Pronouns: She/Her 

Year Graduated: 2021 

Hometown: Oakland, CA

Bio: Hi! My name is Dale, and I’m currently the Assistant to the City Administrator in Issaquah, WA, a first ring suburb of Seattle. I graduated from the Evans School in June 2021, and jumped right into my first role in Issaquah—Management Analyst, Performance and Budget. This role combined my interest in working for a small(er) city with my new Evans knowledge around public financial management and my previous work experience in strategic planning and performance management. Prior to my time at Evans, I was a middle school teacher in the Mississippi Delta and then held many roles with Teach for America in the San Francisco Bay Area, eventually as a Managing Director of Program, supporting a team of coaches working with hundreds of teachers and thousands of students across the region. 

I am a passionate believer in the public sector—small local governments in particular—as a place to create positive social change. This starts with making local government an attractive work destination. I am an active member of the Government Performance Consortium and Local Government 2030. In 2022, I co-founded a regional association for early-to-mid career local government analysts (and a lot of fellow Evans alumni) with an intent to provide more support, networking, and development for those new to local government. 

When I’m not working, I’m either outside exploring the incredible nature we have access to here in the Pacific Northwest or inside eating something delicious! 

Why I chose Evans: I knew I wanted to be on the West Coast, and probably the Pacific Northwest. The Evans School has a stellar reputation, and its growing curriculum linked to urban management was a significant draw. The hype is real—it’s hard to throw a bow in any local government office around the Puget Sound without nudging at least one Evans alum!