Drew: NK Needs Advocate for Families

The following letter was written by Linnea Drew, a candidate for North Kingstown Town Council. Linnea is endorsed by the NKDTC and her letter may be read online and/or in the September 5 print edition of The Independent.

My name is Linnea Drew and I’m running for Town Council. You probably don’t know who I am (yet), but I’d like to change that because I believe that I would be an excellent representative for the people of North Kingstown.

My husband and I, along with our oldest daughter, moved here in September 2020 — thick in the middle of the pandemic and isolated with an active toddler, we knew we wanted to be in a family-friendly and community-focused town, and NK topped our list. My husband is a teacher, so of course we were drawn to the excellent schools, but we also appreciated the ample parks, easy proximity to both Providence and South County, and the sense of community we felt when we spent time here. Four years and one more daughter later, we’ve found that and much more, and we frequently reflect on how lucky we are to have landed in NK.

So that’s some of what NK gives to me and my family, but what might I be able to give NK as an elected official? In a town that is so centered around families, we would be remiss to not elect someone in the thick of raising children and all that comes with it: finding affordable childcare, balancing two working parent schedules, volunteering at school events, picking a playground to visit based on bathroom availability (if you’ve ever potty trained a toddler, you’ll understand.)

Having a Town Council made up of people with diverse experiences and perspectives is incredibly valuable, and I believe strongly that one of those perspectives should continue to be that of a working mom raising young kids because that is or has been the experience of so many people in this town.

But I’m not just a mom, I’m also a working professional. I’ve been working in research for most of my adult life, first at Brown in the Superfund Research Program and later at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in the Childhood Asthma Research Program. In that role, I managed a program that provided both home-and school-based asthma education to families in the most under-served areas of the state. I liaised with school administrators and nurses, community health providers, and members of the RI Department of Health, and our program provided services (and continues to do so) to several hundreds of RI children and families. I have since moved on to a position at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where I manage the clinical trials program for the Center for Melanoma Oncology. I am able to ensure that melanoma patients receive innovative treatment and excellent care, and as my own father passed away from melanoma, this job is incredibly meaningful. Altogether, my career has provided me with skills and experiences that I think would serve me very well if elected to the Town Council.

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