Since he was a child, Jarvis Johnson was taught by his mother to be a leader. And as a former city councilman-turned Texas State Representative, he’s definitely living up to his mother’s expectations.
“She told me that I was the flag bearer, at that time for black boys,” Johnson said. “She always made me feel like everybody was looking at me and my actions. She said you are a leader. So from a very young age, I carried that.”
Johnson carried that leadership mentality into politics. One of his primary goals – making people more self-sufficient and independent.
“Since being in the State House, I’ve worked hard on trying to get a Vocational Ed bill passed,” Johnson said. “We got that bill passed and since then, I’ve been working with a builder and trade union. They’ve created an apprenticeship school and we’re getting young people in that. Since December, we’ve put 50 young people to work. They’re getting paid $15 an hour, making sure they’re on the right career path. By the time they finish and graduate, they’ll make $25 an hour. From there, they’re on their way to being self-sufficient, successful adults.”
In addition to the vocational program, Johnson is most proud of his work with senior citizens.
“I always try to engage with them,” Johnson added. “Everybody kind of forgets about them. I have annual town hall meetings that is specifically geared toward seniors to find out what their needs and designs are. We just did a Valentine’s Day ball where we had about 500 senior citizens out there, so I’m very committed to the seniors in our community.”
While those issues keep him busy, Johnson also works tirelessly to create better housing.
“Housing truly is the backbone of any community,” Johnson said. And not just any kind of housing – but quality housing. We have to be able to build the housing that attracts the type of residents that we know the retailers want to be around because businesses follow rooftops. They want to be able to go into a community where they’ll make money. In order to have grocery stores, restaurants, entertainment industries, we have to have the type of density and quality housing that will bring that. But we can do that without gentrification and that’s one of the biggest things that often the communities are afraid of. We can do that without gentrification.”
For Johnson, his work is just beginning. And at the core of it all, is uplifting our community.
“I understand that we’re all judged by the least of us,” he said. “When you look at police officers for example, they don’t have a lot of interaction with black men like myself. Police generally only go into communities of which they’re being called to and they’re responding to criminal activity. So when they see a black man, they don’t care what kind of suit he has on, or what car he’s driving. We have to do a better job of making sure our community is viewed properly and our children look at themselves in a better light. They look at themselves like they are truly God’s gift and they have a talent.”
