Pavel Payano's family came to Lawrence in the late 80s in search of the American dream. For the past several decades his parents worked as teachers in the Lawrence Public Schools. As a product of the Lawrence Public School system, the son of two Lawrence Public School Teachers, he is deeply committed to improving K-12 education and making higher education more affordable and accessible to working class families.
Pavel will advocate for investments to programs that stop youth from entering the criminal justice system and stop recidivism. To do so we need to look at root cause issues such as failing schools, lack of access to mental health or recovery services, homelessness or inability to obtain good quality jobs.
We need to invest in wraparound and workforce developments that will train at-risk youth or those that have been recently incarcerated in skills that will enable them to obtain a career. As a teacher at the Middleton Jail he saw how important family was in ending recidivism. He will fight to end the high costs inmates are charged for making a phone call to their loved ones.