00:00:01,900	Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access. The purpose of the podcast is to celebrate changemakers in Bismarck, whose contributions break barriers, build connections, and redefine what is possible for our community.

00:00:24,570	Welcome to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by Thea Jorgensen and Sargianna Wutzke, both members of the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee. Thank you for joining us. As we highlight the individuals driving positive change and making a lasting impact on our community. Their stories inspire progress and shape the future of our city.

00:00:43,400	Our guest today is Taylor Johnson. Taylor is a public health official who lives in Bismarck. She is a candidate for the North Dakota House of Representatives in District 35, with the grease from John Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her work has focused on the connection between policy and community health.

00:01:03,370	She currently works as a health care data analyst and previously conducted research on gun violence and public health. Taylor is actively involved in local advocacy, volunteering with organizations including the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and Missouri River indivisible.

00:01:26,530	Through her campaign, she aims to strengthen health focused policy and encourage more young adults in Bismarck to engage in the political process. A century high school graduate, Taylor lives in Bismarck with her partner Dan and their cat Penny, and once played violin on stage with disturbed, which is still a pretty hard act to follow. Welcome, Taylor. Thank you so much for having me.

00:01:45,770	I'm so glad to be here today. So then what made you come back to Bismarck? Yeah, so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to come back to Bismarck with my job.

00:02:02,530	Before Covid, remote work was not nearly as common as it was, but I met my lovely partner, who, ironically, is from Long Island in New York. But we met while he was living here in Bismarck, and that was a really strong motivating factor to find a remote job, and I'm so glad that I was able to move back about two years ago and really build a life and a community that I just, I adore.

00:02:25,300	So of all things to go into, what made you make the decision of going into public health? Yeah, for me, I was a nerd in high school.

00:02:44,970	I absolutely love statistics, and I wanted to use my nerdy love for statistics to help as many people as possible at one time, and that's why public health really resonated with me. I remember learning the motto of the school I'd eventually go to grad school for. It was saving lives millions at a time. And to me, I thought that was so gutsy, but also exactly what I wanted to do.

00:03:09,400	So did you take classes in health in high school then? Oh, I did, but I was actually a part of a club Science Olympiad at both Horizon Middle School and Century High School. And in Science Olympiad, there's an event called Disease Detectives, which you learn about epidemiology, more of an infectious disease focus. So I learned about this and I was obsessed.

00:03:31,330	And so because of that, I went into school thinking college thinking that I wanted to be an infectious disease epidemiologist, which probably would have worked out pretty well with 2020 being during my junior year of college.

00:03:55,900	But the more I learned about how policy impacts every aspect of our daily lives between, you know, whether or not you have sidewalks to walk and get the exercise you need or your access to healthy food. Policy impacts everything when it comes to health. And because of that, I was drawn to health policy versus infectious disease epidemiology. That's very interesting. And statistics is my least favorite, favorite thing in the world.

00:04:19,100	So like I'm in a class right now that's data journalism. And I want to cry. And it's like week two. So but so your degree was health science. Yes. Kind of talk about what that degree entailed. For sure.

00:04:41,500	So my undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of Arts in public health studies, which was more broad focused of learning the different domains within public health, since it's such a broad subject. But my Master of Health science degree was focused on mental health. And to back up a little bit, health science is a really broad field as well. It's essentially a collaboration between a bunch of different Stem fields to promote human health.

00:05:02,800	Right. So my Master of Health Science degree was focused on public mental health, meaning I was learning about the different areas where folks struggled with their mental health risk factors, interventions we can do either at the individual treatment level or more at the community level intervention, for example, like school based initiatives to support younger kids mental health.

00:05:30,070	Yeah. So it was more focused. Sometimes I, I tell someone I studied mental health and they think I'm a therapist and I'm not not quite qualified for it. Interesting. So currently you work as a healthcare dental analyst. Can you tell us what that is? Absolutely. I know it's it's not intuitive.

00:05:47,470	So I work for the Human Services Research Institute, which is a nonprofit, and our team provides data vendor services to state health data organizations. So we support states in analyzing health insurance claims and enrollment data to see where is this money going, right.

00:06:13,130	What kind of services are folks getting and how can we increase transparency so that, you know, for example, we create public facing dashboards so that folks in the states we partner with can explore the data for themselves and dive in and, you know, just play around with these public publicly facing dashboards and, you know, almost ask their own questions and find their own answers.

00:06:37,970	In all, with the goal of increasing transparency on cost and utilization. So do you have to do the dashboards differently depending on what state it is? Oh, that is a great question. Yes. So different states have different goals with what they want to have their dashboards focused on. Right.

