Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Theresa G. Kennedy can't go far for long before coming home to Mississippi. She has never lived out of the state for more than a year, on purpose, she says.

"I want(ed) to be a part of the change that I want to see in my home state; I wanted to see people that look like me in office and help those persons who look like me or who thought like me, who shared some of the same values as me, run for office," she told the Jackson Free Press.

Born in Pascagoula and raised in Moss Point, Kennedy had a vision for her life from a young age, the youngest of four (sort of, she has a twin brother) and the only girl: she wanted to open her own business one day.

After graduating from Moss Point High School, Kennedy attended Alcorn State University, receiving her bachelor's degree in business administration and then getting her master's in agricultural economics, finishing in 2006.

During her master's studies, Kennedy interned at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., for two consecutive summers. After graduating, she went to work for eight months in South Carolina for First South Bank and then came back to Mississippi to work in Jackson.

She has been here ever since. Kennedy started an online retail business called Red August in 2010 and her own consulting firm, 5520, soon after. She helped organize Six in the City, a pop-up shop that organized and brought together female-owned businesses, including Red August, in Jackson. She has since dissolved Red August, due to other increasing obligations.

In 2014, after working for Mayor Tony Yarber's campaign, she joined his administration as a deputy director of marketing and now works as the program manager of the quality of life program for the Greater Jackson Arts Council. Her job entails an array of duties including, producing the We Are Jackson magazine and organizing Food Truck Fridays.

"I did realize that when I gave a part-time effort I got a part-time return," Kennedy says of her experience with Red August. "But when I gave a full-time effort, I got a full-time return."

Kennedy, who just turned 37 and is a Democrat, lives in Ridgeland in a house she bought in her mid-20s when she moved to Jackson.

Why are you running for the District 72 seat?

I'm really at a point where I can be totally effective at the Capitol. I know this past legislative session was very chaotic for a lot of people, but ... it caught people's attention and made them wake up and pay more attention to what happens at the state capitol and how it affects their everyday life. I've always been vocal about the issues and how they affect not just me but people who feel voiceless.

I knew that with attorney Kimberly Campbell resigning from this seat, that the next person to hold that seat needed to be someone who cared, needed to be someone who is capable and needed to be someone who is committed.

When I say "care," I mean care for people. "Capable" means being effective; I've proven that through the number of organizations I've participated in and things I've done on my own as a community stakeholder. Then "committed" to being that advocate for better public schools, committed to being a better advocate for women's security, committed to being an advocate for criminal justice reform, committed to being an advocate for equal pay for women, committed to being an advocate for funding for roads and bridges.

Those are things that definitely speak to what I care about and then even just my experience in being out in the community has brought me to know those things (are) of concern to people out in the community.

What does District 72 needs the most?

Better public schools. And that speaks to a number of issues when I say better public schools. That means fully funding MAEP (the Mississippi Adequate Education Program), that means contracts for assistant teachers, that means making kindergarten mandatory, and so those are just some immediate needs or concerns or issues in our public schools.

I've also heard funding for roads and bridges. ... We have to remind people that Jackson is the capital city; we have to take care of our capital, but I do have a plan to introduce and to give funds appropriated for the capital city.

Other immediate issues (are) women's security, and that means a number of things. That means equal pay for women; it also means providing better opportunity for women to better position themselves to take care of their families. Right now in Jackson, over 40 percent of the households are led by women, and so we definitely have to do our part in making sure that women are better positioned to take advantage of opportunities so they can better provide for their families.

Also women's security means when those federal dollars come down from D.C. for childcare assistance that the money is put into that program so that women can better take advantage of the program. Women's security means women being able to make choices about their body as it affects our body ... not legislators.

How would you go about working on those issues in the House?

I would craft legislation that (reflects the) concerns of constituents. All through that process, I'm advocating. I'm definitely utilizing those persons in the Hinds County delegation; I want to connect with them and we all be on the same accord on what we're trying to see happen in Jackson that impacts Jackson and the metro Jackson area. And it's going to definitely take a person who knows how to be effectively communicate. It's going to take a person who doesn't mind asking questions.

Which committees do you want to be on in the Legislature?

If I had all the power, I would definitely appoint myself to Ways and Means and the Appropriations committees; I think any legislator would want to serve on those two committees. But bringing it back to home and the district, those committees that would definitely impact the district would be Tourism—coming up with creative ways to garner and generate more revenue for metro Jackson. Also Education, I would want to serve on that committee. Transportation, Corrections, Universities and Colleges and Agriculture would probably be last.

Beyond women's issues, what other policy areas does the Legislature need to look at?

I do stand for the right to organize unions. ... Workforce development and job creation: there's a program going on right now, being funded through the Women's Fund of Mississippi, that supports women who are wanting to go back to school to get more education or learn an advanced skill, and I would love to advocate for that.

I want to advocate or push for funding for the minority-contracting disparity study. Funding for the study would provide some hard evidence to support what people have believed: that there are X number of businesses out there that could do business with the state versus the number of businesses that are doing biz with the state to give a hard look at what do we have available and what's been happening. Or what has not been happening.

What separates you from other people running for this seat?

First and foremost ... I'm caring, capable and committed. ... I've been in the community working. It's been more so just my service to humanity. There's a quote I learned years ago that really speaks to all that I've been about, and that is, "Service is the rent that we pay while here on Earth." Shirley Chisholm said that, who by the way was the first woman to ever run for president. But that speaks to why we're here. It's not really all about self. It's about making the world a better place, better than it was before us, so making it better for those that come behind us, and I want to do my part.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The District 72 special election is next Tuesday, Aug. 23. For more candidate interviews, visit jfp.ms/2016elections.