Improved county services a priority for Prince William Supervisor candidate Kenny Boddye

Kenny Boddye is running for Prince William County Supervisor of the Occoquan District. His campaign focuses are for increased school funding, transportation improvement, and improved county services.

Name: Kenny Boddye

Party: Democrat

Town: Lake Ridge

Running for: Prince William County Supervisor – Occoquan District

Website: kennyforsupervisor.com, Twitter, Facebook

Work: Business Development Manager, Community Association Insurance Specialist

Education: B.A. from Georgetown University with minors in English and Japanese. Alumn of the Sorensen Institute’s Candidate Training Program, Virginia Progressive Leadership Project, and the NAACP NextGen Program.

Community Involvement: Kenny Boddye is the immediate past chairman of the Prince William NAACP Criminal Justice Committee, the Occoquan District Democratic Committee, and the Prince William County Democratic Committee Progressive Caucus. He is also a member of the following organizations: Prince William NAACP Political Action Committee, Virginia State Conference NAACP Environment & Climate Justice Committee, and Virginia State Conference NAACP Criminal Justice Committee.

He is an officer of the Democratic Black Caucus of Virginia. He served as vice president to Prince William Young Democrats.

He is an executive committee member of the Greater Prince William Climate Action Network.

Questions and Answers

PL: What are the top three major issues facing the district you wish to represent? 

Boddye: School Funding, Transportation (especially Old Bridge Rd) and County Services (Housing, Mental Health, Substance abuse)

PL: What concrete solutions do you propose to address these issues?

Boddye: Re-prioritizing our budget toward more funding for the school division; advocating for more local, state and federal funds for roads and transit investment, including fixing our land use policies to win more funds from SmartScale; and putting back funding streams for county services and housing to at least pre-Recession levels.

PL: From your perspective, what is the job description of the office you’re seeking?

Boddye: Psuedo-legislative position with oversight authority over the turf (land) and treasure (taxing and funds) for our county. County Supervisors must be knowledgeable in land use policy, tax policy, transit & transportation policy and understand the intersections between local, state and federal government. Must be a strong advocate for local issues, constituent services, and coalition building. Must also have good budget skills and be able to balance short term priorities against long term vision and planning.

Must also be compassionate, empathetic, and willing to represent a wide variety of thought processes, ideologies, and walks of life.

PL: What expertise will you bring to the office?

Boddye: My talents as an advocate for healthcare, criminal justice reform, transportation and good overall public policy. Also my marketing skills when it comes to building, maintaining, and advancing relationships with business leaders, community leaders, elected officials, and other relevant stakeholders. Finally, my ability to build consensus and team-build with other leaders to accomplish goals of all size.

I’ve lived in cities across the U.S. and have seen different transit systems and schools systems first-hand. I also have the lived experience of someone who grew up in a low income household; I know what it means to struggle.

PL: Do you feel that the average citizen is well-informed and understands the workings of local government?

Boddye: Most of our friends and neighbors understand the workings of local government that impact their daily lives – roads, schools, jobs, services and where people can build what. It’s how much influence the Board has – and the interplay between the Board of Supervisors and other bodies government – that is usually out of the public eye. As well as how much authority local government has when negotiating with developers, business leaders, and others who want to build and thrive in our county.

Opening these processes up to more community input – through citizen-led commissions, more public hearings, and a transparent explanation of how processes work – would go a long way to bringing more public insight into our local government. I intend to utilize social media, emails, public events and other community avenues to be as open and as communicative as possible.

PL: Have you ever made any mistakes in your public life? How have they affected you?

Boddye: At a few key junctures in my public life, I have overestimated my own abilities and underestimated how much my world needed to be in order to meet certain challenges.

When I shipped off to New Mexico on an internship after college, I thought it would be relatively easy to organize people around healthcare reform. I didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to mobilize people who in theory all had the same goal in mind – fixing our broken healthcare system. A lot of the people I worked with, however, had widely different views on how to get there, and so I spent a lot more of my time talking about policy rather than actually driving them toward action. I didn’t ask for help from my colleagues nearly as much as I should have and my efforts suffered for it.

More recently, when I ran for the House of Delegates, I didn’t realize that running for office is – above many other things – a referendum on the bonds you have forged over the course of your life, particularly ones in your local community. Because I have lived around the country, I have friends in a lot of places, but most of them are not in a position – geographically, influentially or financially – to help me. I hadn’t yet formed enough relationships locally to even realize how little I knew or how few people really trusted me yet.

Both of these shortcomings humbled me in ways in which I will always be grateful. They forced me to learn that asking for help is not a sign of weakness or ineptitude, but a sign of maturity and respect. These situations also forced me to learn that trust isn’t usually built upon what you can with your own abilities, but what you can achieve alongside others for the betterment of the whole.

I’ve learned that true leaders are forged by being independent enough to keep your values, but also strong enough to rely on others to live them.

PL: Our readers want leaders in local government. Why should they vote for you?

Boddye: I have a track record of serving the community, learning from others, working with a wide variety of people and fighting for what’s right rather than what’s politically convenient. I also have the lived experience to know what it’s like to struggle in life, and what happens when we ignore the most vulnerable among us.

Three years ago, I lost my mother to chronic homelessness and substance abuse. She couldn’t afford the care she needed, and by the time we were able to get her help, it was largely too late. Losing her taught me that we don’t have enough voices in government – especially at the local government – of people who live the everyday lives of their constituencies. That disconnect impacts the decisions being made, which impacts the quality of life in our community.

I have the ability to bridge that disconnect because I am living the life of most people in our county. I have to brave I-95, Rte 28 and 66 constantly for work. I have attended schools with equity issues like the ones we have in our county and I know what it feels like to work full time, but not be able to afford basic necessities. Knowing what it takes for our community to be able to take care of its own isn’t some thought experiment for me; it’s how I’ve lived.

I also have the curiosity, relationships, energy and policy experience to serve our community. I will be able to hit the ground running when it comes to working with our partners on the local, state and federal level to get things done because I’ve been already working with them to better the lives of our fellow Prince William residents. I’ve worked with School Board Chairman Dr. Lateef on his priorities for our school system (which culminated in the FY 2020 budget). I’ve worked with our lawmakers to secure more transportation funding and I’ve lobbied for reforms to both our criminal justice and our healthcare system.

If I am given the honor of becoming the next Occoquan Supervisor, I will be able to bring that advocacy and work to the next level. It would allow me to bring forth the thousands of stories I’ve heard at the doorways of people throughout our community to bear, and use those experiences to move our county forward.