00:06:58,500	There might be more of a health equity drive in certain states. So we might have more leeway to include like race and ethnicity or sex and gender identity on these dashboards. But some states are limited on the data that they can collect as well. So there is a lot of nuance between states.

00:07:16,170	So we really take a like a hands on approach of like chatting with these states, seeing what are your priorities and how can we adapt our workflow to support them.

00:07:30,270	Something else that you are interested in that caught my eye was gun violence studies. Where did that come from and what have you learned? Yeah, that's a great question. So I, like many North Koreans, grew up in a hunting family. Right.

00:07:50,300	I had great role models that taught me, you know, the importance of safe gun ownership and were responsible gun ownership. And that paired with learning in my Intro to Public Health class freshman year of college, that the majority of gun deaths in this country are from suicide versus homicide.

00:08:14,100	I had no idea that that was the case as a freshman, and that just really drew me in to this, this important study and really reshaped my thinking. And because of that, I have been fascinated about how we can leverage this culture we have of rightfully so, treating firearms as a serious responsibility and translate that into common sense policy that we can all agree on because, you know, folks are struggling and we really need

00:08:45,200	to address the epidemic of gun violence in this country. Do you and I don't know if you know this off the top of your head, but I know statistically with suicide specifically, if you remove access to lethal means, even if it's temporarily, it can reduce risk of suicide because people are less likely to find another method. Yeah.

00:09:06,470	Have you done any studies that show if that is similar when it comes to like, we'll say, criminal acts or, you know, larger masculine mass shootings or things like that.

00:09:24,370	Have you done any research into that? Unfortunately, no, but I can speak to when it comes to interpersonal gun violence, there's kind of a similar vein of interrupting violence at a community level where there are folks that, you know, you can train and recruit that already have, you know, credibility in the community to interact with at risk youth, right? And kind of take that same mentality of how can we interrupt this cycle of violence

00:09:47,130	before we get to consequences that can't be undone? That's interesting. So then what is Moms Demand Action and what is their role in our community? Yeah. So Moms Demand Action is a nationwide organization that really was started by moms that are tired of the status quo when it comes to gun policy, but it's open to everyone.

00:10:09,570	I'm not a mom myself, and what we really want to advocate for is finding common ground policy solutions and also promoting and informing the community about secure storage. Right? That's why our Bismarck chapter of Moms Demand Action really focuses on community tabling.

00:10:35,370	If you've seen us around, we're usually wearing our Be Smart shirts, which is a campaign to inform folks about the importance of secured gun storage while also providing free gun locks to the community, which I found as a personally really rewarding part of that work.

00:10:55,470	Because I'm not only giving folks information, but I'm also giving them the tools to keep themselves and their family safe and prevent accidental gun violence within the home. Yeah. I think it's it's so interesting because I don't think people realize just even the impact of gun lock on a firearm, whether it's, you know, accidental or suicide, things like that.

00:11:15,100	So I think it's a pretty it's a pretty cool thing to be a part of. You're also involved with the Human Rights Coalition. Can you just talk about that a little bit? Absolutely. So the Human Rights Coalition, again, this is there's a statewide organization, the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, and I'm one of the advocacy organizers with the Bismarck Human Rights Coalition, the Bismarck chapter.

00:11:36,270	And we really just want to bring folks together to have a conversation about, you know, what problems are we seeing in our community? What are we seeing that our neighbors need? And what can we do to bring folks together and address these needs? So far, we've focused on.

00:12:02,470	Event support and trainings for our community to keep keep people informed and really just support the ongoing work that's already happening in Bismarck. There's so many great folks, as you guys do, a great job of highlighting so many folks doing great work, and we want to uplift and support those folks in their events.

00:12:19,900	Do you think do you find that people, when you're focusing on, like the Human Rights Coalition for the Needs of North Dakota, do you find that it differs a little bit maybe, than other states and or what the what the big topics are? I feel like sometimes in North Dakota we get so lost in national like, not that that stuff doesn't impact us.

00:12:37,270	But do you find that sometimes you're like, wow, maybe this conversation happening at this big level is not necessarily what we need to be having happening or having here. Yeah.

00:12:55,770	No, I think there's kind of this, I don't know how exactly to phrase it, but like almost leakage of things that are happening at the federal level kind of sneak into our discourse at the state level. And I think a lot of what I hope to do is have conversations about, okay, like what's actually happening in our school district, right? What are the needs that we actually have? Because I think sometimes we can get distracted by some of these larger scale conversations.

