20-year old Jewell Jones has been the talk of Inkster as the city’s youngest City Councilman. After a successful win for a seat on the council, Jones has nothing but optimism for the future.
Jones’s political background stems from his parents, who both are active political volunteers. Volunteering for The Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan, a nonprofit public policy organization, and also the Stallworth Family. They’ve instilled in the young councilman a strong service background at a young age.
“As I continued to get older I just got more involved in the local politics in Inkster on the state level and within the last couple of years I started to run a couple of campaigns.”
Jones helped run the campaign for Senator David Knezek, and also assisted in the unsuccessful state campaign for Inkster Mayor Hillard Hampton.
When it came time for his own campaign Jones turned to friend Javion Johnson, a Business Supply Chain major at the University Michigan-Dearborn.
“I bumped into him on campus, told him I was running and asked him to be my campaign manager. I’m used to running the campaigns so this campaign was an actual learning experience for both of us, it’s like I’m teaching him how to run campaigns and I’m also learning at the same time.”
Before Johnson began managing campaigns, he did canvassing for political figures such as Barack Obama, and Mark Showers, and he is open to managing more campaigns if the opportunity presents itself.
Jewell Jones (l) and Javion Johnson (r). Photo Credit: Jeremy Cranford
Jones, also a student at U of M-Dearborn, is getting accustomed with handling school and work as a councilman, but says it can be difficult when he finds himself setting school aside to work on councilman work for his city.
However when it comes to the city of Inkster, Jones is prepared to get the city back to what it once was. Economic Community Development, Parks & Recreation, and Public Safety are the main initiatives that Jones has turned his focus to.
“When it comes to Economic Community Development, we need to figure out how to bring revenue to the city. I sit on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce so we’ve been looking at different ways to bring the businesses together, it’s going to start with our own local businesses.”
It’s no secret that crime in Inkster is prevalent. Therefore, Councilman Jones is looking into the public safety of the city and working on ways to make the streets and the city a safer place.
“I’m trying to get community policing back, we have a community relations officer now, so basically having officers out on the streets, and at events. Just being involved with the city.”
Education is another policy that would fall under Parks and Recreation. Jones is hoping to tackle the education issue, due to the decision to dissolve Inkster public schools back in 2013. All schools in Inkster have been torn down, and students have been moved to surrounding districts. However councilman Jones says that there is a chance that the city will have a charter school in the works. When Councilman Jewell Jones is not in school, he's surely planning things for his city. Inkster may not have the best reputation, but change is upon them. This change will rely not only on the work of City Council members, but also on the commitment of city residents. It is up to the residents to speak up and vote to create that voice Inkster has been missing.
