MEET DANNY

I am a homeowner in Southeast Roanoke, a community I love (shoutout to I <3 Southeast). I work full time as an Executive Director for the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition, a non-profit organization here in Roanoke that aims to reduce the impact of substance use and homelessness on our community. It has given me a first row seat to understanding the impact of the opioid crisis on our community, as well as an understanding of how to address these complex issues while maintaining our humanity and our love for our neighbors. In this role I am most proud of the more than 1,000 lives we have saved through our distribution of naloxone in the community. During my 5 years in this role, I have grown the organization from a staff of 3, to now employing 20 people, most of whom are in recovery. I am eager to explore opportunities on council to foster additional job opportunities for those in the recovery pipeline. In the non-profit world, I are accountable to producing impact with every dollar spent, and I have to allocate multimillion dollar budgets down to the penny, a skill which I think would be beneficial on council.

I moved to Roanoke in 2020 with my wife for her to pursue medical school (and now residency in primary care). We fell in love with Roanoke for its access to the outdoors, friendly community members, and affordability of housing with access to bike lanes and hiking trails. We were eager to plant roots here soon after arrival and look forward to staying and growing our family. In my time in Roanoke I have been involved in several political campaigns, supporting ‘underdogs’ with a clear moral vision rooted in equity. I served as Field Director for Black Lives Matter Organizer Bridgette Craighead for her race for state delegate in Franklin County, directed a write-in campaign for Roanoke County Parent Samantha Newell in 2023, and most recently managed Dr. Ryan White's successful bid to unseat a MAGA Republican on Roanoke County’s School Board.

Prior to moving to Roanoke, I lived in Atlanta where I learned about civic engagement and when it is necessary to get in ‘Good Trouble’ according to my former Congressman John Lewis. In Atlanta, I served as a statewide outreach manager for an LGBTQ advocacy organization, Georgia Equality. In this role I enjoyed traveling the state and getting to know community members from all walks of life. There, as we see here, our community members who are working hard to survive are often left out of the political process. My work in Georgia has informed my interest in ensuring all Roanokers, not just those with the most wealth, have their voices heard.

My educational background includes a Master Degree in Public Health from Emory University and an undergraduate degree was in Sociology from BYU (yes, you read that right). I previously lived abroad in Romania, Thailand, and Cameroon, the latter of which was for service with the Peace Corps. I am grateful for the opportunities to have learned from those across different cultures, and I bring that curiosity and openness to my every day life. I am grateful to live in a small city that is not small minded, and is a place of refuge for those from across the world. I would bring to council a passion for uplifting our international communities and opposing any federal efforts to remove neighbors who have immigrated here. Our diversity is a strength.

In my free time I enjoy gardening, walking on the greenway or mill mountain trails with my dogs, white water kayaking, and enjoying our vibrant drag scene!