FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMMUNITY HEALTH EXPERT TO CHALLENGE 16-YEAR-INCUMBENT REBECCA ARNOLD FOR ACHD SEAT

Boise, Idaho, April 16, 2020--- Alexis Pickering, a strategist at Central and Southwest District Health, is challenging four-term Ada County Highway District Commissioner (District 2) Rebecca Arnold this November. As a working-class millennial, community health professional, and avid user of many non-motorized forms of transportation, she’s eager to offer a forward-thinking vision and a more collaborative style of leadership to a commission often plagued by in-fighting and conflict with other regional partners.

“I think we’re especially aware right now about the impact of community health on our own health, that it’s all intertwined,” says Pickering. “Our transportation systems and infrastructure are a huge part of health and quality of life, and here in Ada County, we know that we’re decades behind where we should be. It’s time to begin changing that, and we have no time to lose.”

Pickering is eager to lend her professional experience to the work done by the Commissioners. She’s worked with cities throughout Ada County to bring a whole-person and whole-community approach to their comprehensive planning, policies, and projects. She’s helped local leaders make data-informed decisions, to understand all the impacts and costs of developments, taking everyone into consideration.“I’ve worked with cities like Star and Kuna, hosting walkability workshops that bring together realtors, mayors, teachers, and planners. I was on the ACHD Pedestrian Advisory Group to learn how ACHD prioritizes and completes projects, and I’m on the board of the Idaho Walk Bike Alliance, a statewide nonprofit that supports everyone’s opportunity to get where they want to go safely. I’ve learned how important it is that we build our transportation network in a positive, smart way, and how we can do better,” Pickering says. 

Growing up in north-central Idaho on the Nez Perce Reservation, sometimes without running water and electricity, Pickering learned early on the importance of community, protecting the environment, and to not take our infrastructure for granted. “It’s hard to overlook the value of our roads, sidewalks, and pathways when you practiced for track meets by running along a two-lane highway that was 50 mph,” says Pickering.

Pickering holds a Masters of Health Science and Health Policy from Boise State University. Before working for Central District Health, she was a wildlands firefighter. She’s an avid equestrienne and runner, and lives in the West Bench with her husband, Justin.

###