King-Hinds returns from ‘delegate bootcamp’

The CNMI’s delegate-elect Kimberlyn King-Hinds has just returned from her trip to Washington D.C. for “delegate bootcamp” and has already began the work of promoting the islands to her congressional colleagues.

This week, King-Hinds returned to the CNMI after a week-long trip to D.C. for “delegate bootcamp”.

According to King-Hinds, her experience was overwhelming to say the least.

“The best way I can describe delegate bootcamp was that it was like drinking water out of a fire hose. You’re getting these basic trainings like how to set up an office. But aside from that, you have the political aspect so there were a lot of organizational meetings with the National Republican party which I was able to participate in where they elected the speaker and the steering committee that is going to assist us in our advocacy to get on the committee we want to be in,” she said.

King-Hinds said majority of her trip was building relationships while promoting the Mariana islands.

“A lot of that is connecting and building those relationships and getting to know people and just getting the people to know that we are not the “Marina” islands, but the ‘Mariana’ islands. So, a lot of it was just educating folks about who we are and what our challenges are. Getting them to understand what our challenges are in the district and what our priorities are,” she said.

When asked in a previous interview about her priorities, King-Hinds said as CNMI delegate, she will be taking a three-pronged approach to address the CNMI’s issues.

“The first is to restore the tourism industry, the second is to immediately work on the CW-1 situation which is about to end here in 2029, and three work on trying to improve the cost of living by addressing the utilities issue,” she said.

King-Hinds adds that separate from that she would like to be the type of delegate that consistently engages community stakeholders.

“After things get a little bit settled down, I want to just start reaching out to different stakeholders in the community to sit down and have a conversation about where gaps are, where are areas of opportunities, and work out a plan where we’re not duplicating resources or manpower and just strategizing on how to bring a whole of government approach to some of these health and human services issues that is impacting our community,” she said.