About Evelyn

Civic Engagement

• Washington County, Arkansas Justice of the Peace, District 12, January 2021-Present.
• Former Fayetteville Housing Authority Commissioner, 2018-2020. Through our work, we expanded affordable housing throughout Washington County, helping more people than ever before.
• Founder of YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) Northwest Arkansas, a pro-housing advocacy group.
• Former member, Fayetteville Police Chief's Community Advisory Committee, 2018-2019.
• Worked on the ballot initiative to expand the Fayetteville Public Library in 2016.
• Worked on the ballot initiative to pass Fayetteville’s Civil Rights Ordinance in 2015.
• Former board member, Northwest Arkansas Equality.

Professional

• Small business owner, running a Northwest Arkansas-based digital marketing agency since 2015.
• Winner of two Emmy Awards as a television journalist with ABC/Disney. I spent 20 years covering local news in Houston and Northern California.
• Graduate of Rice University in Houston; B.A. in English, 1996. Went to college on merit scholarships, including a National Hispanic Scholar award.

Personal

• Grew up and went to school in the Oak Cliff neighborhood in inner-city Dallas.
• Married to Fayetteville native Bob Stafford, a graphic designer and photographer. Bob attended Fayetteville public schools and the UofA. My mother-in-law, Joyce Stafford, founded the Star Shopper and helped save Fayetteville's Old Post Office from demolition in the 1970s.
• Cares for four cats and a vegetable garden.
• Homeowner in south Fayetteville's Happy Hollow neighborhood.