Former NBA star Kevin Johnson just won his second term as mayor of Sacramento California. The local icon told reporters that there is no better feeling than to be mayor of your hometown. Johnson says his priorities will continue to be economic development, job creation and public safety. Johnson won with 58 percent of the vote making it a clear victory for the Democrat. Johnson struggled in his first term to build a working relationship with council-members.
After leaving the NBA, Johnson returned to his the city and immediately began working to revitalize some of Sacramento’s worst neighborhoods. Johnson, a UC Berkeley graduate with a degree in Political Science has aimed to improve the city’s public schools. He plans to build a portfolio of compelling schools and programs in the Sacramento area and improve the quality of school leaders and educators. In his first term he launched Sacramento READS, a reading initiative to ensure all third graders are reading at grade level.
Johnson has also worked tirelessly with community leaders to deal with local gangs and created a task force to prevent gang violence through school-based and job-training programs. As mayor he’s seen tremendous success with the Sacramento Gang Summit organized to combat youth and gang violence. Johnson has also engaged faith-based leaders in renewed efforts to provide mentoring and support to youth at risk for gang activity.
In 2011 Johnson married former DC Chancellor of School’s Michelle Rhee. The two have teamed up to thorough Rhee’s StudentsFirst program. The program creates more accountability in the public school system.
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