Amber (any and all pronouns) is a 39 year old, queer, first generation Japanese-American, 20-year Ypsilanti resident, 18-year renter, three-time city official, and 6-year serious political organizer and advocate. Amber graduated from EMU and has worked at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op, Planned Parenthood, Ozone House, Avalon Housing, and is now a Director of a volunteer program for elders in the community.
Giving power
back to the People
ADVOCACY HISTORY
As a member of the Human Relations Commission in 2017, Amber gave a 20-minute speech advocating against gentrification of the city by the city government. That speech was a key moment kicking off the tidal wave of community organizing that has scored countless victories in the last 6 years.
Amber has played crucial roles in passing the Community Benefits Ordinance and later chairing the negotiations for deep affordability in an upcoming development, creating What’s Left Ypsi and using it to expose ex-Mayor Bashert’s pattern of racist commission appointment, expanding the city’s non-discrimination ordinance for people with housing vouchers, moving the Michigan Democratic Party to officially endorse ending the ban on rent control in the state, and so much more.
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