Blake Johnson is running in District 12 which includes Irvington, Little Flower, Emerson Heights, Bosart Brown, Community Heights, Grace Tuxedo, Christian Park and the surrounding neighborhoods. (IndyHub note: Be sure to check out the full ballot!)
What do you do? I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve answered this question. YP mixers, networking events, conferences – it seems like every conversation commences with this 30-second, snapshot biography we share with one another. I think it’s time we start asking a different question: What do you stand for?
From a very young age, the answer for me has been simple: building people up. After college, I started teaching in an alternative education program in the Indianapolis Public Schools. It was my job to work with some of our city’s most at-risk youth, kids facing their last chance due to behavior issues. I taught language arts but spent a lot of time on leadership development.
We made big gains, and more kids were able to transition back to their home schools than the program had seen in years past, but I knew I needed to do more.
From those days in the classroom to now, my focus has remained on creating opportunities for kids and their families. I worked on statehouse campaigns, and in 2011, I worked with the Democratic Party on City-County Council races.
I eventually joined the staff of Congressman André Carson and fought for Hoosier families both here in Indy and in D.C. And now, I’m a director at a national nonprofit (Complete College America) focused on ensuring many, many more people can get a college degree or career certificate.
When it comes to public service, priorities matter. And for me, building people and communities up is still my number one priority. I believe strong, safe neighborhoods, hiqh-quality schools, and good government make life far better for the people that call Indianapolis home.
That means putting more officers on the streets and finding innovative solutions to the root causes of crime in our community. It means taking care of our neighborhoods – streets, sidewalks, and parks – so that people don’t just plan trips to our city; they plant roots in our city.
It means all of us working together to ensure we have the kind of schools that give every kid a shot at a great life. And it means being the kind of public servants who are responsive, transparent and focused on what matters most.
But even further, we’ve come to a time where we have to demand a different kind of politics. I think few people would argue against the fact that we face a broken system. We get sound bytes over substance, partisanship over sound public policy. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans, Hoosiers, and Indy residents don’t vote. Most young people have no interest in running for office. And far too often, nothing changes.
As YPs, our generation doesn’t see things in such a black and white (or blue and red) way. We like big ideas. We work together. And we love finding solutions to problems. We bring a unique level of innovation and zeal to business, to nonprofits, and to volunteerism. I’m running because I think it’s time we bring all of that to public office.
I hope you’ll join me in building our communities up in 2015.
Blake, his fiancée Natalie Clayton (wife if read after 9/5), and their dogs Jack and Jamison live on Indy’s Eastside.
