Monica Wilson is the best candidate to represent Parma’s Ward 1 residents because she’s walked in their shoes her entire life. Hailing from a proud union family, Wilson worked hard to get a post-secondary degree to become an engineer in the paint industry. For the past decade, Wilson’s leadership skills and knack for solving problems have taken each company worked at to innovative places. Wilson hopes to bring that same drive for progress to Parma City Council.

Support Monica! Wilson for Parma

Meet the Candidate

Can you tell our members a little bit about your journey to filing as a candidate?

I received an email from the Ohio Democratic Party asking if I was interested in running for the Ohio Senate.  There is already a good state senator in place, so I discussed options with the ODP and we agreed that running for city council and winning was achievable.  The incumbent is an Independent and the rest of the council are Democrats.  So the ODP was happy to help.  

I’ve wanted to run for office since I was a young adult but started working in corporate and life happened. In 2016, I became worried about the state of our country after the election and participated in the Women’s March, became a member, and took on leadership roles in the ACLU Action teams, MOMS Demand Action legislative team, and the Ohio Poor People’s Campaign.  I realized that all the activist organizations needed to create relationships with legislatures and decided I can be that legislature.  So when I got the notice from the ODP and subsequent call, I was ready and already made up my mind that I needed to run for office.

Tip O’Neill famously said that “all politics is local.” What are the top two issues your community faces today and how do you plan to address them?

 Diversifying the tax revenue stream and improving the quality of life.

1. Tax Revenue: The GM plant supplies nearly half of the Parma budget – $23M and the municipal budget is $55M.  This leaves Parma vulnerable and in 2020 the city went through a major job reduction due to lack of revenue.  Parma can bring into Ward 1 a distribution center, small manufacturing plant or R&D center, because it is close to the freeway, has railcar connections and has plenty of space.  Union Carbide use to have a technical center in Parma and the building structure is still here. Anyone of these ideas could bring in millions of tax revenue and with my manufacturing background, I have the skillsets to make this happen.
2. Quality of Life:  While canvassing I’ve learned that poor drainage leading to flooding, poorly maintained roads, state of the school system, and a perceived increase in illegal activities are on the minds of voters.  I categorize all this into quality of life.  I plan to address this by creating projects to address the infrastructure; create relationships and task forces with the police and social services to understand what is the state of crime in the city and understand what is being done to address it – then work with these agencies to implement solutions.  I will also ensure that the council meet with the school board regularly to understand their goals and to communicate the needs of the community and to communicate back to the community what we are doing to improve our district.

What stands out in our values as most important to you and your experience (or expected experience) in public office? Our values are:

∙      Economic empowerment

∙      Equity and independence

∙      Dominion over our bodies

∙      Access to education

∙      Safe communities in which to live and raise our families

It is hard to pick just one of these because they are all intertwined and important.  If I had to choose, it would be economic empowerment and equity and independence, because if we have these, the others will follow.  Women who are economically empowered are independent and have choices.  They can choose to be wherever they need and are not bound by unhealthy relationships or stuck in low-paying jobs just to stay alive.  Once economically independent, she can begin to understand her self-worth, pass this on to her children and community by fighting for it all.  She’ll understand that no one has the right to dominate her body and will be in a position to ensure access to education for her children and community.

What does a Matriots PAC endorsement mean to you and your campaign?

The Matriots endorsement changes everything for my campaign.  It puts my campaign at a higher level and gives me more options to get noticed.  I now have the resources for radio ads, mailers, and social media ads.  I also have the resources to seed more fundraisers which raises my visibility, all of which increase my chances for election. The Matriots vision encompasses my entire value system of empowering women so that we can fully participate in our Democracy and society.