00:13:16,630	And I think that's the beauty of community organizing, is that we can bring it back down to the grassroots and say, okay, you know, regardless of what the hot topic of the day is, what are we experiencing? What are we hoping to help our neighbors with? Yeah.

00:13:36,800	So another thing, you've been very involved in the community and let's just add another thing onto your plate. Why did you decide to run for the house? Yeah. So as I mentioned, I went into public health because I wanted to help as many folks as possible, but I can only do so much my day job.

00:13:53,330	Right? And I really think that there is an opportunity to get our legislature kind of back on track a little bit. Like I said, when I was talking about this kind of leakage of national issues, I think personally, I'm frustrated by how our legislature has been a bit distracted. Right.

00:14:15,500	I think my a great example of my frustration does have to do with the book bans. Right? Book banned legislation. I think I've talked to parents. I've talked to librarians, teachers, and I think sometimes we get distracted on these boogeyman issues that are not actually impacting folks. And I think that I just get frustrated because it's a wasted opportunity.

00:14:39,770	Right? There's only so many days in a legislative session. And it's it's a waste of taxpayer time and resources to focus on things that not only harm and scapegoat our neighbors, but also take us away from addressing the problems that we actually face, especially in this cost of living crisis.

00:14:58,930	So I do think sometimes we have these hot button topics like the book bands, and we focus on those when there's time and effort that should be into, like other legislation that we should be looking at that would impact so many more people in North Dakota. Absolutely.

00:15:15,130	So then what are some of the issues that you're running on? Yeah. So for me, I big picture want to make sure our tax dollars are being used to support and invest in working families. I think North Dakota should be the best place to live and raise a family. To do that, we need to focus on the cost of living.

00:15:34,600	And I think my top legislative priority would be for a state paid family and medical leave program. I think that it's a shame right now that there are moms and new moms out there that have to choose between recovering and spending time, important time with their family.

00:15:57,270	After a new little one enters and putting food on the table. Right. And I think that whether or not you get that time should not be dependent on where you work and what your employer benefits look like.

00:16:14,270	On top of that, I think we can also help working families with bringing down the cost of living in key areas like health care. Obviously, that's a really important topic for me. Also, housing and child care. I think those are probably the top three areas that squeeze folks budget the most. And we really have a lot of work to do here in North. For those that don't have children. Yeah.

00:16:37,270	You know, like I have a niece and nephew. So I saw my sister kind of try to go through the experience of, well, do I stay home with my niece until she or with her daughter until she can go back to kindergarten? Because can you just talk about some of the challenges with childcare in our state?

00:16:52,470	Yeah, absolutely. And I'm personally really passionate about this because, you know, I was raised by a single mom, right? So she didn't necessarily have the same options. And I think that for me, the fact that it's in a lot of cases a better, not a better.

00:17:20,870	I phrase this, it's more expensive to have your kid in childcare than you would make in working full time. And I think that is dangerous because that brings folks out of the workforce, especially in a state like North Dakota, where we need to focus on workforce development and attracting young families, I think, and retaining young families. Right.

00:17:48,370	I think that that is a choice that shouldn't be so heavily influenced by financials. I think that that's a very personal choice that families need to make of career development versus spending time with the kids and what will work best for your family.

00:18:11,070	I just think that our job in the state legislature would be to ease that pressure so that folks can make an informed decision that actually works for their family. Yeah, I kind of joke about it. I grew up with my mom having an in-home daycare, so single mom in home daycare, and we we struggled financially all the time. And then I found out. Like what? And granted.

00:18:32,500	Granted, she closed her her daycare almost 20 years ago. So we're talking, you know, a long time ago. But I just like mom. You could have been charging for what you were. You know, it's still it's mind boggling to me, but. So you're running as a Democrat, which we all know is the by far minority party.

00:18:51,700	How do you plan on working with the other side, the majority party, and ensure that the policies that you want to come across or to pass are going to be passed if you're electricity? Yeah, it's a great question for me, I think.

00:19:07,730	I want to cut through some of that partizan noise. Right. My priorities are not red or blue. It's working families. And I think that is a common ground priority, right, that we can work across the aisle on.

00:19:31,000	And I also think that regardless of, you know, maybe legislative success, I think there is something really important about having dissenting voices at the table. Right. Just to say, hey, had you thought of this? Right. And communicating that to voters as well, so that when we're having these policy conversations, it brings balance back to the legislature, and then it gives an avenue for folks who may not feel heard in the current legislature.

00:19:52,770	I know a lot of folks that do a lot of great work of testifying constantly, who maybe feel like they don't have the they don't have a voice actually at the table.

