About Allison
Allison lives in Olde Towne Gaithersburg, with her husband and rescue dog. She is a member of All Souls Unitarian in Washington, DC, where she also volunteers with the gardening committee and previously volunteered with their Reproductive Justice initiative. Her favorite hobbies are walking her dog, reading, gardening, riding her bike to the library, and practicing yoga and aerial arts. She was lucky to travel a lot during her time in the Peace Corps and at USAID and enjoys trying new foods and learning about other cultures. She is volunteers with causes that support immigrant communities, federal workers, and abortion access in Maryland. She has been advocating regularly with senators in Washington for policies to protect federal jobs and federal programs since losing her own job in 2025, as well as managing her campaign for County Council and supporting other fired federal workers and former USAID staff who are running for office.
Allison Eriksen grew up in central California in a mostly rural community. As a high school student, she was active in her church, played the clarinet in the high school marching band, and was a member of FFA, where she raised rabbits, showed them at the county fair, and won state awards in the Specialty Animal competition. She went on to college at University of California - Davis, the first in her immediate family to attend a four-year college, thanks to the Pell Grant program. There, Allison played in the California Aggie Marching Band and was elected as the band's librarian her junior year. She also helped run the annual UC Davis FFA competition all four years, and raised a seeing eye puppy-in-training her junior and senior years. She completed a summer abroad in Australia and earned a Bachelor's degree in Sociology with a minor in Global and International Studies.
Career in Public Service
Following her graduation, Allison worked as public school substitute teacher in her hometown while waiting for her clearance to enter the Peace Corps. She served with the Peace Corps in rural Tanzania for two years as an environmental education and sustainable agriculture volunteer. Allison learned Swahili, worked with local farmers to support sustainable agriculture practices, and connected her community with local organizations to promote tree planting and drought-resistant farming. She also worked with secondary school youth (high school) to create a tree nursery and plant fast growing trees to shade the school grounds and support local beekeeping programs. Allison lead a girls' empowerment program at the local primary school to provide health and life skills education to pre-teen girls and encourage them to continue their educations.
Following her Peace Corps service, Allison moved to Washington, DC, where she worked for LearnServe International, a local education nonprofit full-time while studying at American University. At LearnServe, she worked with high school students from around the DC region, from all types of schools (public, charter, private) and learned about the region's educational systems and disparities. She graduated with a Master's in International Development from American University's School of International Service. Allison then began work as a program assistant with the USAID Office of Food for Peace through a contractor. There, she supported food relief programs in Central Africa and Asia and completed the training needed to deploy for disaster relief work at USAID. After a few years, she worked directly for USAID as a humanitarian assistance officer, working on programs in South Asia (primarily Pakistan) for five years, focusing on disaster planning and preparedness and helping countries in the region train their own disaster response teams. Allison managed millions of dollars of federal funds and ensured that programs serving millions of people were efficient and effective in helping them plan for and recover from disasters. She managed programs in Pakistan following the 2022 floods, helping communities to get back on their feet in the aftermath of the devastating destruction of their homes and farms and fighting malnutrition in affected communities. In 2024, she was promoted and moved to work on programs in Syria. Over the course of her career, she worked on responses in Venezuela, Afghanistan, and deployed to wartime Ukraine. Her time at USAID ended in March 2025, when she was terminated as part of the shutdown of the agency.
Allison is a lifelong volunteer in addition to her career in public service. Since moving to the DMV, she has been active with Friends of Tanzania, a local organization that promotes Tanzanian culture and development and funds small projects in the country. She served on their board of directors for many years, and has been the Vice President, Co-President, and President at various points. She is currently on the board of Friends of Tanzania and serving as Vice President for 2026.
Allison also has a long history of activism for women's rights and abortion rights, and volunteered with a local abortion fund for eight years, taking calls from residents who could not afford their appointments and providing them with direct funding and resources. She really enjoyed working with the people who called the hotline because she could see the immediate impact on providing the money they needed to exercise their right to choose. She used her network and connections to fundraise for and support abortion funds and local abortion providers, who are vital to the national network of reproductive healthcare. Allison also listened to the stories of people who called and realized how close to the financial brink many people and families are in the DMV, as well as how people are directly impacted by tactics employed by far-right movements intent on chipping away at our rights, both of which are reflected in her priorities as a candidate.
Allison is also a lifelong musician, and plays with DC's Different Drummers, a LGBTQ+ band and performing arts organization that fosters pride, inclusivity, and engagement with the greater Washington DC region through music. She has performed with the organization for over ten years, playing in Pride parades up and down the East Coast, including World Pride in NYC (2019) and DC (2025), as well as at community events and the DC Warped Tour in 2025. Allison is honored to be included as part of this organization and values the relationships she has been able to build through her participation over the years.
