Our chapter co-chair, Andrea Merida, has accepted the nomination for a seat on the Green Party of the United States’ steering committee.  If accepted by the National Committee delegates, she will be one of seven national co-chairs to lead the Green Party.  The following is her statement to accept her nomination.

Note:  The Green Party does not accept corporate donations or sponsorships, so Andrea is holding an online fundraiser to help defray her costs to get to the national committee meeting for this election in July 2015.  Can you help?  Visit the fundraiser page here and please consider giving what you can, even just a couple of dollars.  Thank you!

My name is Andrea Merida, and I am an activist for public education and racial and economic justice from Denver, CO. National committee members, I believe my track record of real results in growing the numbers of registered Green voters in Denver, in improving communications with our Green voters and in growing the membership of chapter activists throughout Colorado are skills that can be scaled up to benefit our national party. Therefore, I ask you today for your vote to appoint me to the GPUS Steering Committee.

I am a former elected member of the Denver Board of Education and represented a working-class and predominantly Latino and Vietnamese-descent district. I have the distinction of being Denver’s first-ever elected official registered as a Green. The very first person of my family to be born a U.S. citizen, I am a veteran of the United States Army.

I am also a founding member of Parents Across America, a national grassroots organization that connects parents and activists from across the United States to fight for equity in our nation’s schools and to release public education from the clutches of the corporate reform movement. I work closely with parents and students to understand their rights to, and to support their decision to, opt out from standardized testing.

I am honored to serve currently as a co-chair of the Denver Green Party, and during my tenure, Denver Green Party voter registrations jumped 25 percent from 2014 to 2015. I am also a member of the GPUS’ national committee as a delegate from Colorado, a member of the Green Party’s BRPP and Outreach committees and am active in the Denver local #BlackLivesMatter movement. Additional work includes as a steering committee member for 15 Now Colorado, whose goal is to launch a ballot initiative campaign to raise Colorado’s minimum wage in 2016.

In my “spare” time, I work as a freelance web designer and as a manager and backup singer of a successful Denver funk band.

with 2004 Green Party presidential nominee, David Cobb

The support I have received for my bid for this position include:

• David Cobb, 2004 GPUS presidential nominee (official endorsement)
• Cynthia McKinney, 2008 GPUS presidential nominee (verbal support)
• Jill Stein, 2012 GPUS presidential nominee (official endorsement)
• Bill Bartlett, co-chair, Colorado Green Party (official endorsement)
• Laura Clark, co-chair, Colorado Green Party (official endorsement)
• Asher Platts, chair, Maine Green Independent Party (official endorsement)

with Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party presidential nominee

It is my intention to also run in July for a full term on the steering committee, but some of my goals for the immediate future would include:

• the official launch of the GPUS Latino caucus
• helping to optimize and publicize our party fundraising activities along with Starlene Rankin
• focusing on reinforcing ballot access activities
• improving communications between state parties and the steering committee

Please vote for me when the floor opens. The nation is waiting for the promise that the Green Party of the United States holds, and I cannot wait to lay shoulder to the plow.

Con todo mi agradecimiento/With gratitude,

Andrea Mérida
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Andrea Mérida
Member, BRPP and Outreach committees
National CommitteeDelegate, Colorado
Co-chair, Denver Green Party
denvergreenparty.org
andrea@denvergreenparty.org