My Plan:
- Revitalize and prioritize the City’s Human Relations Commission by providing more autonomy, authority and funding to the Commission.
- Promote more efficient and effective use of grant dollars provided to the City by the federal government’s Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOWPA).
- Commission a study to ensure gender pay equity for City employees.
- Elevate workforce development for LGBTQ youth and trans people.
- Promote tourism and Invest Atlanta incentives to attract LGBTQ conferences and jobs.
- Continue to promote Atlanta as the LGBTQ capital of the South and the Black LGBTQ capital of the US.
- Expand the City’s LGBTQ Advisory Board to prioritize the needs of the LGBTQ community.
My Accomplishments:
- Endorsed by Georgia Equality in 2013 and 2017 City Council races.
- Successfully wrote and championed groundbreaking Inclusionary Zoning legislation requiring new rental developments in the BeltLine and Westside neighborhoods to provide affordably priced set aside units.
- Voted in support of legislation to earmark emergency housing money for LGBTQ youth and young adults (17 – R – 4360).
- Co-sponsored and passed legislation requiring city government to pay a minimum hourly wage of $15.
- Sponsored and hosted the “Blacks In Tech” policy conference, focused on advancing efforts to bring more diversity to STEM fields.
- Created a program at TechBridge that has provided free training IT to nearly 300 low income people to get certified in technology skills, allowing them to get IT jobs averaging $56,000 a year.
- Voted in support of legislation to create an LGBTQ+ Historic Context Statement for the City of Atlanta (21 – R – 3004)
- Co-sponsored legislation urging the Georgia General Assembly to defeat discriminatory legislation, including the “Religious Freedom” bill eventually vetoed by Governor Deal (16 – R – 3250).
- Co-sponsored “ban the box” legislation, which no longer requires applicants to reveal prior convictions on employment applications.
- Voted in support of legislation urging the Georgia General Assembly to enact the CROWN Act to prohibit discrimination in employment against natural or protective hairstyles.
