Contributor

Andrew D. Gillum

Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida

With a passion for public service, and the ability to motivate and mobilize people to action, Mayor Andrew D. Gillum is recognized statewide and nationally as an emerging leader. At the age of 23, Gillum became the youngest person ever elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in February 2003. At the time of the election, Gillum was a student at Florida A&M University (FAMU), majoring in political science. In August 2004, Mr. Gillum was re-elected to serve for a full four-year term, and was subsequently re-elected in 2008 and August 2012. He was elected Mayor of Tallahassee in August 2014.

During his 12 years of service Mayor Gillum has played a leadership role in countless community initiatives including the Landlord Tenant Mediation Program, the Code Enforcement Amnesty Program, Good Neighbor energy assistance program, and the creation of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Park. He also served as the City's chief negotiator for the consolidation of our community's Fire and EMS services, and has spearheaded several initiatives to boost economic growth through commercial utility deposit rebates, land exchanges with Florida State University, and the development of seven-day guarantee permitting.

Mayor Gillum has also always shown a great deal of passion when it comes to investing in the youth of our community. In an effort to close the digital divide in Tallahassee, Mayor Gillum created the Digital Harmony Initiative in 2004. Digital Harmony brought together business, civic and educational leaders to provide R. Frank Nims Middle School, an otherwise struggling school, new at-home computers, internet access, and educational learning software for free to all incoming sixth-graders for three years. In 2010, Mayor Gillum was also instrumental in converting a former neighborhood recreational center into the Palmer-Monroe Teen Center. The Center works daily to meet the emotional, physical, artistic and educational needs of area teens, and also runs a restorative justice program called Community Connections that serves to deter youth away from the Court system and toward productive and constructive activity.

Andrew and his wife R. Jai live in Tallahassee, Florida with their beautiful 10 month old twins Caroline and Jackson.

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