MEET TARA
Tara cares about the community because she has lived, worked and raised her children here. The people in the community aren't just voters, they are her friends, neighbors and family.
Tara Zrinski resides in Hanover Township, Northampton County, with her family and was elected to Northampton County Councilwoman in 2017. Born and raised in Bethlehem Township, she is a graduate of Freedom High School.
She has been an advocate for clean energy and sustainability in the Lehigh Valley, while working as a Solar Energy Consultant. Tara helped stop the expansion of the PennEast Pipeline to protect not only our local ecology but the rights of property owners. A lover of education and free thinking, Tara has taught Philosophy at Northampton Community College, Lehigh County Community College and Lehigh University.
Tara is the Chair of the Energy, Environment and Land Use Committee in Northampton County and a member of the the committee of the same name at the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. In 2018, she formed the Ad Hoc Committee for Industrial Hemp to explore the economic development potential of the emerging crop and identify areas necessitating government support for farmers and industrial hemp business entrepreneurs. A leader in environmental protection, she has served on the Economic Development, Human Services, and Personnel Committees as well as liaison to the Solid Waste Advisory Council, the Parks, Recreations and Open Space Advisory Board, the Penn State Ag Extension Advisory Council and Farmland Preservation Board. Tara is a voting member of the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority Board and the Conservation Districts Board in addition to being a member ex-officio of the Wildlands' Conservancy.
​
Zrinski attended Drew University where she majored in Philosophy and English. After starting her family, she attended graduate school at Moravian Theological Seminary where she earned the degree of Master of Theological Studies and Master of Pastoral Counseling. Before becoming an adjunct professor of Philosophy, she was the Director of Life Span Faith Development at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley.
In 2015, she self-published her first children's book, "All Ducks Are Birds, But, Not All Birds Are Ducks," a logic book for children which she wrote and illustrated. In the same year, she began her solar career, working for SolarCity after breaking through the Home Owners Association in her Hanover Pointe development, successfully acquiring enough signatures to amend the HOA declaration, become President of the HOA and installing solar panels on her front roof.
​
A fervent writer, she was a freelance writer and blogger for the Times Tribune, Patch.com and the Elucidator magazine as well as various academic publications. Tara is also the former local coordinator for Food and Water Watch where she organized local educational forums, regional rally's and advocated for clean energy policy locally and at the State level. In the 2016 election, she got a taste for the campaign trail as a Field Organizer for For Our Future, going door-to-door to educate voters on environmental and political issues in the 2016 election. She continues her advocacy for sustainable energy and policy today in her office as Councilwoman.