Alexandra Davis has been the cultural diversity liaison for the City of Auburn since November 2008.

Tell us about yourself.

I have an undergraduate degree in organizational development and social change from George Mason University in Virginia and a masters degree in higher education and community development from Seattle University. In my spare time, I sing with the Total Experience Gospel Choir. I am a big walker, and I like to go on adventures, exploring things. I live in non-profit, affordable housing in South Seattle where everyone else is over 60. It’s a really rich experience that has humbled me. I had done affordable housing before, but living where I live now is incredibly diverse and really interesting because a lot of the people who live there don’t speak the same language. We’ve got Vietnamese, Koreans, East Africans and Spanish speakers, people from all these different countries, all living together in their 70s and 80s. I think it’s really beautiful. People find different ways to communicate, and they are very giving to each other. Whether they are bonding over garden patches or they are bonding over sharing spaces and events, people start to care about each other who maybe wouldn’t care about each other otherwise.

And what do you do for the City of Auburn?

A big part of what I do is reach out to all the communities that live in Auburn and work with our departments to help build a more inclusive community and really do community outreach that welcomes all the folks that live in our community. And I do that in two ways: one internally and working with our departments to find better ways to reach out; and the other is working with our non-profits and our residents to find where the best places are that they can get access to the services they need and get the support of the community. I have spent a lot of time figuring out what services are offered and where they are offered. And also how can people, for example, start a business in Auburn, who do they need to talk to, how can they find a loan, who are the people that are going to support them doing that, and how can the City support them, if it all? I just talked to a woman who wants to start a business with her taco truck, so what are the pieces that go into that? It’s very complicated. If you want to buy a home, and you’ve never bought a home before, and you’re new to this area, how do you do that and what are the pieces? They want to know how to make those connections, find out who provides free dental service, who provides discount dental service.

Do you speak more than one language?

I speak Spanish and a little Hebrew. But I think what’s exciting is that in order to do this work, I don’t have to represent that community. I don’t have to be Russian or Ukrainian, but I have to care about those community members and make sure that the needs that they have are being addressed, and that we as a city are doing the most that we can to support our

residents wherever they identify they are from. And I love my job. Every day is different, and every day I get to have really interesting conversations, whether it’s with a newly settled Iraqi refugee in Auburn or a non-profit executive director telling me about the vision they have for their organization or working with the state of Washington on a vision for this area. There are so many things that are yet to do to really better this community and work with the residents.

Tell us something about these communities within the community.

Our larger communities that we are seeing include a much larger Latino population, both indigenous Latinos and Latinos who have lived here for maybe one generation or have moved here from somewhere else. We also have a large population of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, and we’re seeing in our newly annexed areas a large East Indian population. We also have a large Asian-Pacific Islander community. We have one of the largest Marshallese communities in the whole country. We are seeing a lot of different community groups move here, and part of my work is infusing all these different cultures and different identifies and supporting them in getting the work that they want done in the city so they can be connected and feel a part of the community.

Tell us about the big event coming up.

Right, the South King County Latino Health and Safety Fair, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 26 in the large hall at Grace Community Church. It’s free, there’s food, and there’s all these services for the whole family. Everybody is welcome. Anybody that has a desire to learn about the health and safety of their community is welcome. It is really a neat opportunity for everyone. We are targeting Latinos, but everyone is welcome. For health screenings, we are going to have dental, so there are going to be a couple dentists. We’re having Pap smear tests and mammograms for women. There’s also going to be a presentation about immigration and workers’ rights, domestic violence, employment and nutrition, all things that as a region are really affecting the health of Latino families and this community in general. The YWCA is going to be talking about employment and domestic violence. It’s a really neat opportunity because it’s an interactive fair. The library will be there with its computer lab. There will be lots of different free services. There will be a raffle and food. There’s also going to be some diabetes screening. It’s a good opportunity for families to really check in about the health of everyone in their families and celebrate with food and fun and celebrate what’s happening in Auburn.

What do you hope will come out of this event?

I think every time we have an event we hope that people become more aware of things that affect them. If it’s somebody who was worried about their health but didn’t want to go in and talk to a doctor because they didn’t have insurance or they didn’t know anybody who could provide those services or they weren’t affordable, our hope is that they come to this event and they can talk to people who may speak their language and also provide them with services. My hope is that they walk away feeling that they are not lost and that they can solve the health and safety problems they might have in the community.