Hello!

My name is Kay Carvajal Moran. I was born and raised in South Minneapolis here in District 5. I am a progressive, proud daughter of immigrants, first-generation Mexican American, and a community advocate that is passionate about building a park system that works for everyone. I have deep roots in our community. I graduated from Roosevelt High School and received my Bachelor's Degree from Augsburg University in Sociology and History. Currently, I live in the Bancroft neighborhood where I enjoy biking, running, and walking with my dog Miel.

My approach to leadership is to listen, work collaboratively, and center community voices in decision-making. As a Case Manager Assistant at Hennepin County, I help connect tenants with access to rental assistance, housing, mediation services, referrals and other rental resources. In this work, it’s important that I act and build relationships with trauma-informed care. This kind of attention to detail is how I plan to lead as your next Park Board Commissioner.

I’m committed to building strong relationships across different levels of government to make sure we are addressing our neighbors’ needs. As a community organizer with the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, I worked closely with the City of Minneapolis and the community on passing the Sidewalk Food Cart Street Vendor Ordinance to support economic opportunities and human rights for some of our most vulnerable community members.

I also helped facilitate Constructores de Paz, a city-funded youth internship program focused on developing youth leadership and improving community safety. Youth engaged with businesses, non-profits, and community leaders about what they wanted to see our city government do to increase safety on Lake Street, and then brought their findings to elected officials. Through Constructores de Paz, youth were taught the importance of providing a healthy environment for the community, and gained experience advocating for resources for all, including unhoused residents, BIPOC and immigrant families and youth. 

I believe our parks can be a phenomenal resource for youth opportunities, and one of my biggest focuses on the Park Board would be to develop more paid youth programming for the upcoming generation to develop skills and gain work experience improving our community. 

I’m pro-transit, pro-green spaces, and pro-pedestrian. We also need to preserve and maintain our parks as safe and accessible third spaces that provide opportunities for everyone to enjoy being in nature, and help build the resiliency we need as we face the increasing effects of climate change.

I am extremely disappointed by how our current park board treated our phenomenal parks workers last year. Our parks are consistently rated among the top in the country because of the skilled labor and expertise of our park workers. All workers deserve a voice in their workplace, and I will always stand with workers as the next Park Commissioner from District 5.

I promise to lead on the Park Board with the values I’ve learned growing up in District 5: humility, compassion, and a strong belief in co-creating solutions alongside community.

I hope to meet you and earn your support in November.

In community,

Kay