Svante Myrick was the youngest mayor to be elected in Ithaca, NY, taking office at the age of 24 in 2011.
He pulled Ithaca out of a $3.5 million deficit after just 2 years in office. But maybe his most innovative accomplishment is in public health: Svante and Ithaca have set up the country’s 1st supervised heroin injection site.
Svante’s dad battled addiction so he knows a little about what it can do to a family and a community.
He started the program after a 2-year study found that providing users with a medically supervised safe space to use diminished overdoses and increased rehab participation.
That means less money spent on sending non-violent folks to prison or covering the costs of overdoses. Plus when they get therapy the chance of them recovering goes way up. Healthy communities and healthy families – that’s what’s up.
Lest you think he’s some kind of superhero, Svante reminds us all that “this is not the story of a self-made man. This is the story of a community that conspired to raise a child. That’s the truth.”
Svante believes in community, and we’re digging his style of leadership.
Oh, and because he wasn’t cool enough, we’ll leave you with one last anecdote: he turned his reserved parking spot into a public hangout space.
Finally got to visit @SvanteMyrick‘s “park”ing spot! pic.twitter.com/NiSFy5P5YW
— Brendan Woodruff (@TehWood) July 15, 2017
