I am Susan Young, a candidate for KPFT Delegate. I served on the KPFT Local Station Board for six years when it was first founded. I am now serving a 3-year term and am seeking reelection. Last year I Chaired the KPFT LSB. This year I am chair the National Board.

I am retired having worked in advertising, government and investment banking. I have worked with many non-profits as Executive Director or Board member including ACLU TX, Houston Housing Finance, Miller Theatre, the international Sister Cities program, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Houston Museum District. I have lived on all coasts of the US and in Paris, Geneva and Beirut.

KPFT is one of the reasons I decided to stay in Houston since 1984. I ran for the newly formed Local Station Board having relied on Democracy Now and the Daily Show for truth about the run up to the Iraq War as the insane response to the 9/11 attack. I believe that the international dislocations caused by this disastrous war have led to the rolling collapse of Democracy we are seeing now.

And Texas is on the front line of the destructive forces turning this nation into a collection of state-run gulags. KPFT is on the front line of the fight in Texas -- the only Pacifica station in a red state, 54 years strong having survived two attacks by the KKK. In 2022, a collection of dedicated volunteers saved KPFT from being sold out from under us by the national board. Now KPFT is an example of how to turn the failing stations around that are causing Pacifica to be insolvent.

This is a crucial time when the ability of Pacifica to survive and reinvent itself in a new media and technology environment and engage a younger and more diverse listener base is being tested. Many years of bad management, bad governance and bad programming have created an existential challenge but also the opportunity for transformative change.

The debates around how to do this are heated. Serving on the local station board and national board is not easy and requires a thick skin, determination and dedication to basics -- suiting up, showing up, paying the bills and supporting exciting radio that serves the mission.

I ask for your vote, but also that you read the statements of those who are running and inquire with friends about those candidates. It takes a team to make the change we need at the local and national levels Candidates who understand the challenge, have useful skills and are ready to take on tough challenges -- those who focus on goals and common sense and not on factional fights about bylaws and Roberts Rules of Order. The purpose of radio is radio, not arcane disputes in the narrow silos of factional loyalty.

KPFT has been showing the way forward. Please vote to continue these efforts to take the good news to Pacifica on the east coast and west coast.