Michele Juda has called Milton home for more than 25 years. Long before she ran for office, she was showing up: as a certified foster parent and foster parent trainer for the Saratoga County Department of Social Services, as President of the Parent-Teacher Organization and a member of the Board of Directors at St. Mary's School, and at Milton town board meetings, asking questions and speaking up for her neighbors when no one else would.
Michele grew up in Clifton Park, where her family lived in the Turf Mobile Home Park until her father's proud blue-collar work made it possible to move to a home off Exit 8. She holds a degree in psychology, a New York State certificate in gerontology, and advanced training in maternal and child health. She began her career as a long-term care social worker, learning the inner workings of our health care financing system from the inside. But lived experience proved the best teacher, as it always does, when she and her family navigated that same system with a medically complex child. Michele knows the stress of choosing between the mortgage payment and the health insurance premium, because it is a decision she faced month after month for years.
Michele's professional life has been guided by one principle: honor the lived experience of the people that government systems are meant to serve. Her social services career spans direct service, administration, program leadership, and community organizing, including more than 10 years in executive management. She has served on state-level boards and committees representing family caregivers of children and adults with disabilities, brings deep experience in grant writing, budget development, and fiscal management, and regularly contributes to policy discussions that shape how services are delivered at the county, regional, and state levels.
She knows how to listen, how to organize, how to manage, and how to get results for the people she serves.
Why I'm Running
“I have stood at the podium at town meetings for years. I have watched agendas with no information, votes with no discussion, and opportunities for our town left sitting on the table. Milton is a wonderful community full of capable, generous people, and we deserve a town government that matches who we are.
I am running to be a supervisor for all of Milton. I am not running to represent Democrats or Republicans. We stand together on common ground. Every voice matters here, and on day one, mine will be working for yours.”
Ready on Day One
Michele believes that preparation is a prerequisite for seeking public office, and she has invested in hers before asking for a single vote. To that end, she has:
- Completed the New York State Association of Towns' Town Finance and Personnel School, undertaken at her own expense
- Pledged to earn the Certified Town Official (CTO) designation, reflecting a commitment to continuing education and to learning from municipalities across New York State, regardless of their political leanings
- Devoted years to attending and studying town and county meetings, building a thorough working knowledge of the issues, budgets, and procedures the office of Supervisor demands