š” ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Natalie sits down with Trajan Jones ā planning director for Indiana Borough and candidate for Pennsylvania's 62nd House district ā for a conversation about what it actually means to show up. At 26, Trajan didn't wait for the right moment or the right person to step forward. He threw his name in because nobody else did, and because the community he grew up in deserved a two-sided conversation. They cover a lot of ground ā rural healthcare, food deserts, housing affordability, what urban planning actually is and why it matters more than most people realize, and why running unopposed isn't the same thing as being chosen.
Trajan talks about bridging a district that stretches from IUP students to farming communities to small borough towns, finding common ground across a partisan divide, and why the only way to have a voice is to show up ā in whatever form that takes for you. This one isn't about party lines, and it isn't really about Trajan either. It's about what happens when someone in your community decides not to wait for someone else to fix it.
šÆ KEY TAKEAWAYS
Your local ballot is the one that actually changes your street ā federal and state elections get all the attention, but local is where decisions land closest to your life
Running unopposed isn't democracy ā if nobody challenges the conversation, the conversation never happens
Inexperience in government isn't always the liability ā not being locked into legacy thinking is how new ideas get in
The only way to have a voice is to show up ā whatever that looks like for your personality and your life, start there
Common ground lives at the local level ā bring the conversation down from national and you'll find you want more of the same things than you thought
Your state rep is who you call ā not just on election day, but when you have an idea, a concern, or a problem that needs connecting to the right people
Getting involved early is how you get a say in what you inherit ā the decisions being made right now are the ones the next generation lives with
TOPICS
COMMUNITY & CONNECTIONS
INNOVATION
STRATEGIC THINKING
