Let’s make Portland livable for all. Together.

Anna Bullett (she/her)

City Councilor - District 4

Portland, Maine

Anna Bullett is a non-profit leader, public school parent, proud Mainer, and the District 4 City Councilor in Portland, Maine.

She believes in safe, accessible housing, water, food, transportation, healthcare, and education for all. Join her in protecting democracy and improving the lives of people who live, work, and play in Portland, Maine.

Councilor Bullett participated in Portland’s first ever Clean Elections Program. She serves as Chair of the Health, Human Services & Public Safety Committee and is a member of the Sustainability & Transportation Committee. Councilor Bullett represents the City on the Greater Portland Metro board of directors.

Contact Councilor Bullett via email: abullett@portlandmaine.gov

Priorities

  • Every night in Portland, over 1,500 of our neighbors navigate housing insecurity. They attempt to find safety and comfort in a patchwork of shelters, encampments, city forests, vehicles, and on couches or floors of friends. We are failing each other. Our government can better serve us all. We need a multi-pronged approach to ensure the safety and security of our neighbors who are navigating housing insecurity, in tandem with the broader community seeking to access and benefit from city sidewalks and parks. Together we can improve the current conditions for all AND implement long-term solutions that limit similar challenges in the future.

    1. The city must continue to decrease the barriers to Homeless Service Center access and use.

    2. The city must seek out funding partners, including other municipalities and state government, to collectively invest in housing first models.

    3. Utilizing rental assistance programs, even for the long term, saves money! Operating shelters and administering government contracts to private, non-profit organizations costs more than funding rental assistance.

    4. Portland needs more affordable housing, especially for families, for very low-income individuals, and those requiring therapeutic environments with onsite support staff. Tax incentives for developers willing to be held accountable and effective partnerships with trusted organizations like Avesta, Quality Housing Coalition, Portland Housing Authority, and Preble Street will be critical to meet Portland’s housing needs.

    5. Portland must improve relations with neighboring towns and state leadership to ensure all Maine municipalities have capacity to help their residents stay local. Many Mainers come to Portland to seek services out of necessity but would much prefer to stay in their hometowns near friends and family.

  • Childcare is infrastructure. When parents work, society functions. Working parents are in helping professions; nurses, cooks, meat processors, first responders, maintenance workers, teachers, ALL THE HELPERS, are critical members of society. If working parents do not have affordable, accessible, quality childcare, our collective self-sufficiency as a city is at risk. Parenthood and caregiving should be protected, respected, and supported.

    In addition to establishing the State of Maine’s first Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, Governor Mills’ 2024 budget, passed in July of 2023, increases income eligibility for the state childcare subsidy for working families, increases the state-funded childcare worker stipend, and makes community college free for 2024-2025 high school graduates. This is all great news. To meet the local demand, and to ensure childcare centers can afford rent and staff, Portland must go even further than the state. The city’s department of health and human services is uniquely positioned to seek out state and federal resources to:

    1.      Provide loans and support during renovation and licensing processes for childcare providers.

    2.      Utilize strategic partnerships with developers to add space in all low and mix income buildings for onsite childcare.

    3.      Create scholarships to cover tuition and living expenses for those seeking to switch careers and pursue credentials in early childhood education.

    4.      Expand the City Parks & Recreation Department before and after the bell, and summer camp offerings in Portland’s elementary schools and city parks.

  • There is an increasing threat of violence and hate speech perpetrated by white supremacist domestic terrorists in the United States, in Maine, and in Portland. City leaders and community members must be actively anti-racist to protect the safety, wellness, livelihood, and future of our Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander neighbors. In the spring of 2023 Portland hired its first ever Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – an important first step toward ensuring an equity lens is applied to policy, procedures, and practices in all departments and in the City’s strategic plans and partnerships. When we protect and uplift our neighbors, we protect and uplift ourselves.

