Town Councilor (2-Year Term) - Emily Friedrichs

Address:  18 Garden Lane

Occupation:  Communication and Grants Manager for the Boys & Girls Clubs of CNNH

Education: 
B.A. Anthropology, Yale University 2007
M.S. Bilingual Childhood Education, Hunter College, CUNY 2012

How long have you lived in Durham?  5 years

Have you previously served on any government/community, civil boards, commissions or organizations? 

Shortly after moving to Durham, I was appointed to the Planning Board and then served on the Energy Committee. In 2023 I was elected to the Town Council, where I have served as Council Representative to the Planning Board and to the Energy and Land Stewardship Committees.

Before moving to Durham, I served on the boards of Yale Women and the Yale Club of Argentina.

Please provide a brief paragraph explaining your interest in being elected to the position for which you are running.

I moved to Durham with my spouse to start our family (we now have an 18-month old) after more than a decade living overseas. I feel fortunate to be able to live here because Durham is a great town in a great region. Yet I am of the generation that worries about the effects that decreasing affordability will have on our children and their children. The state of our environment is another concern for me, as my ties to this region going back nearly four decades means that I am witness to the degradation of the region’s farmland and estuaries and the effects of reduced snowfall and more extreme weather. 

Since joining the Town Council in 2023, I have become its strongest advocate for lowering the town’s tax rate. I will continue to advance a fiscally conservative approach to the Town’s budget and the use of programmatic and comparative data (e.g., how many residents use each service and what do similar neighboring towns spend on comparable services).

If re-elected, I will continue to rely on Durham’s Master Plan to guide my decisions. The Master Plan was informed by a broad swath of the community and its goals include: 

●    identify affordable housing options that maintain our rural character
●    improve downtown’s commercial viability while maintaining community character
●    expand opportunities for local agriculture and better protect natural resources
●    help local residents and businesses lower their energy costs
As a Councilor, I have also been a leading moral voice, helping us find agreement on formal Resolutions to reduce plastic waste, protect residents from extrajudicial federal agents, recognize Juneteenth, affirm protest as Freedom of Speech, and call for peace in Gaza.

Finally, I consider myself an independent thinker who seeks creative solutions but is also attentive to details, who researches, and most importantly, who listens to all perspectives before making a decision.