Tishaura Jones, the current Treasurer for the City of St. Louis, is the strongest and clearest choice for its Mayor. Ms. Jones is an experienced and capable public official, having served at the state level in the Missouri House of Representatives for five years, and at the local level, having served as St. Louis City Treasurer for eight years. She has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Hampton University and a master’s degree in Health Administration from St. Louis University. In 2015, she completed the State and Local Government Program for government executives at the Harvard Kennedy School. At each juncture of her education and career, she has excelled.
Once elected Treasurer in 2012, Ms. Jones began fulfilling her campaign promises to bring expertise and integrity to the Office. She employed a professional, diverse, work force. She paid her staff a living wage. In 2014, she established the Office of Economic Empowerment, designed to help citizens make better financial decisions with free programs and classes on financial literacy. She started this program in part to respond to St. Louis’ challenge of having one of the largest rates of unbanked and underbanked people in the country. She started a College Kids Program, which provides all K-5 students in St. Louis public and charter schools with a savings account for post-secondary education. Research shows that children with savings for higher education are three times more likely to attend, and for those who attend, four times more likely to graduate. This program has helped over 18,000 St. Louis public and charter school students start educational savings accounts, with about $1.2 million saved to help more city children get a higher education. As Parking Supervisor for the City, she brought parking operations and the fee collection system into the 21st century generating greater revenue streams for the City. Additionally, her background in public health has led to her conviction that gun violence is a public health crisis and must generate the same intense focus on solutions as has been given to the COVID-19 pandemic. She pledges to address both as mayor.
One of Ms. Jones’ hallmarks is her willingness and ability to work on difficult issues on a regional basis with other elected officials throughout the state, and with the business community to find solutions. This is what she did as a member of the Missouri legislature and what she will continue to do as mayor. She is committed to developing neighborhoods in North and South St. Louis. She understands that the central corridor is a strength too and must also be maintained. Moreover, she has expressed the vision and the will to examine other tough issues challenging the city and the region, like the lending practices of banks, investing in youth throughout high school, and encouraging more trade schools and union apprenticeships opportunities for all youth. As a leader focused on moving St. Louis forward, she knows she must be a good partner with schools, helping to find needed resources and assuring that representatives have a seat on development boards where tax abatement and the effects on City schools is considered.
As the next mayor of St. Louis, Ms. Jones will be a visionary realist, fully open to new ideas but also willing to adopt already researched and proven methods. She is committed to energizing St. Louis, to partnering with the St. Louis public schools to improve our children’s education access and quality; to public-private partnerships; to intentional neighborhood development; to workforce development, including the trades, and to entrepreneurship and to being a better regional partner.
On Day One, Tishaura Jones will be ready to address the challenges St. Louis faces. She will seize every opportunity to grow the City of St. Louis; she will work with the County; and she will work with all interested parties, including business interests ,to contribute to the growth of our region. You already know that St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell support Ms. Jones’ candidacy for mayor. We hope you will too. We need your vote on March 2 and April 6. Join us in taking St. Louis to the next level.
Submitted by Susan Block, attorney, Paule Camazine & Blumenthal; Doreen Dodson, retired attorney; Ralonda Jasper, strategic business consultant; Pamela Meanes, attorney, Thompson Coburn; Sandra Moore, managing director & chief impact officer, Advantage Capital; Kimberly Norwood, Washington University professor of law; and Johanna Wharton, JD, nonprofit executive.
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