Wendy Kenin, Application for Delegate, Green Party of the United States (2015)

Name - Wendy Kenin
City - Berkeley
County - Alameda
wendyy@prodigy.net


1) Please list any prior or current positions, related experience, and/or personal and professional skills within of the Green Party that you have, that apply to this position.

I registered Green when I first registered to vote in the early 1990's and have not swayed. I am serving on the Editorial Board of the Green Party of the United States since June '09.
 
2) Please list any prior or current positions, related experience, and/or personal and professional skills outside of the Green Party that you have, that apply to this position.

I have a history of creating strategic grassroots campaigns at various junctures. Most relevant to my Green activism, I have provided strategic, administrative, publicity, and community-organizing support for the following organizations, as well as for educational / youth programs and more:
Transportation Alternatives, New York, NY, 1992-93
Student Environmental Action Coalition, Tucson, AZ, 1993-96
Earth First!, Tucson, AZ, 1993-1997
Southwest Forest Alliance, Flagstaff, AZ, 1997-2000
Apaches for Cultural Preservation, San Carlos, AZ, 1993-2004
Tucson Arts Brigade, Tucson, AZ, 2000-present
Lipan Apache Women's Defense, El Calaboz, TX, 2007-2009
Hazon Food Conference Planning Team, August 2011
 
From 1997-2001, I was a correspondent and photographer for the Navajo Times newspaper, which at the time was the newspaper of the Navajo Nation government. I covered the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute (Big Mountain/ Black Mesa / Peabody Coal) and cultural preservation issues under my maiden name Wendy Young.

Currently I serve as a member of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, appointed in 2007 by City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. I have served as a Vice Chair and Chair of the commission.

Several of my initiatives have passed through the Berkeley City Council including a resolution condemning the U.S. wall at the Mexican border, a letter to the Michigan governor opposing juvenile sentences of life without parole (JLWOP) in support of Efren Paredes, Jr., and endorsement of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I have also played a lead role in promoting clemency for Leonard Peltier, Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and Immigration/Human Rights educational campaigns through the commission. 

Since 1994 I have been attending births as a doula, at homes, birth centers and hospitals. I am looking to deepen my service to women and children and am currently enrolled in a training to become a domestic violence counselor / advocate. In 2010 I completed the Oaksterdam University course on the budding cannabis industry, as I have been a hemp and medical marijuana advocate for two decades. I also have experience in natural medicine, permaculture, lobbying, and social media.

I have special concern for promoting intergroup relationships (including inter-political, inter-cultural, inter-generational, and inter-professional) as I have seen that story-sharing builds the bonds that make peace and restore balance. I believe that these channels are the path to global wellness.legate.

3) Please describe your vision for serving as GPUS Delegate including addressing the job description for GPUS Delegate.
 
I welcome the opportunity to apply my activist values and expertise to the Green Party. I see the Green Party as having immense potential to increase its constituency as we find industry, government, and communities taking on many of our core values. Green people in the U.S. and abroad are leading societies through this time of immense change, and I anticipate that with skillful outreach, these trends will bring about major growth of our party. It is a true honor to serve as a Green Party of California delegate to the Green Party of the United States in upholding our core values and addressing critical needs locally, nationally, and globally.