Candidate for
Mayor; City of Sacramento

In May of 2000, Kevin Johnson retired from the NBA after 12 seasons with the Phoenix Suns. He returned to his hometown of Sacramento, California to serve as the CEO of St. HOPE, a non-profit community development corporation he founded in 1989 designed to revitalize inner-city communities through public education, economic development, civic leadership and arts enrichment. St. HOPE currently operates St. HOPE Public Schools, a system serving more than 1,500 students in grades Pre K - 12. With its successful turnaround of the failing comprehensive Sacramento High School into a high-performing charter school focused on sending all students to four-year colleges, St. HOPE is recognized as one of the national leaders in the "transformation high school" movement.

St. HOPE has dramatically improved the community of Oak Park through its holistic community development approach, and has made a major economic impact on the Oak Park community including the addition of 14 businesses, 282 jobs, and $11 million in development. Supporting its multi-faceted approach to community revitalization, St. HOPE's economic development division completed the rehabilitation of the 40 Acres Art Gallery and Cultural Center, a 25,000 square foot mixed-use facility located in the heart of Oak Park's commercial district. Housing a world-class art gallery, a 225-seat theater, a bookstore, a barbershop, a Starbucks and 12 loft apartments, this successful development project provides internship opportunities to young people and further exposes the community to the many forms of art.

Kevin serves on the Board of Directors for LISC National, the CA Charter School Association, the UC Berkeley Foundation, the Institute of Governmental Studies National Advisory Council and the Harvard Divinity School SLI Advisory Board. His concern and compassion for children and education prompted President George Bush to honor Johnson with the 411th Point of Light. In addition Johnson was selected as one of the "15 Greatest Men on Earth" by McCall's Magazine and has received the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, the Good Morning America Award from Sports Illustrated, the "Most Caring American" award by the Caring Institute, and induction into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in Boise, Idaho, and the Pac-10 Hall of Fame.