Kristin Gisleson Palmer says her background with non-profit organizations makes her the ideal person to serve the people of District C.
Her work began shortly after graduating from college as a volunteer at the Hope House in St. Thomas.
“Then I served as director of Christmas in October, which helped low-income elderly persons renovate their house,” she says. “When I became a mother, I founded Confetti Kids to clean up neighborhood playgrounds because I saw a need to make sure our kids had safe places to play and thrive.”
The former city council woman says she wants to “move the district forward.”
“A lot of the projects we started when I was in office have come to a standstill,” she says. “In addition to that there are a lot of initiatives that we had done that I’d like to continue. I think now is a really good time to go back.”
Public safety, affordable housing, public transportation, and government transparency will be top issues for Palmer if elected, she says.
“Our city is safer when our residents have jobs and affordable housing to make home. To help those who face systemic barriers to employment, we need to ban the box on job applications,” Palmer says. “My vision for the office is to use our city’s resources to effectively address our crime problem, create quality jobs through smart economic development. Provide more opportunities for youth, to reduce blight and slow the rise in living costs.”
As for blight and affordable housing, Palmer says both issues can be addressed with a single effort.
“New Orleans has roughly 35,000 vacant and blighted houses. We need to get this housing stock back into commerce, which I believe will strongly offset the affordability crisis,” she says. “I will work with the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance and other nonprofits to make sure a fair percentage of these houses are affordable.”
Palmer earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Louis University. She also served as executive director of Rebuilding Together, a program that provides home repair and revitalization to low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly, veterans, disabled residents and single-parent households with minor children.