00:20:15,470	And I think that that would be my role would be just looking at things outside of that Partizan lens and actually like looking at the data and saying what is actually going to provide the most benefit for our working families. I think that's so important. And a time like today where even the Republican Party is having two different factions of it, I think working together is the smartest thing in that. I mean, you truly embody that.

00:20:34,430	So I don't think a lot of people in North Dakota know that we're a citizens led organization as far as the House and the Senate. So anybody can go testify, which I think is so important. And it's unheard of in in a lot of the states, I think. Absolutely.

00:20:53,070	And same with the opportunities we have through citizen initiated ballot measures. I think that's a great opportunity to, again, cut through partizan noise and show the legislature what you know, what the people are thinking on a given topic. So I think North Dakota really does have great opportunities for, you know, true civic engagement that other states could learn from. That's one thing we're good at.

00:21:16,470	Yes, absolutely. So as far as in your campaign, how are you getting your name out there? Yeah. So so far I've been really focused on trying out a new skill of social media.

00:21:36,600	It doesn't come naturally to me, but it has been so fun and folks have been so kind with me trying to be funny on the internet. It's not easy. And but I really, truly do think it's important because I want folks to be able to message me directly, right? To comment and get my opinion on something and hear it straight from me.

00:21:58,630	I also think that informing voters, especially younger voters of, you know, why is it important to vote in the primaries, right? What are the municipal elections going on that outside of just my race? Like, we need more engagement. And I think for me, I just I'm really passionate about younger folks getting more involved because I had no idea before I started getting involved.

00:22:17,870	I honestly only really started getting involved in politics within the last year. Right? And I've learned so much, and there are so many opportunities where you can truly make change and also, you know, meet so many wonderful people. I've loved the opportunity to call folks on the phone and just get their thoughts on things.

00:22:37,330	And I'm so excited for after the primaries, we will be starting our door knocking season. I am so excited to get all of my steps in and I yeah, so for me, I really prioritize those two things of social media to use.

00:22:57,600	Using social media as a way to inform, but also connect with folks and say, hey, even if my videos are a little bit silly sometimes, it serves a purpose. I'm trying to communicate. Hey, I hear you on this, right? Like, I also deal with health insurance companies denying my claims and then having to fight that battle.

00:23:14,670	I hear you, I see you, and we need fighters for real solutions. And I think, you know, you're meeting voters where they're at, which is their front doors and social media. So that's my goal. I think you do a great job in social media, your video with your partner in it, the sports announcer. It is great.

00:23:33,070	Thank you. Yes. He really stole the show on that one. Did a great job. Thank you. So you touched on something that's kind of a soapbox of mine, which is voting at the local level. How important it is that we, again, don't not the national does not impact us.

00:23:53,530	But like, what do you say to people when you're trying to to explain to them this is important? June 9th this year is important. What do you say to people? Absolutely. I think my easiest my quickest explanation for that is our ballot measures.

00:24:16,800	Right? There are super important ones coming up both on June 9th and the general elections, like for example, with the June 9th primaries, we have here in Bismarck, the Bismarck Public Schools bond referendum. That's really important. I mean, that determines the future of our schools. I've made a video about why I'm supportive of it.

00:24:33,830	But at the same time, even if you don't agree with me on this, this is really important to make your voice heard. And additionally, the single subject constitutional ballot measure is really important. I think that will impact, you know, the future of citizen initiated ballot measures. And but then that's not that's just ballot measures, right. That hasn't even gotten to the municipal elections.

00:25:03,330	I think it's it's important because in these races you don't realize how close these folks are, right? And because you truly have people that you can call up on the phone and tell them what you think and you might change your mind, sorry, change their mind.

00:25:24,530	Because I've had really illuminating conversations with constituents and I've changed my mind on things, or at least, you know, heard of great ideas of how to get work done. And that is truly where you have the most power of like, folks that you can meet face to face and have an honest conversation about your lived experience. And I think that's a really valuable opportunity that we have to prioritize.

00:25:44,730	And I think the primary is so important because it's local elections. It's when the mayor is elected, the city commissioners, the school board, those ones directly impact all people locally. Absolutely. And the races have been so close. Like Amanda Petersen was one of our guests. She lost by one vote. One vote, one vote. Oh that's terrifying.

00:26:03,570	So that's why they're so important for people to go to the polls. So what would you say to someone who says that you'd be too young to be running? So that's a good question. When I hear that question, I hear a question of qualifications. Right.

00:26:19,970	Which is fair? Have I been around the block enough to truly be a good legislator? And I think my answer for that would be that I think the most important qualifications are having the right priorities right, making sure that you are truly you have those right priorities, and you're willing to fight for your constituents.