    Equity-promoting practices are central to Bullett’s professional and personal life. At home, her family engages with age-appropriate conversations, books, and community events to expand their understandings of white privilege and the importance of being anti-racist. Bullett’s work spans Cumberland County and she’s leveraged a deliberate recruitment and hiring process, coupled with strong community partnerships, to ensure the team centers the needs of impacted communities, specifically Portland’s Black and/or immigrant neighbors.

  • Stories of climate collapse were science fiction during the childhoods of “elder millennials” like Bullett. For her children and the planet’s eight billion humans and trillions of its plants and animals, it is an increasing reality. Portland, and Maine at large, is uniquely equipped to take the economic and social actions needed to mitigate the consequences of climate collapse, improving the environment now and for the future.

    It is an important time to be involved in planning Portland’s future. Fully enacting the One Climate Future Climate Action Plan which touches everything from transit and zoning, to the electrical grid and construction, to conservation and composting – is not just possible, it is critical. Further, ReCode Portland, charged with rewriting the city’s land use code for the first time in 50 years, is in Phase II. Phase II will address climate change mitigation, sea level rise, and housing affordability. As the District 4 Councilor, Bullett looks forward to learning more from the relevant experts as well as hearing from Portland, specifically District 4’s, diverse community members on these important conversations.

  • Portland is a city with much to offer to residents and visitors alike. For those who live and work here, transportation is an essential factor in the ability to enjoy and thrive in the city. We can ensure roads are safe for all modes of transportation, with clearly defined lanes, consistent traffic enforcement for bikes and cars, and sidewalks accessible to wheelchairs, strollers, and able-bodied pedestrians.

    Portland leadership must meaningfully participate in Greater Portland Council on Governments’ long term transportation planning and actions and must collaborate with and incentivize area bus companies to improve access, ridership, and cross company transfers. City planning must also center the needs of pedestrians, including children and the elderly. Prioritizing other means of travel, beyond personal vehicles, reduces congestion and limits the ongoing wear on existing roads. By advocating for all modes of transportation, we can continue to ensure Portland is safe and accessible to all of us.

    Portland’s Plan 2030 is clear on the need to maintain and invest in multimodal transportation. Bullett looks forward to listening to the needs and ideas of district 4 residents, and hopes to work with community members, the city council, and the ReCode team in coming phases as they seek to identify measurable outcomes and action plans, funding sources, and timelines for transportation infrastructure improvements.

  • Fair taxes improve the lives of Portland residents today AND tomorrow. Paying now means we have roads on which residents can safely drive, day in and day out, in all types of weather. Providing the next generation with a world class education ensures Portland graduates can lead the future and eventually take care of today’s adults when we retire. Anna Bullett looks forward to learning from the experiences and perspectives of District 4 residents, especially renters, homeowners, small business owners, and other community members as new issues related to taxes arise.

  • Anna Bulett seeks to establish trust between the community and the employees and leaders who work at City Hall. The need for increased efficiency and transparency in city operations is clear. For example: Permitting & Inspections processes are confusing and rarely favor first-time or individual applicants. Residential homeowners, including neighbors who reside in District 4, deserve the same level of service, support, and speed received by large scale developers and corporations.

Meet Anna Bullett

The brief version: Maine born and raised; Anna Bullett is a licensed Registered Dietitian. She attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and completed her graduate degree at the University of Maine in Orono. Her twenty-year career has included corporate and non-profit roles in food, health, nutrition, and social service sectors. Bullett is a senior director at The Opportunity Alliance, the community action program in Cumberland County, where she has been employed since 2017. She administers multiple state government contracts that provide resources to improve health and nutrition status among people impacted by trauma, oppression, and food insecurity associated with class exploitation, climate and political migration, and generational poverty.

Bullett lives with her spouse and two young children in Portland, Maine where she represents District 4 on the City Council.

More about Anna Bullett

  • Auburn-raised, Anna Bullett is one of four siblings parented by a determined and creative mother who broke free from generational cycles of poverty.

