Over the last three years, I have authored legislation to:
 

Adopt Atlanta’s First Economic Mobility Plan

Council adopted Atlanta’s first-ever economic mobility plan, redirecting our economic development efforts to focus on underserved communities, attracting middle-wage jobs, and building wealth in communities of color.

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Create a Middle Wage Jobs Fund
The first-of-its kind fund in Atlanta, solely for growing (and connecting residents to) high-quality jobs with salaries between $40-80K and that don’t require a bachelor’s degree-- targeted for residents in historically underserved and disinvested neighborhoods.

Outlaw Predatory Investing
Council passed legislation to ban the tactics of investors who harass longtime residents in gentrifying residents into selling their homes-- often for far below fair market value.

Establish a Smoke-Free Atlanta
Atlanta joined every other major American city in adopting a comprehensive Smoke-Free ordinance, including highlighting to our teens the dangers of vaping.

Health Benefits on Day One
For years, Atlanta was the only major city in the country to not provide health insurance benefits to employees within the first 30 days of employment. In fact, we didn’t offer it in the first 90. Now, we do on Day One.

Facilities for our First Responders
Allocated the necessary funding to finish construction for a new police precinct and three new fire stations.

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I'm also proud to have worked with my colleagues to:

• Adopt a 30% pay raise for our public safety officers, the largest in the City’s history

• Passage of a $100 million housing bond to build and preserve 3,500 units of affordable housing citywide.

• Invested in our city's parks, streets and sidewalks by updating impact fees for the first time in 30 years, generating millions of new dollars every year for infrastructure.

• Created a funding stream to complete construction of the Atlanta BeltLine's full 22-mile trail loop by 2030.  

• Implement $400 million in transportation infrastructure projects through the Renew and TSPLOST programs

• Move all City employees to at least $15 an hour

• Create the City’s first Inspector General to identify and prosecute wrongdoing

• End Atlanta’s cash bail system for non-violent offenders

• Close the long-running dispute between the City and APS regarding property deeds
   

Service to Atlanta's Students

Before joining Council, I served on an Atlanta Board of Education that recruited and partnered with a new superintendent to push decision-making to schools, develop a Turnaround Strategy for chronically struggling schools, secure $545 million for school construction, and expand early childhood education offerings and wraparound services like school-based health clinics.

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As chair of the APS Budget Commission, I led efforts to cut waste, increase teacher pay, allocate funds based on student need, and direct more dollars to our classrooms-- without raising property taxes.

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I'm proud of the aggressive actions we took that saw graduation rates increase from 58% to 77% over four years as well as rising SAT, ACT, and AP scores systemwide.