08/01/2025
Recently I was asked if I ever thought that I would be running for office when I arrived to Topeka in 2018.
The answer is absolutely not.
When me & Sky got here, Sky was 4years old and we had just been horrifically uprooted from our home. I decided we needed to leap. With $700 & two suitcases to my name, we boarded a Greyhound headed for Topeka Kansas. Searching for answers & hopeful to find a new home here.
And we did. But not in the ways I was expecting.
After half a month of rejected $25 applications from apartment complexes, failed one-way $15 Uber trips, paying for hotel rooms & food for my little guy, we found temporary solace at Topeka Rescue Mission.
We obeyed all the rules & were out in 15 days into a little one bedroom duplex off of 6th & Clay.
I have lived in District 1 since then.
I hit the ground running. I became committed to my community. I fell in love with Topeka. I fell in love with Kansas. I felt committed to the struggles of my neighbors & the other mission guests who'd been there more than a few times and struggled to stay out.
I related & I remembered my own challenges & became hell-bent on making a difference one person at a time.
I found work through non-profits that offered me opportunities which reflected what I believe is my calling, to help people get & stay on the reform pathway.
I worked for years doing this work. That is what brought me to begin turning over some of the stones which all led me back to the city.
The questions I had about the WHYs. Why are housing opportunities are so scarce? Why are slumlords overlooked? Why is it so hard to get an apartment? Why are there so many violent crimes in such a small city? Why is homicide by gun so common? Why are there so many unhoused friends? Why are there so many abandoned fire-hazardous homes unchecked? Why can landlords bully & intimidate their tenants successfully with no repercussions? Why so much trafficking of humans and drugs?
Why?
In my search for answers, I repeatedly ended up being pulled back to city politics.
The city council is not responsible for everything wrong with our city.
However, they can do a lot more than they are doing. They can be way more transparent about dollars in and dollars out. They can be a supportive ally of the agencies in our city which are all trying to fight to answer all the whys. They can be more active when it comes to protections, ordinances & liasing.
The truth is, we need change of leadership in the system, for the system to make progress. And Topeka is such a beautiful place at its root.
We need leadership who will face the issues head on, who is competent when it comes to resolution.
Our leadership needs to change period. We need councilmembers who are not sitting on the bench politely but are active & boots on the ground. Who knows their districts intimately & who do not shy away from the underbelly.
I come from an underbelly. And I am not afraid.
I am a former foster kid. A formerly justice-involved person. A survivor of DV & SA. I am a single mother. I am a fierce advocate for better.
There is no one like us in council. And we need that voice.
Which is why I decided to run & have prepared for the last 4 years.
No. I did not ever think, the hundred times I've passed this billboard, that I would be on it.
No. I did not ever think that the same girl who was projected to not survive past the age of 21, & who struggled so hard in extremely harsh conditions, would become a beacon of hope & a source of strength for her community.
But look at God.
This is for every kid like me. For every single mom who is tired, stressed & struggling to pay her rent & bills. This is for every unhoused person who walks by this corner everyday. For all my neighbors. For all the ones nobody would bet on. For all the underdogs. For all of us that the system harms and the city of Topeka ignores, steps on and hurts. This is for homeowners affected by the chaos of our community which suffers. For everyone who doesn't know if they're gonna be laid off or have their home foreclosed due to spiking property taxes. For victims of gun violence and their families. For everyone who works tirelessly in the behavioral health & social work field trying to remedy & fight the good fight. For all the young ones & the youth who are our future.
I see you. I hear you. I am you. I'm going to fight for you.
And this is proof that no matter who you are, what you came from, or what you've done, if you fight & work to change, you can literally do anything.
I am doing this because I believe with every fiber in my being that I am the best person for this job.
Our incumbent has had 16years to care about people like me.
The other 4 all come from some form of white male privilege.
None of them know what we know. They don't represent district one. They don't share our struggles. And they don't have what I got to work with.
We need every voice. And every vote. If we show up, we prove to them and to the powers who benefit from the harm voted in, that our collective Warrior voice will always be stronger than their wallets.
This right here is OUR victory. ✊️✊️✊️✊️✊️✊️
Topeka. Let's do this.
Vote Tues Aug 5th
Jolie Lippitt
Follow: Jolie Lippitt For Topeka