    At an early age Anna Bullett was exposed to social justice activism. Thanks to supportive adults she enjoyed a unique childhood. She was active in the Stanton Bird Club Junior Naturalist Program, the Unitarian Universalist Church, Odyssey of the Mind, soccer teams, theater clubs, and the Auburn School Department (including Auburn Adult Ed, from which Bullett obtained a GED). She sought out and received scholarships to attend summer camp programs such as Girls Leadership Worldwide at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill, Maine School of Science and Mathematics, and YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity). During her high school years she completed classes at Edward Little High School, Bates College, and Maine College of Art & Design, and became a Junior Maine Guide.

    As a teenager Anna Bullett worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Auburn YMCA, a cook at a plant-based restaurant, and as a housekeeper at the Ware Street Inn. She participated in public speaking competitions and spent her teen years serving on local and national non-profit boards including New Beginnings, the United Way, and Earth Force. Anna Bullett completed Peer Mediation Training and was active on the peer mediation teams at Auburn Middle School and Edward Little, building the foundation for Bullett’s strong belief in Restorative & Transformative Justice. She spoke at statewide events held by groups such as Maine School Superintendents Association. With a group of feminist friends Anna Bullett formed a school club titled EDGE (Encouraging Diversity and Gender Equity), they led workshops at local and national conferences on empowerment for girls and young women and ran a mentoring program within the Auburn Public School System. Weekends found Bullett hiking, kayaking, sewing costumes for Edward Little’s One Act theater team, reading, writing, and connecting with other regional environmental activists.

    Throughout college Anna Bullett worked for the fitness center and summer camp at the Intown Branch of the Greater Providence YMCA. Anna Bullett has always maintained a passion for food, health, and cooking. She attended Johnson & Wales University (JWU), earning an associate degree in culinary arts and a bachelor of science in culinary nutrition. Prior to graduate school Bullett worked for Western Maine Community Action as a WIC Counselor in Auburn. Anna Bullett is a proud graduate of the University of Maine Graduate School in Orono, from which she holds a master’s degree in food science & human nutrition. A Registered Dietitian, Bullett completed over 900 supervised practice hours during internship rotations at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, Penobscot Indian Health Center, Central Maine Medical Center, and St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she was hired as an inpatient dietitian upon completion of her internship.

    From Bangor, Anna Bullett moved to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career in corporate foodservice. After almost five years with CulinArt Group (now a subsidiary of Compass Group) and regularly traveling to the company’s 250 cafeterias on both coasts, Bullett worked in operations support at a fine dining restaurant and teaching kitchen in the Tribeca Neighborhood of New York City. Bullett later joined the marketing team at Cooking Light Magazine and MyRecipes.com as the Executive Chef where she worked on private label consumer packaged goods and represented the brands in print and digital media and at food festivals.

    In 2016 Anna Bullett moved to home to Maine with her spouse and toddler in tow. After the election in 2016 Anna Bullett combined love for food and nutrition with her social justice background and accepted a job at Cumberland County’s Community Action Program, The Opportunity Alliance, where she now supervises WIC, SNAP-Ed, a Diaper Distribution Pilot Program, and other initiatives. Bullett’s superpower is establishing and sustaining effective community partnerships. Her efforts have improved staff diversity, equity, and inclusion, improved WIC families’ access to locally grown produce, and improved WIC services for historically marginalized and oppressed community members. Anna Bullett successfully led her team through multiple clinical office moves, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the year-long infant formula crisis without any service or benefit lapses for Cumberland County’s WIC families. In her role as Senior Director of Health & Nutrition Programs, Bullett manages multiple government contracts and corresponding budgets, and enjoys supervising a high-performing, multidisciplinary staff.

    When not working, parenting, or serving in her role as City Councilor, Anna Bullett enjoys cooking for friends and family, hiking, biking, stand up paddle boarding, gardening, traveling, and reading.