Candidate Profile: Thomas F. Stallworth, III is running for State Representative in the 8th district because of his passion for people, his love for children, and his commitment to improving the quality of life for those within his community.  Coming from a strong political family who has a track record of service with integrity, he, from the time he was a young man, was groomed to be sensitive to the needs of others while taking an active stance against seen and unseen injustices. 
Having matriculated the Detroit Public Schools, graduated from Mumford High School and Michigan State University with a degree in Urban Planning and Development, and being a lifelong Detroiter, Thomas F. Stallworth, III has dedicated himself to the improvement of the quality of life in Detroit for his entire career.  His commitment to public service took root while attending Mumford, during which time Thomas organized a school wide sit in to protest teacher lay-offs. Realizing the importance of education, he and like minded friends pooled their resources to establish the Aisha Schule After School Tutorial Program, which later became one of the first charter schools in Michigan. When asked about his decision to campaign for State Representative, Stallworth pauses to reflect and replies “I was raised with the belief that public service is what is most important.  It is always at the forefront of the kind of work I find most fulfilling, and provides me with an opportunity to contribute to my community.”

Career: A natural born public servant, Stallworth spent the early part of his career performing a managerial role at the Detroit Urban League.  He later became an appointee of the Coleman A. Young administration where he established his footing as a soldier of justice for the city of Detroit.  The next twenty-five years of his career he served as an executive, most notably, at MichCon and DTE Energy overseeing millions of dollars in their Human Resources, Case Management and Collections departments. Because of his service background, Thomas became known as a passionate change agent.  He was successful in improving the organization’s corporate image and culture through the recruitment of minorities and women into the company’s accounting/finance, marketing and engineering departments, through his role as Equal Employment Opportunity Officer.
Through his work in collections and case management, Stallworth recognized a need for programs that would assist families and individuals who were struggling to make their monthly utility payments.  This created a spark in Thomas and propelled him to be instrumental in the growth of the THAW and Heat Bank programs.  Both are utility assistance programs created to help low-income and at risk families & individuals make their utility payments and avoid shut-off.  Thomas was central in securing millions of assistance dollars through the federal State Emergency Relief Program and ensuring these programs maintained a strong enough foundation to be sustained through the ups and downs of a shifting economy.  Both programs still thrive and continue to assist thousands of households statewide. The Case Management program, which he developed, has received national recognition as an industry best practice for low income utility assistance.

Children & Community: While wearing the corporate hat, Thomas never deterred from his values of preserving opportunities for children and ensuring they are afforded the best possible foundation for a successful life, regardless of their zip code.  As a result, Thomas has a distinguished community service record.  A partial list of his contributions include serving as a board member of the Detroit School Board, the Wayne County Child Care Coordinating Council, The Black Child Development Institute, Children’s Aid Society, The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW), and as Director of the Black Caucus Foundation of Michigan (BCF). 

During his tenure at BCF, Thomas directed numerous programs aimed at strengthening students in the Detroit Public Schools and some charter schools.  These programs focused on character development, academic support & after school tutorial, and life skills building.  “Students want opportunities.  It is up to us to ensure they are exposed to those opportunities. That is the basis of the work we do with youth at the Black Caucus Foundation” expressed Stallworth.

More recently, Thomas has managed Substance Abuse Prevention & Special Programs at the Detroit Department of Health & Wellness Promotion.  Through this role, he has initiated and implemented the Take the L.E.A.D program, which is an acronym for Leadership, Education, Achievement & Drug-Free lifestyle, as a collaboration with the Finney Youth Initiative.  Additionally, he led a team of innovators who, through employing the uses of social media, successfully implemented www.keeppushin.org, an online prevention community designed as a support tool in overcoming the environmental issues that may lead to alcohol & drug abuse, teen violence, and dropping out of school.   “In looking to help reclaim our community and encouraging young people to resolve conflicts without using drugs or violence, I saw this online community as a way they could be supported and engaged successfully.”  Stallworth recollects.

Commitment to Innovation: “As someone who understands what the issues are that both have previously and now presently face Michigan and Detroiters, I believe, in addition to balancing the State Budget through the creation of additional revenue streams, there are three major policy issues, specific to Detroit, of grave importance to finding stability in this economy and sustainability for the future. Those are the creation of jobs, ensuring the k-12 education system is attractive, viable, and globally competitive, and ensuring our neighborhood streets are clean, safe, and can offer a comparable quality of life to those in the suburbs.” 

Thomas Stallworth believes that Detroit funded construction and other special projects should be utilized to stimulate Detroit’s economy through the establishment of residency requirements for contractors and employees. “Issues that accompany joblessness also are layered with adverse negative affects on our school systems and our criminal justice system.  People need jobs!  The jobs that are created as a result of the recently passed $500 million dollar bond for DPS, the proposed new construction on the Canadian bridge, must be designated for those who send their children to the public schools within the city, who use the city’s services, and who contribute to the city’s tax base.”  
Stallworth postulates Detroit citizens also need adequate preparation to be gainfully employed.  This requires all families with children have access to safe, high-quality public schools that prepare their students to compete globally.  Student’s graduating our public school systems must, during their time in k-12, receive the tools necessary for success in post-secondary fields.  To help alleviate some of the outside factors that work to prevent this success, Thomas envisions a collaboration between public schools, the State Department of Human Services, and other agencies to provide highly accessible wrap around student support services as a method of improving the effectiveness the of services designed to assist families while allowing students and teachers to focus more on academics.

“It always disheartens me when I hear the stories of random and senseless violence in our community.  When students who are going about their normal day are threatened by some form of violence it creates immeasurable harm.”  Stallworth recalls.  “All of the work I’ve done throughout my entire career has been so that Detroiters can have access to the quality of life we deserve. To address the issue of decreasing violence in our community, I’ve recently become involved in an initiative of the Health Department, Police, Courts, Prosecutor and Jails where we are exploring an innovative approach to the problem of addiction and crime.  Through this approach, known drug users would be picked up and rather than jailed, offered treatment.  I see this as having an immediate effect on neighborhood crime levels by removing drug users from the community, getting them the help they desperately need, and avoiding  sentencing them to a permanent life of poverty,  long-term incarceration, and a felony record, which at this time makes it impossible to achieve meaningful employment” Stallworth states.

“My decision to campaign for State Representative is so that I can leverage my experience to represent Detroit to ensure that our State’s resources are used to adequately address the issues we face, making a better Detroit and ultimately a better Michigan.”

For campaign developments, visit www.thomasstallworth.com.