When we talk about politics, it’s easy to jump straight to Washington, D.C. or the latest national headline. But for Sarah Jones, politics happens in town meeting rooms, neighborhoods, recreation fields, and in the everyday decisions that shape people’s lives.

Sarah, a CSEA member and P-3A state worker, was just re-elected to her sixth term on the Manchester Board of Directors, the town’s governing body. This most recent election also marks her third term as Deputy Mayor, a position awarded to the highest vote-getter among the board members (besides the Mayor). Sarah doesn’t just win, she WINS. 

“I don’t always think about what I do as ‘politics’,” Sarah said. “It’s hyper-local. It’s trash pickup, sewer rates, parks, schools — the things people interact with every single day.”

For Sarah, that day-to-day impact is what makes local government important. A few years ago at one of the Board of Directors meetings, a group of 10-12 year old softball players showed up to talk about the lack of softball fields in town. Each young girl stood up and addressed the Board, explaining how after a field closure due to flooding, the girls now had less total fields than the boys and lacked a consistent place to play and improve. 

That same night, the board allocated ARPA funds to rebuild the fields. “A year later, we were cutting the ribbon with those same girls,” Sarah said. “They threw the first pitch. That’s government working the way it should.”

Sarah recognized that Government doesn’t often work this swiftly, but projects like that have become familiar in Manchester. During Sarah’s time on the Board, the town has responded to members of the Bangladeshi community about Cricket fields and has replaced an aging skate park. While not everything Sarah and the rest of the Board works on is as fun as recreational improvements, these new spaces provided intergenerational and interracial public spaces for community members.

“These are the decisions that shape a community,” Sarah said. “And they happen whether people are paying attention or not.”

Sarah joined the state in October 2023 and now works at the Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) in the Regional School Choice Office, where she handles marketing and outreach for magnet schools, technical high schools, and the Open Choice program. Her role helps ensure families understand their educational options — a responsibility directly tied to the state’s long-standing obligations under the Sheff v. O’Neill school desegregation settlement.

“This work is mandated, and it matters,” Sarah explained. “Families can’t access opportunities they don’t know exist.”

Before joining the state, Sarah spent years working in public education in and around Manchester. And even though she was never in a union position, she saw firsthand how union contracts improved working conditions and healthcare for non-union staff.

“I benefited from union work long before I was ever in a union,” she said. So when Sarah became a P-3A CSEA member in 2023, she immediately stepped up to become a steward. 

Sarah Jones is a committed union member and a seasoned local elected official and for more than a decade, she has helped shape decisions in Manchester that affect families, seniors, workers, and young people in real, visible ways.

At a time when national politics can feel overwhelming and disconnected from daily life, Sarah’s work is a reminder that power still lives close to home. Local government is where union values — fairness, access, and accountability — are translated into action, and where ordinary people can see the results. “Even when everything feels challenging and hopeless,” Sarah said, “there is hope in your community.”