Leonardo Williams, candidate for Durham City Council, Ward 3

Ward 3 candidates A.J. Williams and Leonardo Williams will not appear on ballots in October because there are only two candidates in the race. Both candidates, who are seeking the seat currently held by Pierce Freelon, will automatically proceed to the November election. Freelon, who was appointed to fill a council vacancy, is not running.

Early voting in the non-partisan Oct 5 primary for mayor and the City Council races in Wards 1 and 2 begins Sept. 16 and runs through Oct. 2. The top two finishers will face each other in the Nov. 2 general election.

To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit www.dcovotes.com or contact the Board of Elections at 919-560-0700 or elections@dconc.gov

Name: Leonardo Williams

Age: 40

Residence: Durham

Occupation: Small business owner

Education: Master’s in Educational Leadership

Political or civic experience: Through my activism and advocacy as an educator in Durham Public Schools, I became chair of the NC Foundation for Public School Children, NC’s largest nonprofit for public school children. I led the organization in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to provide necessary funds for educators and students. I was a member of the NC Association of Educators and served as an executive board member of the Durham Association of Educators. I founded the PHASE 3 Group geared toward community, school, and family support; I also worked with mental health agencies to support local public schools. I was an educational consultant for Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration, contributing expert strategies and solutions for supporting the North Carolina School System. During the pandemic, I established a formal relationship between Durham Public Schools and Ottendorf Labs to ensure DPS students had access to free, accurate COVID-19 testing. I also lobbied the NC General Assembly for the right to collective bargaining for educators and worked on a statewide bi-partisan committee for NC School Principals. In the business sector, I served on the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce - activating coalition-building for those who weren’t often at the table and supporting small businesses across Durham. When our city was not able to adequately support our small businesses during the pandemic, I worked across the city to establish the Durham Small Business Coalition. We organized $3 million for the Small Business Fund during COVID-19 to support folks in Durham. In community advocacy, I am deeply committed to mentorship and supporting our black and brown communities. Though we were on the brink of losing our restaurant, I led the efforts of local restaurant owners and volunteers to feed our displaced neighbors from McDougald Terrace. I co-founded the 1000 Black Men mentorship program, am a part of alumni mentoring programs at NCCU, and I’m currently working on a citywide apprenticeship program for Durham youth. I co-founded Bank Black in Durham and started Activate Durham which is a mutual aid network. I serve on the Board of the Emily K Center, and I am a candidate for the Biden/Harris White House Small Business Council. All of my activism and advocacy has been in partnership with resilient community members seeking support and resources to live and thrive here in Durham.

Campaign website: www.leofordurham.com

What is the city doing right, and wrong, on gun violence?

We must ensure our city has the necessary resources to transition from reactive management of criminal infractions to proactive prevention. We are beginning to seek community and data-driven decisions on the allocation of resources and funding for mental health, safety, and violence prevention. We should fund organizations who are currently performing direct engagement to curb crime at a rate that truly reflects the need, and we can establish a legitimate emergency response corps in addition to the newly formed Department of Community Safety and Wellness.

The key to public safety is strategic and authentic engagement as well as the expansion of our social safety nets in Durham. We need to especially reach young people at risk of resorting to violence from despair. This can be achieved by increasing the activities being offered across our city such as community training centers, after school programs, mentorship programs, and apprenticeship programs.

If elected, what would your two or three priorities be during your first year in office?

The issues are all connected. Housing, community safety, and the pandemic are top priorities in Durham right now. However, we must understand the root causes that lie deep in the fabric of our city first: economic mobility.

It is increasingly difficult for residents in Durham to find financial prosperity. Without it, people cannot access basic necessities like food, health care, and shelter. Ultimately, we have to admit this can lead to despair, which often leads to the crime that our city is witnessing. We have a responsibility to make sure that the people who live here should not merely live to survive; they should prosper and succeed.

A few approaches that I have practiced when I was a teacher, administrator, to now as a small business owner are as follows:

Public Safety: Fund organizations performing direct engagement to curb crime at a rate that truly reflects the need. Establish a city-wide apprenticeship program for high schoolers with startups and local businesses throughout Durham to engage them with prosperity and not crime. Establish a legitimate emergency response corps for nonviolent offenses.

Prosperity: Establish a robust Small Business Sustainability and Success Program. Expand, evolve, and innovate the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to be reflective of Durham’s small business sector. Establish a Venture Capital firm in partnership with the Durham Chamber to encourage and support economic creativity and mobility.

Housing: Identify and purchase under-utilized properties to expand innovation and opportunity. Increase public-private partnerships for commercial and residential expansion with community-centered design. Increase our affordable housing inventory. Enhance the diversification of Durham’s housing model to incorporate additional multi-use properties not only as a means to attract more tenants, but also to leverage the value of public housing (e.g, DHA’s RAD conversation) while simultaneously improving the quality of living conditions for Durham’s public housing residents. Partner with Durham Housing Authority to ensure that public housing is a safe haven for residents. Continue to invest in a robust Evictions Diversion Program. Increase accessibility to resources for tenants who are prepared to migrate from Section 8 or Public Housing to independent ownership or self-sustained rental properties.

What unique skills or life perspective would you bring to city governance?

I’m a grassroots practitioner who understands that we are greater when we work together. Relationships are key to successful and democratic governance. In my career as an educator, administrator, and small business owner, I have developed relationships across Durham and the greater Triangle area. We need perspectives and ideas from different sectors of our community, not more of the same. And we, of course, need to be in touch with those who have been most affected, exploited, and marginalized. There are experts throughout our community. I value all of them. The most engaging and equitable way of solving issues is to solve them with people. I understand, honor, and appreciate the power of relationships.

We also need more working class residents in positions of governance and decision-making. I have almost lost everything because I have sacrificed everything to survive in this city, and I am not alone in making those sacrifices. Like me, residents across our city are working 12-hour days, they’re trying to afford rent, they’re trying to make it across the city on public transportation, they’re trying to ensure their children have programs to utilize, they’re trying to create their own legacies here. I was called by my community to seek this position because too often people who have not walked in our shoes are making decisions on our behalf. Durham is my workplace, my family, and my home. Durham is the heart of who I am, and I would be proud to represent them.

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 8:21 PM with the headline "Leonardo Williams, candidate for Durham City Council, Ward 3."