ENERGY
The only true way to address ongoing energy issues is to modernize our energy generation through renewables. Regardless of the current federal climate, this is our best long-term strategy for affordable and reliable electricity. Expand public-private solar microgrids, accelerate federal disaster recovery funding specifically for grid resilience, mandate green energy solutions in all public buildings with incentives for private development and continue to enforce assertive WAPA accountability efforts.
HEALTHCARE
Territorial hospitals face severe funding gaps, structural deficits, and a lack of local specialized care, forcing residents to travel to the mainland. The Virgin Islands must immediately explore partnering with a larger hospital system stateside in order to best secure access to care for Virgin Islanders. Further, we must complete the ongoing integration of the hospitals, legislate dedicated funding streams to bridge hospital capital deficits, expand local mental health care, and introduce incentives to recruit and retain specialists.
BLUE ECONOMY
While tourism is breaking records, the economy is overly reliant on the cruise sector. By revitalizing our local marine industry through improved policy, we support a host of ancillary businesses – from farmers to fiberglass workers. We must establish new charter yacht routes that are inclusive of St. Croix, as well as destinations in Puerto Rico, such as Culebra and Vieques. Our product is comparable or even better than that of the BVI, but must be effectively packaged and marketed. Further, we must establish and improve training opportunities for young Virgin Islanders in these industries starting in middle school.
YOUTH & EDUCATION
Our education system must bridge the gap between classroom learning and the evolving territorial economy to prepare students for the 21st-century workforce. We must accelerate long-delayed school reconstruction projects to provide safe, modern facilities, while updating our curriculum to explicitly integrate training for emerging sectors like the blue economy and sustainable agriculture. To address the chronic teacher shortage, we need to introduce competitive compensation models and other incentives for educators. The immediate focus must be on infrastructure and rebuilding safe, clean schools.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Restoring trust in our public institutions requires a shift toward radical operational transparency and objective legislative oversight. We must better fund the office of the Inspector General and legislate the creation of a truly user-friendly centralized, public digital dashboard that tracks all government spending, contracts, and procurement processes in real time. Mandatory, independent audits must be enforced for every agency, accompanied by strict legal and financial penalties for mismanagement of funds. We must establish clear performance metrics for all agency heads to create a culture of competence. Finally, I will legislate the creation of a hotline where waste, fraud, and abuse of government resources can be anonymously reported.
ENVIRONMENT
Protecting our natural assets is vital to preserving our culture and economic sustainability. We must aggressively expand the Territorial Park System to permanently safeguard critical ecological corridors, pristine coastlines, and historic landmarks from overdevelopment. This expansion must be paired with dedicated revenue streams to hire local park rangers and fund environmental restoration. Additionally, we must modernize our waste-management infrastructure by introducing territory-wide recycling mandates, strengthening legal protections for our coral reefs and mangroves, and updating coastal zoning laws.
AGRICULTURE
True territorial self-reliance begins with better supporting our local agricultural industry. Our heavy reliance on imported food drives up the cost of living and leaves the territory vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. We must work harder to revitalize our agricultural economy by providing direct financial incentives, low-interest grants, and modern equipment sharing to local farmers, prioritizing hydroponics and aquaponics to maximize production. We must expand reliable water infrastructure to designated agricultural zones, revive the “Farm-to-School” procurement policy for public institutions, and transition from agricultural fairs to year around opportunities.
SENIOR CARE
Our rapidly aging population suffers the most as a result of our poor infrastructure – from frequent power outages to the lack of public transportation. I will mandate the expansion of our community-based senior centers with robust nutrition, wellness, and mental health programs, to include adult daycare. We must incentivize the recruitment of geriatric healthcare specialists, strengthen elder abuse protections, and launch an accessibility initiative to modernize public infrastructure, housing, and transportation for residents with limited mobility.
COST OF LIVING
The high cost of living is one of the greatest challenges facing Virgin Islanders and we must pursue policies that directly reduce household expenses while strengthening the local economy. This means lowering energy costs through grid modernization and renewable generation, reducing the cost of importing and distributing essential goods, expanding incentives for affordable and workforce housing, and improving access to local healthcare and transportation. We must also support local businesses and farmers to increase domestic production, create good-paying jobs, and keep more money circulating within the Territory. Every major economic policy should be evaluated through one fundamental question: does it make life more affordable for Virgin Islanders?
COMMUNITY SAFETY
To prevent violent crime, we must expand access to mental health services and quality education to support at-risk youth before destructive behaviors take root. Targeted job creation provides viable career paths that decrease the appeal of illicit activities, while fostering trust between law enforcement and residents through community-based policing initiatives strengthens neighborhood safety. I would also like to transfer the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to the Department of Health, where we can truly treat this issue as a public health epidemic within our community. Finally, law enforcement efforts are too fractured in the territory, so I propose implementing more coordinated initiatives between the various branches.