Serving our people. Preserving our ecosystem.
With its vibrant community, abundant wildlife, and breathtaking public lands, Teton County is an exceptional place to call home – but protecting our home takes dedicated stewardship. As the world grows more complex, so do our local challenges. We need leadership willing to sit with complexity and act with integrity.
I’m Ali Dunford and I’m running as a Democrat for Teton County Board of County Commissioners. I have been a leader in our community for over a decade, addressing food insecurity, sustainability, and community resilience. I value building community to enhance our strengths and navigate our challenges. I am committed to making decisions in service of the people and the land.
WHY I AM RUNNING
Thirteen years ago, I started Hole Food Rescue with a clear North Star: Take care of the people, take care of the planet.
That’s still my guiding principle today.
Teton County sits at the heart of what ecologists call the last remaining large intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states. This is an extraordinary thing to steward – and right now, the land and our people are under pressure from every direction.
Our Ecosystem: Polluted drinking water, rising wildfire risk, and sprawl and traffic that threaten our wildlife.
Our Community: Skyrocketing housing costs, grueling commutes, and a strained workforce.
We can do better.
While local government does not have a magic wand to solve our problems, it plays a critical role in shaping our future. I’ve spent my career building organizations, leading community resilience, and studying systemic risk. I am ready to bring that experience to the table to help guide and protect the future of our community and this last great ecosystem of North America.
MEET ALI
Ali Dunford is the founder and former Executive Director of Hole Food Rescue. Though she initially moved to Jackson for its natural beauty in 2012, Ali quickly became attuned to the economic pressures of the valley. While struggling to work two jobs and pay rent, she resorted to dumpster diving for food to supplement her income. That experience drove her to action. At 23 years old, she launched Hole Food Rescue to bridge the gap between food waste and food insecurity, growing it over the next decade into a vital community cornerstone that has diverted millions of pounds of waste and fed thousands of local residents.
Ali went on to co-found Walking Softer, a multi-million dollar private foundation and the Institute for Planetary Thinking, an educational initiative focused on communicating the scale and urgency of our interconnected social and ecological crises.
Today, Ali continues her deep commitment to local resilience by organizing community engagement with Teton Resilience Network and farming at Cosmic Apple Gardens, learning the daily, hard-won lessons of what true local food security requires on the ground. Ali is an expert in systems thinking, which is a way of tackling problems by looking at the whole, not just the parts. She understands the ecological and social limits to how much growth our valley can sustain.
Ali is running as a Democrat for Teton County Commissioner to bring that exact combination of proven local action and wide-boundary thinking to the table.
ISSUES
A community that works for everyone — our ecosystem included
Ali Dunford is running for Teton County Commissioner on a platform that confronts our most urgent predicaments: a housing crisis displacing our workforce, a polluted watershed, and under-prepared infrastructure. As a systems thinker with over a decade of proven local action, Ali brings the visionary leadership needed to protect our ecosystem, support working families, and build a resilient community that works for everyone.
Ecosystem Stewardship & Public Lands
We have a responsibility to preserve and steward this incredible land. Ali will work to protect our public lands and wildlife. Ali will oppose development that fragments habitat, threatens wildlife, and degrades our watershed. She opposes expanding Highway 22.
Climate Resilience & Wildfire Readiness
Wildfire and drought are no longer exceptional events – they're our seasonal reality. Ali will focus on practical, community-scale climate adaptation: smoke and fire preparedness, drought planning, and land management decisions for a hotter, drier future.
Affordable Housing & Community-First Development
The people who teach our kids, staff our emergency rooms, and drive our snowplows can’t afford to live here. Ali will prioritize development that benefits our local workforce and oppose projects that worsen our housing crisis.
Emergency Management & Community Infrastructure
A resilient community requires systems that can withstand unexpected disruptions and hold under stress. Ali will work to strengthen Teton County’s emergency management capacity with a focus on our critical infrastructure.
Water Quality & Water Security
Our drinking water aquifer is under pressure from pollution and overuse. Our watershed is at risk from drought. Ali will make water quality and security a key focus, including stronger protections from septic runoff and the prioritization of a new wastewater treatment facility.
Mental Health & Social Services
The pressures on our community are showing up in our residents’ mental health and sense of wellbeing, at the same time that service providers are facing funding threats. Robust, accessible social services are integral to a high functioning community. Ali will support sustained investment in our social safety nets and systems of care.
Join the Campaign.
If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
• African proverb •
Building a better Teton County will take all of us. Whether you can volunteer, host a conversation, make a donation, or simply help spread the word, there's a place for you in this campaign.
Reach out: hello@ali4teton.com
You can donate online or by sending a check made to:
Ali for Teton County
670 Table Rock West Road
Alta, WY 83414
No person may contribute more than $1,500 per election to any one candidate (primary and general elections count separately)
