A member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen has announced that she will resign from her position in order to pursue employment opportunities in Portland, Oregon.

While reflecting on two decades of residency in North Carolina and two election victories in Carrboro, Michelle Johnson revealed her desire for personal and professional change.

“It’s certainly bittersweet,” she admitted. “I’ve been here for 20 years — in Chapel Hill and Carrboro for 20 years — and just feel like it’s time for a change and time to do more race equity work and less social work, which is what I’ve been doing for a while.”

Johnson established ties to the Pacific Northwest a decade ago through Dismantling Racism Works, a group whose members lead workshops on racial disparity and prejudice.

“I am going to be moving to Portland, Oregon to work with an organization that does race equity training, and I’ve been doing that here for a while through a group that’s called Dismantling Racism Works,” she explained.

While serving as a board member, Johnson focused on housing initiatives that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being put toward the construction of affordable domiciles.

“I, along with Dan Coleman at that time, started the affordable housing committee and task force, and it’s just been really nice to see us progress to this point where were can fund somebody at that level of over $350,000,” she noted.

With Johnson planning to depart in May, a special election could be held to find her replacement, but Mayor Lydia Lavelle explained that a new candidate could be directly appointed.

“I am actually certain it would not be a special election,” stated Lavelle. “My sense is it will definitely either be an appointment or be part of the general election in the fall.”

The prospect of departing from Carrboro was carefully considered for months by Johnson, who emphasized that her connection to the community remains strong.

“It feels really big for me to be leaving a community that I feel very connected to and to be moving to a place where I don’t actually know a lot of people, but I’m exciting about building a community there as well,” she claimed.

Johnson added that she will take occasional trips to Carrboro from Portland in order to continue her work as a trainer and ambassador for the Africa Yoga Project.

Photo by Wander & Scrawl.

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