Biography
Nicole LeFavour is well known, both to members of District 19 and to the entire state, as an engaged citizen and a respected educator, advocate and writer.
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Nicole was born in 1964 in Colorado, to Pat and Bruce LeFavour. She was raised, along with her sister, Cree, in central Idaho on Robinson Bar Ranch near the Frank Church Wilderness, where she learned to fish, ride, cross-country ski, kayak and backpack before the age of 13. She later worked in the Church Wilderness with the forest service as a fire lookout, wilderness ranger and firefighter. |
Nicole graduated with a degree in cognitive science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1987. She then taught in San Francisco's inner-city schools for a year before enrolling in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Writing at the University of Montana in Missoula. There she taught writing to college freshmen. She moved to Boise in 1990 to teach, write, make a home and become a respected community leader.
| Once in Boise, Nicole quickly became a visible advocate for Idaho's clean air, water and open space. A lead organizer in early work to stop the proposed Owhyee Bombing Range, former City Council Member Anne Hausrath remembers Nicole as a key volunteer in the pilot project that established Boise City's recycling program. Since that time she has been involved in and supported successful local campaigns, including the preservation of Hull Gulch, the Boise Foothills levy campaign and efforts to promote and fund sound transportation planning for the Boise area. |
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Nicole has been recognized as a dedicated advocate for dignity and human rights; she was a recipient of the 2001 United Nations Human Rights Day Award from Idaho Voices of Faith for Human Rights. In 2001, she was named as a "Woman Making History" by the Boise State University Women's Center, in the first year the center bestowed those awards. She served for more than two years as a member of the Ada County Human Rights Task Force, and as the co-chairperson of Your Family, Friends and Neighbors,an organization working to increase respect and understanding of gay and lesbian Idahoans. In 2004 she was awarded Grassroots Leader of the Year by United Vision for Idaho, a statewide coalition working on issues ranging from poverty and the enviornment to civil rights and tax policy. She is a former board member for Western States Center in Portland, Oregon, where she has worked on issues surrounding gender, race and class discrimination.
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In Boise, Nicole has worked for four years at the Log Cabin Literary Center, where as a Writer in the Schools she has taught writing to at-risk youth in classrooms across the Treasure Valley. For four years, she also taught writing to some of Boise's most economically-disadvantaged youth at Franklin Elementary School. Nicole worked most recently as a Writer in the Schools at Fort Boise Mid High, an alternative public school program where she teaches teenagers to |
write and to perform stories and poetry about their lives -- and about issues that affect many of them, including drug and alcohol addiction, violence and teenage parenting.
For four years, LeFavour operated a small graphic and web design business and in the mid 1990's worked as an investigative reporter; in 1997 she won an Idaho Press Club award for her story about labor practices at the Albertsons supermarket chain.
In 2001, Nicole became involved with the Idaho Center for Budget and Tax Policy and its work to stop the tax cuts that slashed over $200 million in revenue from Idaho budgets, crippling the state's ability to fully fund education and health care programs.
Nicole now serves in the seat vacated by Representative Ken Robison, a longtime tax policy expert and low income advocate. As a legislator, Nicole is proud to use her skills, experience and hard work to serve as a leader, impacting |
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legislative issues on behalf of her many neighbors and community members in District 19.
Nicole lives with her partner, Carol Growhoski, her dog, Pinza, and her cat, Olive, in a 100-year-old home in Boise's North End.
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