By Dan Murphy
Mt. Vernon Democrats will have several candidates for mayor to choose from when they go to the polls to vote in the democratic primary for mayor in late June.
Remember, the primary process has been moved up to late June from September, and candidates should be knocking on your door for your signature soon.
Some of the candidates for mayor will be familiar names, including incumbent Mayor Richard Thomas, under scrutiny for improper campaign spending and for presiding over the most chaotic time in the city in recent memory; former Mayor Ernie Davis, who threw his hat back into the ring last month; City Council President Andre Wallace; and first-time candidate Shawyn Patterson Howard.
Howard brings 20 years of community service to the race, including serving as the CEO of the Yonkers YMCA for 10 years. She the outsider in the field of candidates and perhaps the type of candidate for mayor that Mt. Vernon needs, after months of squabbles between the mayor, City Council and comptroller over unpaid bills, budget stalemates and DPW trucks unable to operate during the winter storms and to pick up garbage, and no progress at Memorial Field, which remains shuttered and closed.
Howard, whose campaign slogan is “The Healing Begins Now!” has called on all candidates to sign a pledge of civility and not engage in the negativity that has been the norm in recent elections.
“We face grave problems in Mt. Vernon,” she said. “It’s time to get serious. On my campaign, we intend to change the culture of the game. We’ll have the honest conversations, with a clear-eyed focus on what we can become, on what Mt. Vernon can achieve. There is no time for drama or theater. Let’s get moving in the right direction.”
In a video posted on her Facebook page, which garnered thousands of views in a few hours, Howard pledged to run a campaign based on three guiding principles: being 100 percent honest and focus on honest and truthful conversations, being transparent on her campaign’s finances, and being civil and professional in all of her campaign’s communications and operations.
Citing an untruthful and malicious robocall that went out anonymously, and the day after a heated and troublingly unprofessional press conference attended by the mayor and president of the City Council, Howard called on all campaigns to come to the table to sign a pledge.
“For the past 12 years, our mayoral races have deeply fractured our community,” she said. “We cannot wait until the campaign season is over to begin healing – we must start today. We must set the tone for our conduct as a campaign and, along the way, take responsibility for the actions of our supporters.”
Howard invited her opponents in the race to meet at a neutral location to sign a pledge to run campaigns based on honesty and civility. “I will call each of my opponents to invite them to meet,” she said. “I look forward to it. And I look forward to an honest and civil electoral contest. The healing begins now.”
Howard brings something different to the race for mayor of Mt. Vernon. She is not a career politician, nor has she ever run for elected office. Following is her op-ed explaining why she is ready to become the next mayor of Mount Vernon, as we begin our stories on the candidates for that office.
Why I’m Ready to Be the Next Mayor of Mt. Vernon
By Shawyn Patterson-Howard, MPA{subhead}
I have consistently demonstrated that I am a problem solver, able to mobilize communities to implement creative solutions to big problems.
When I saw the HIV/AIDS epidemic devastating our community in 1996, I helped Mount Vernon win $1.1 million per year in federal funding for AIDS services and housing subsidies. Understanding the importance of controlling the epidemic through prevention in 1996, I mobilized and trained 75 high school students to teach HIV prevention skills and strategies – a program so innovative it was highlighted at the United Nations.
In 1997, I saw homelessness sweeping through Mount Vernon and helped the city plan and implement its continuum of care for the homeless system, which to date has brought $18.5 million of federal housing subsidies and services to Mount Vernon’s homeless. I helped create Westchester’s Patriot Housing Initiative that is working to end homelessness among Westchester’s military veterans, and last week I received a “Patriotic Employer Award” from the U.S. secretary of defense for employer support of the National Guard and Reserve.
When I saw our growing drug problem and broken criminal justice system incarcerating so many young people, I helped implement and lead Westchester’s first Drug Treatment Court right here in Mount Vernon in 1998-2003. It gave non-violent drug offenders the chance to choose court-monitored treatment rather than prison. Under my leadership, more than 75 people graduated from the program and more than two dozen went on to become credentialed substance abuse counselors or other human service professionals, paying it forward to their community. Other cities throughout Westchester County and the Hudson Valley replicated the Mount Vernon model, which continues today.
One of the consistent themes throughout my career has been working with individuals re-entering their community from jail, prison and group homes. From HOPWA to Drug Court to the YMCA, I have helped hundreds of individuals avoid recidivism and rebuild their lives.
In late 2008, I became CEO of the Yonkers YMCA in a neighborhood plagued by gun and gang violence. I worked with State Senators Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Ruth Hassell Thompson to bring the Chicago Ceasefire model of using specially trained “violence interrupters” to Westchester in a Yonkers and Mount Vernon program called SNUG. By 2011, the Yonkers police credited SNUG with helping the city achieve a 38 percent reduction in violent crimes against persons citywide, and an 85 percent reduction in the neighborhoods monitored by SNUG.
