Each year, a notable figure in education or journalism is selected to host the Student Publishing Awards Luncheon in Washington, DC. The guest for 2012 has not yet been chosen. Read about the 2011 Guest of Honor, Adrian Fenty, below.

Adrian Fenty, Education Reform Champion and Former Mayor of Washington, DC
2011 Student Publishing Luncheon Guest of Honor

Adrian M. Fenty was the fifth Mayor of the District of Columbia. Elected in November 2006, he has championed innovative solutions to the District’s greatest challenges, especially in the District’s public school system.

Mayor Fenty became a national leader in the area of urban education reform after changing the District public school governance structure and placing the city’s school chief as a direct report to the mayor. The change allowed Fenty to institute unprecedented reforms, remove layers of bureaucracy and negotiate a breakthrough collective bargaining agreement that leads the nation by establishing performance-based teacher evaluation. Following the reforms, student test scores and graduation rates have risen steadily, while achievement gaps at both the elementary and secondary levels have narrowed. In 2010, enrollment in District of Columbia Public Schools increased for the first time in 39 years.

Mayor Fenty is recognized for achieving record increases in public safety citywide. The Fenty administration expanded community policing strategies, increasing the number of officers on regular foot patrol from almost zero to three hundred. In 2009, homicides declined 23 percent to a 44-year low, falling two times more than the national decline. The city’s homicide closure rate increased from 65 percent to 80 percent, a rate 20 percent higher than comparable jurisdictions. Violent crime, property crime, and robberies have also declined steadily since 2007. Ninety five percent of all 911 calls are answered within 5 seconds, a response time twice as fast as the national average. Mayor Fenty streamlined the District’s citywide call center, allowing residents to access all public information through a single number, 311, that is available 24-7.

Despite the economic downturn Mayor Fenty has continued a rapid pace of development, driving transformative projects and leading the city to maintain a AAA bond rating. The revitalization of the Anacostia Waterfront, a ten-year, $25 billion dollar initiative to reconnect the city to its most prominent waterway, moved forward with the opening of over 2 million new square feet of mixed-use development, a 5.5 acre public waterfront park, and the new Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Fenty championed the innovative DC Streetcar project, laying tracks on H Street and Benning Road NE and securing funding to ensure continued progress. The Fenty administration built or preserved more than 11,000 units of affordable housing, exceeding the Mayor’s 2006 campaign commitment by over 1000 units. Fenty completed the gutting and full renovation of 12 recreation centers throughout the city, with an additional 12 projects currently underway. As part of a five year, $1.7 billion school modernization plan, the Fenty administration completed full renovations of 12 schools, launched an additional 7 school modernization projects, and cleared a backlog of over 62,000 work orders. The administration has gutted and fully renovated 7 public libraries, with an additional 5 such projects in progress. In 2009, the District attracted 10,000 new residents, achieving the largest single-year growth in population since WWII.

The Washington Post credits Fenty with making the District “a better place to live and to work” over the last three and a half years. Mayor Fenty expanded health care coverage for the uninsured; in 2009, the District was ranked 2nd in the nation for connecting residents to health care. The Fenty administration’s Housing First program, which has become a national model, provided permanent supportive housing for over 1000 homeless households in its first two years. The Fenty administration has received recognition for smoothly orchestrating major events in the nation’s capital, including welcoming two million visitors to District for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Elected twice to the Council of District of Columbia, Mayor Fenty developed a reputation for responding swiftly and effectively to residents’ concerns. The Post referred to Mayor Fenty as the “king of constituent services.” After being re- elected in 2004 for a second Council term, Fenty made the decision to run for Mayor in the 2006 race. He won all 142 precincts in the city’s democratic primary and went on to be sworn in on January 2, 2007.

Since leaving office, Mayor Fenty has launched a consulting practice providing strategic advice and business development solutions to an array of clients. In addition to media appearances, he has traveled extensively speaking on education reform and using a private sector approach to running a government. In the fall of 2011, Mayor Fenty will serve as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Politics at his alma mater, Oberlin College. Fenty is active in a number of philanthropic endeavors sitting on the boards of Fight for Children, the Junior Tennis Champions Center and the Advocacy and Public Affairs Committee of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

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