For more than 14 years Sen. Chip Shields has been fighting for the people of North and Northeast Portland. From leadership roles in raising the minimum wage and funding our schools, to finding living-wage jobs for hundreds of people through Better People, the Northeast Portland nonprofit job center he started, Chip Shields has delivered results.

He and his spouse Shelda Holmes – a certified family nurse practitioner – have been foster parents to two St. Johns children, one of whom attended Sitton Elementary. When not in legislative session, Chip is the business manager of Shelda’s North Portland primary care clinic Hands on Medicine. The couple also have a young daughter.

Chip has served in the Oregon House and Senate since 2005 where he focuses on living-wage jobs, health care, schools and equality. In the 2009 session, as Co-Chair of the Public Safety Subcommittee of Ways & Means, he protected services for domestic violence survivors, funding for drug and alcohol treatment, and negotiated and passed a bill that invests $1.5 million in pre-apprenticeship training for women and people of color.

Because of his work in the legislature and the community, Chip was recognized with the AFL-CIO Hero of Labor award, the Skanner newspaper Drum Major for Justice award and the Citizen’s Crime Commission crime-fighter of the year award.

Chip has a masters of social work from Portland State University. Chip and Shelda are homeowners in the Piedmont Neighborhood.