Corey Donald Woods (born December 7, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 33rd

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

, since 2020. Woods is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Biography

In 2000, he graduated with a B.A. in political science from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. In 2018, he graduated with a M.A. in educational policy from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. He began his career in politics as a member of the Tempe City Council from 2008 to 2016. During this time he served as Tempe's

Vice Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor, assistant mayor, or mayor ''pro tem'') is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many, but not all, local governments. Duties and functions Many elected dep ...

. He defeated

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

mayor Mark Mitchell in 2020, becoming the city's first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

mayor and Arizona's second. While mayor, he focused on the creation of

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...

. He founded "Hometown for All" which created an investment fund that would purchase properties and convert them into permanent affordable housing units. During his tenure, Tempe partnered with

and developed a wastewater surveillance process where wastewater was monitored to inform

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

case rates, the first city in the country to do so. Tempe received a grant from the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

expand the program. The

Tempe Streetcar The Tempe Streetcar, referred to as the Streetcar Line on regional transit maps, is a streetcar extension of Phoenix's Valley Metro Rail system. Construction began in 2017, and the line opened for service on May 20, 2022. It serves 14 stops acro ...

transit line was completed during his term in 2022. In 2022, the Arizona State Legislature named him to the bipartisan Housing Supply Study Committee tasked with developing solutions to the state's housing shortage. In July 2022, Woods was appointed by the

United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded i ...

as Vice Chair of the Community Development and Housing Standing Committee tasked "to influence national policies that will increase affordable and workforce housing opportunities." In July 2022, Tempe initiated a new program where 911 dispatchers would be paired with counselors who have experience in psychology, social work, and counseling to better respond to non-violent emergency calls where dispatching the police might not be the best response. Woods has supported the development of the $2.1 billion

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

Entertainment District (including a New Tempe Arena) that would host the NHL team. On November 10, 2022, the Tempe city council voted 7-0 to allow residents to vote on the project in a special election on May 16, 2023. He also secured a city council vote for ''South Pier at Tempe Town Lake'', a $1.8 billion, 2,500 unit luxury apartment development; the project is currently on-hold due to litigation over the granting of an 8-year tax abatement to the developer and its lack of affordable housing.

References

External links

Official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Corey 21st-century American politicians Living people Mayors of Tempe, Arizona African-American mayors in Arizona 1978 births University of Michigan alumni 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people Arizona State University alumni