Shannon is running for City Council because she loves her community.
Fed up with inconsistencies between what City Council Members would say and what they would actually do about our most urgent issues, Shannon and our community turned our heartbreak into action on April 1, 2022 by launching this people-powered campaign.
This clip from Shannon’s public comment during a March 2022 City Council meeting on redistricting shows the moment she decided to be the political leader she wanted to see — someone who takes on our toughest challenges, puts people over profit, and has the experience and tenacity to get things done.
Shannon is proudly supported by trusted progressive leaders and organizations:
Shannon’s work spans education, nonprofits, and retail. Throughout, she’s seen firsthand how policies impact people — for better or worse.
Shannon has been an educator for more than a decade and has a Master’s Degree focused on college access and success. As an AmeriCorps member, she taught adult basic education in central Appalachia, and began her relationship with Denver by bringing groups of college students to the city to study gentrification and serve at local organizations that develop relationships with Capitol Hill neighbors who are unhoused.
Since moving to Denver, she has embedded herself within the education landscape. Shannon has successfully managed an after-school program focused on service-learning, administered a school district scholarship program that included supporting undocumented students, and enhanced a career-shadowing program within Denver Public Schools.
Shannon continues her work as an educator, encouraging community members to learn about their local government and get civically engaged at the local level through her series "How Sh*t Gets Done in Denver.”
Shannon’s fire for justice and civic engagement comes from her Appalachian ancestors and the strong women in her life. She takes a collaborative approach to community engagement, skillfully growing partnerships across community organizations to build power for and with working-class people and people of color.
Shannon has worked at Hope Tank for more than four years as both a retail employee and the community engagement liaison. In this role, she connected the store to nonprofit partners and led community events.
She actively participates and volunteers with several grassroots organizations, including Allies to Abolitionists and Denver Democratic Socialists of America. In these spaces, she trains and engages working-class people in electoral politics and local government.
Shannon also has as an active commitment to learning and practicing anti-racism and focusing on Black liberation in her activism.
Shannon served as the project manager for Allies to Abolitionists, a project of Emancipation Theater. With this community, she helped galvanize fellow members to call and email their local representatives, provide comments at public city governance meetings, and dialogue with neighbors about racial justice and other important issues in our community.
Shannon led a research team to file more than 60 Colorado Open Records Act documents to learn about the true cost to taxpayers for of “sweeps,” or displacements, of unhoused neighbors by Denver police.
Through this process, Shannon began paying closer attention to city government meetings and noticed inconsistencies between what elected officials said to the general public in the news, on social media, and during public statements and how they actually voted on issues.
Realizing how important local elections are to meeting immediate needs in our community, Shannon decided it was time to become the political leader she wanted to see.