Sarah Shydale for House District 97
Join us in creating a brighter future for our district.
Join us in creating a brighter future for our district.
Wages and cost of living:
Zoning, housing and infrastructure:
Mental and Physical healthcare:
Education:
Human rights:
Others:
I was born in Greenwood and raised in Bargersville Indiana, there, I learned the value of hard work and an appreciation for the land and all it gave. As I grew, I became more and more fascinated with local government, often attending town council meetings just to satisfy my own curiosity and to see first hand what real governance looked like.
This natural curiosity about the world and how it worked flowed through my adolescence. I began to see the world for how it was much earlier than I should have. How close my family always was to bankruptcy, the struggles of the farmers around us and the general needs of the town as the nation breathed and exhaled.
By the time I entered high school and with my father becoming disabled, we relied on social services and the goodwill of others to get by more often than not. Food banks, SNAP and my part time job at Subway were often the only thing keeping food in the pantry and mercy payments from churches and other organizations were the only thing keeping the roof over our heads. Meanwhile, I was doing everything in my power to stay afloat at school. The stress and pressure would ruin my sleep and my spirit, but I persevered. Coupled with growing abuse from my father and a spirit that was becoming less and less able to fight back, it's no wonder that I wanted an escape by any means possible.
I spent the next two and a half years adrift, working various underpaid retail and food service jobs while living with my mom. A brief stint with the carpenters union went nowhere, as the pandemic had just gotten underway and no one was hiring. Faced with mounting tuition I would not be able to pay off, I had to bow out and search for another avenue.
It was only after another brief stint at Subway when I first found employment with the state, in the mail room of a DOR satellite office. There, I got my first real taste of actual employment, though I was only there as a temp. At the end of the busy season, I was released and soon found work in another state agency, the Disability Determination Bureau. It was a month before I was hired on full time, and not six months went by until I received my first promotion into the FSSA. From here, I let my work speak for me. I worked within the system, first doing receiving work for the agency, then transitioning to playing my part in the Residential Care Assistance Program where I worked to ensure blind, disabled and elderly Hoosiers had access to a place to call home, no matter the circumstances. I worked diligently for years doing everything in my incredibly limited reach to help my fellow Hoosiers, but it wasn't enough, it was never enough.
There were always toes I would inevitably step on, ambitious ideas that the budget couldn't support. I wanted to help more every day, but I could only help as far as my desk would allow.
Now, finally self sufficient and with over 4 years of public service under my belt, I know that it is time to throw my hat into the ring. To make right by my fellow Hoosiers and to make Indiana the place where people are proud to call home. Where one can earn a fair wage, afford good housing and electricity at a reasonable price, on good roads and with a sense of ironclad bodily autonomy. Where homelessness is a solved problem and people of all backgrounds can live without fear.
Sarah Shydale for house district 97
Copyright © 2026 Sarah Shydale for house district 97 - All Rights Reserved. Paid for by the Sarah Shydale for house district 97 committee.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.