NaTish is persistent in changing that narrative. Working with groups like Center for Shared prosperity, Equitable and Just Greater Pittsburgh Network, the Black Women's Policy agenda, and more NaTisha has seen how collaborative work and increased investment can change how all business, non-profit, community groups, and our future leaders can thrive if given the right resources, information/education, and viable opportunities
SAFE COMMUNITIES
Recently violence has run rampant in many of the communities around the count leaving countless families and communities hurt and demanding action. No one should have to live in fear in the place they call home and they should feel comfortable calling on their fellow officers for aide. NaTisha has advocated for community-led solutions that can repair communities' relationships with police while giving power and resources back into the communities they serve.
Even outside of criminal issues, she's worked to ensure that the physical spaces in many communities are safe and visible, non-discriminative security measures are implemented, and increases the amount of safe community spaces for residents of all ages to enjoy within their communities. Even inside prison walls, NaTisha wants to ensure that incarcerated people are being treated justly and fairly during their time.
Upcoming Event!
Join us on the AVE as we collect petitions to get 3 passionate and committed candidates on the ballot for the May elections. To learn more about the event click the link below
Make a Donation Today!
Running this grassroots campaign will not be easy but with your support, we can really give it our all in this campaign race. We plan to reach as many people as possible so they can not only know who NaTisha is, and the important issues she stands for. So if you are a supporter of this campaign please donate to this community-driven campaign and make sure you're signed up for the newsletter so we can update you on all the work your time and money is contributing to.
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Thank you,
The Friends of NaTisha C Washington