Chenele Dixon was elected as a Representative in the Idaho Legislature from Kimberly, Idaho in 2022 where she serves on the Health and Welfare; Judiciary, Administration, and Rules; and Local Government Committees. Representative Dixon was appointed by the Speaker of the House as the Republican House member sitting on Idaho’s Behavioral Health Council—a council established by Executive order to bring all three branches of government in Idaho together to address improved access to Idaho’s behavioral health resources and provide better outcomes for people who need services.

Chenele and her family moved to Twin Falls/Kimberly, where her husband, a fifth-generation Idahoan, grew up, after completing their education. She has a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, with an emphasis in English education. She homeschooled her two daughters and taught English classes and senior seminars for homeschooling students for many years. Because of her experiences here, she wrote a book entitled Something Extraordinary about parents’ involvement in their children’s education. She currently serves as the Kimberly School District Foundation President. Her experiences in public and private education help guide her vision for strong public education with innovation and alternatives. She believes education is one mark of a strong society because a well-educated populace is necessary not only for strong economic growth, but it also encourages critical thinking which ultimately leads to being able to solve problems and collaborate with others, even those you may not agree with.

This idea of finding common ground has always been important to Chenele as have her efforts to contribute in positive ways to her community. She believes we have a stewardship in our communities—a responsibility to contribute, to support each other, to listen to one another, to seek to understand one another. Chenele always tries to, as Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts said, “leave this world a little better than you found it.”

Chenele’s efforts to contribute to her community have included her time serving as the Magic Valley Brigham Young University Alumni Co-Chair with her husband for 8 years where they worked to bring family-friendly entertainment to the Magic Valley. They would bring BYU performing groups—who perform all over the world—to Twin Falls. Chenele also worked as the College of Southern Idaho Music Fest Camp Director from 2010-2017 which gave her the unique opportunity to organize a summer music camp for youth ages 12-18. She enjoyed this experience because she loved working with the students and the amazing faculty.

Recently, Chenele had the opportunity to participate in a huge service project to collect items for people in the Ukraine. A dear friend of hers has spent time over in Ukraine helping people since the war began. She helped set up opportunities for him to speak throughout our community and then invited people to participate in the drive for food, clothes and other needed items. It was amazing to see the community come together for people in such need–people whom no one even knew.

During her time in the legislature, Chenele has been able to help solve problems, listen to many, many constituents and hear their concerns, successes, and life stories. Building relationships is at the heart of serving for Chenele and she believes this is how communities are built. Communities are not built on toxicity. This is why Chenele is working hard to preserve a foundation in Idaho and throughout the United States of pragmatism, freedom, and innovation.

In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and reading. Her favorite activity is traveling with her husband and their two daughters and their families.