00:26:38,830	And then finally making sure that you have a bit of a BS detector for making sure that you can kind of see through some of the sneaky schmoozing that can happen in politics.

00:27:04,830	And I think all three of those qualifications, those aren't age dependent, right? I like to think I meet all three of those qualifications, but yeah, I just think it's a matter of. Also making sure that we have representation for younger generations, right? I was born in 99. I had to think about that for a while. When I graduated from college.

00:27:29,170	Yes, I have I'm freshly 27 years old, and I think, you know, our generation, Gen Z, has really been coming of age in a really tumultuous time, especially when it comes to cost of living, right? When it comes to trying to buy your first house, when it comes to paying off your student loan debt.

00:27:45,870	I'm dealing with all of those things personally, right? And because of that, I am willing to say it how it is when it comes to those issues and not sugarcoat it. And I think we really do need voices at the table that take these problems seriously and are willing to fight for policy that actually gives folks a chance to.

00:28:08,930	Start off on the right foot in adulthood. I truly think it's important to have different ages, different backgrounds in the legislature. I mean, most of the people that are legislators are retired because jobs won't let all people have off for those three months or so that someone is in the legislature. So I think that's truly important. Yeah.

00:28:29,830	I have to know, how did you end up playing violin with disturbed? Great question. It's a kind of funny story, honestly. So I went into class one day. Orchestra Century High School junior year, and our conductor came out and said, hey everybody, myself and another orchestra teacher were planning on playing this gig with disturbed.

00:28:55,600	I had no idea who to serve was, and unfortunately the other teacher can't can't make it anymore. So we need a violinist. And there was kind of crickets at first because you know what? Junior wants to play a metal concert on a Wednesday. I was like, I don't know, I've got homework.

00:29:16,930	And a friend of mine, you know, raised her hand was like, well, like, we'll be get paid. And my teacher got a sigh, said, yes, you'd get paid. And then my hand went straight up the leader. I was like, I would love to get paid, please sign me up. But it actually ended up being a wonderful experience.

00:29:35,470	I ran into the band backstage and they were very lovely, very friendly, and I got to play for two songs, one of them being The Sound of Silence, which yeah, for anyone who is a disturbed fan, they're like, oh my gosh, that's amazing.

00:29:58,370	And it has turned into my fun fact ever since, because I don't know if I'm going to be able to beat that one.

00:30:02,430	So why do you think it's so important for anybody to be involved in our community? Yeah. I think we're very isolated these days. Right.

00:30:16,270	And this might be coming from my experience as someone who, like I said, I was a junior in college when Covid hit. And so now my I don't know what I like to call my real adulthood post. Grad school has all been in the post-Covid landscape, and I think that getting involved is a really it's a really strong antidote for that, that disconnection.

00:30:36,500	And I think having these real conversations with your neighbors, you realize that, you know, we're not as divided as you'd think, right? Even though I'm running for a relatively unpopular party in my state. I've been able to have really positive conversations with folks, even if they are a little nervous about it at first.

00:31:01,170	But I think that it's really eye opening and can really just help with that despair and just keep us moving forward together. So we are already to our last question, and this is one that we ask everyone, how would you encourage others to be a good neighbor? I love this question, by the way.

00:31:22,930	I think for me the biggest thing is assuming best intent, right when there is an opportunity where you interact with someone, or I'm trying to think of a specific example, maybe your neighbor leaves their trash cans in a way that's kind of annoying, or blocks your parking or something like that,

00:31:42,570	something super minor, but it kind of annoys you, right? And it's so easy to let those kinds of things kind of fester. I feel like, and kind of get resentful.

00:32:03,370	But I think assuming best intent of, you know what, maybe the wind did a number right? Or maybe they don't know, and I just need to have a quick conversation with them of saying, hey, by the way, this makes it tough for me to park whatever it is.

00:32:21,730	I think just to assuming best intent and improving communication, just being willing to address things before they kind of turn into assumptions where you assume, oh, like that neighbor you know, isn't a good neighbor because of something that could have been solved and could have been an opportunity for connection. Yeah, right. All right. Well, thank you for everyone to doing end to these your neighbors with our guest, Taylor Johnson. Thank you for getting to want to know your neighbors as we hold these important and necessary conversations.

00:32:36,930	If you find this a conversation as important as we do, please make sure to share it with your neighbors. Thank you for tuning in to These Are Your Neighbors, a podcast hosted by the City of Bismarck's Human Relations Committee and produced by Dakota Media Access.

00:32:55,700	We hope you were inspired by the stories of citizens driving meaningful change in Bismarck. For more info on the HRC, visit BismarckND. Gov.