I have always been a community builder, a leader who brings people from diverse communities together to work for common goals. While I was CEO of the Yonkers YMCA, our chapter won a national competition conducted by the national YMCA of the USA in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to select 30 communities to test collaborative strategies to reduce health disparities. Our application had 85 partners, including the county health department, City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, the public schools, mainstream and storefront faith communities, hospitals, major corporations, neighborhood bodegas, cultural groups, neighborhood centers and community leaders.
Building coalitions and overcoming paralyzing divisiveness have always been the hallmarks of my practical approach to problem solving.
I am an experienced administrator. I have 22 years of experience in public and private administration. I served as director of the Mount Vernon HOPWA Program from 1995 to 2001. I was director of the Mount Vernon City Drug Court from 2000 to 2003. I served as the commissioner of planning and community development and director of the Mount Vernon Renewal Agency in 2016. I also have private sector administrative experience. I served as executive director of the Mount Vernon YMCA from 2004 to 2008 and then became the first woman and first person of color to serve as president and chief executive officer of the YMCA of Yonkers.
My administrative strengths include budget development, fiscal management, strategic planning, staff development and management, capital improvement, facilities management, project management, evaluation/quality assurance, grants planning and resource development. I am widely regarded as a visionary, trailblazer, and inspirational leader.
I have always been a business leader, seizing opportunities to mobilize businesses large and small to help improve our communities. For example, our Yonkers community health coalition worked with local stores to improve community access to healthy, fresh produce; our Healthy Corner Store Initiative persuaded 14 corner stores and midsize markets to expand and highlight their fresh produce options; Associated Supermarket (now known as Cherry Valley Marketplace) renovated to create a “healthy kitchen,” serving low-fat/low-sodium options and a greater selection of produce; J&G Supermarket renovated and reopened a closed 20,000-square-foot market providing an extensive array of fresh produce and lean proteins; and Shoprite invested $12 million in a newly renovated and expanded 56,000-square-foot Greenway Plaza supermarket.
Creating cross-sector collaborations and public-private partnerships is my strength. My work with the business community has been recognized with a Rising Stars – 40 Under 40 Award from the Westchester Business Council in 2006, a Business Leader Award from the Yonkers Business Improvement District in 2009, and a Women In Leadership Award from the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce in 2014.
My community involvement has been driven by my being a person of faith. I am an ordained minister and I pledge to bring sorely needed honesty and integrity to the office of mayor. My faith leads me to build bridges, not walls. I thrive in diverse multicultural environments like Mount Vernon, and received a Women in Leadership Award from Mount Vernon’s Masjid Yusuf Shah Islamic Center in 2017. My personal interpretation of the Gospel’s message inspires me to reach out to hear everyone’s voice – from the clergy to sex workers, from teenage gang members to grieving moms mourning the loss of their children, and to our seniors who are looking for support to gracefully age in place while dealing with the realities of declining health, declining financial resources and social isolation.
My belief in the powerful role that education plays in opening doors to opportunity has made me a lifelong educational advocate. I grew up in the Mount Vernon public school system, as did my daughter, Nia. Attending Howard University changed my life forever and earning my master’s in public administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice helped me expand my horizons for social change.
I’ve remained committed to lifelong learning. In 2010 I was one of 13 leaders selected by the national YMCA of the USA for its Multicultural Executive Development Program, a two-year custom-tailored executive training program for promising local YMCA leaders. In 2013 I was one of eight local YMCA leaders chosen for a two-year advanced CEO coaching program designed to groom the next generation of national YMCA leadership.
Determined that everyone should have these opportunities, I co-founded the Yonkers Hispanic PTA, with meetings conducted entirely in Spanish for Yonkers’ burgeoning population of recent immigrants. I also worked with Yonkers Public Schools to create an alternative middle/high school program for Yonkers students struggling in traditional high school settings, as well as Reach and Rise, a mentoring program specifically targeted to teens who are chronically absent or often suspended from school, funded by the YMCA of the USA and the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
I am family-centered. My husband, Marvin has been my rock for 31 years. My daughter, Nia is my proudest achievement. I am a fourth-generation resident of Mount Vernon. My grandfather Edward Patterson Jr. was the first African-American employee of Mount Vernon City Hall. He was hired to run the elevator at City Hall by Mayor Vincent Pearsall in 1937. One of my strongest memories of my grandfather was watching the proudly growing collection of newspaper clippings and photographs he displayed on his wall of the African-American City Hall employees and community leaders who followed him in Mount Vernon. Throughout five generations, my family has maintained a rich legacy of government service and civic engagement in Mount Vernon and Westchester.
I am a positive role model for youth. Mount Vernon needs someone who can help young people find a way to help strengthen our community as they build a home and a future that makes them proud. I’ve always believed in reaching out to bring others along. I showed that in 1996 when I started Mount Vernon’s Teen Task Force on Youth Empowerment and Leadership Development to reshape our community to combat HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, teen dating violence and teen pregnancies. I served on the kickoff team for Mount Vernon’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and continue to sit on the advisory board and policy committee for the Yonkers My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and Yonkers Basics.
More recently I’ve played a mentoring role for young YMCA leaders on a national scale, serving on the YMCA of the USA’s National Strategic Planning Team, National Health Committee, and National Talent and Knowledge Management Committee.
