Priscilla Tyson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- City Year (1997–2010)
- Columbus City Council (2007–2021)
- Lazarus
- National City Corp. (1977–1993)
- OhioHealth (1993–1997)
Priscilla Tyson | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Councillor (2007–2022), politician |
| Employer |
|
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Position held | councillor (2007–2021), board member |
Priscilla R. Tyson (born April 4, 1955) is a former Columbus Councilwoman and is the longest-serving female councilmember in the Columbus City Council's history.[1][2][3][4] She is the founding director for City Year Columbus.[2] She also spearheaded the passage of Columbus' CROWN Act to end hair discrimination.[4][5]
Tyson was born on April 4, 1955.[5] Tyson grew up on the East Side of Columbus on St. Claire Avenue.[2][6] Her father had died when she was 6 months old.[2][5][6] She has 4 siblings, 3 sisters and 1 brother.[6] She was raised by her mother and step-father.[2] In 1994, her name was Priscilla H. Butler.[2] She married attorney Renny Tyson in 1999.[2][5] She has 5 children.[7]
Education
She attended Garfield Elementary School, which has now been transformed into the King Arts Complex.[2] She attended Eastmoor Middle School and then graduated from Eastmoor High School in 1973.[2][5][7] She graduated from Franklin University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.[7] She was the first of her family to earn a college degree.[5]
Career
During high school, Tyson worked for a paint company.[5] She went on to work for Lazarus department store during her college years.[5] From 1977 to 1993, Tyson was the vice president of National City Bank, now owned by PNC.[2][5][6][8] From 1993 to1997, she was the vice president of community relations at Ohio Health Systems.[2][6] She was the first Black vice president in the company.[5] From 1994, Mayor Greg Lashutka asked Tyson to serve on the Columbus Civil Service Commission, despite her being a Democrat.[2][3] She would serve 14 years on that Commission from 1993 to 2007.[2][3][5] In 1997, she founded Columbus' City Year Chapter and led the organization for 13 years.[2][5][6][7] In 2005, she opened her own art gallery called "Star Arts Gallery Limited."[5]
In 2006, Kevin Boyce, who was a Columbus City Council member at the time, had encouraged her to apply to fill a seat vacancy.[2][7] In January 2007, she was appointed to Columbus City Council after a seat became vacant.[6][5][3] In the 2007 election, Tyson defeated Republican Heidi Samuel by 64.5%.[6] In the 2012 election for Ohio's 3rd Congressional District, she lost the Democratic primary to Joyce Beatty.[6] In 2016, she was selected as the Council President Pro Tempore by her fellow council members.[5] That same year she sponsored a city ordinance to raise the age to buy tobacco to 21 years old.[9]
In 2017, Tyson won reelection to the Columbus City Council, alongside fellow incumbents Shannon Hardin and Mitchell Brown.[10] That same year Tyson co-sponsored an $1.1 million funding package to help redevelop buildings for the Pointdexter Village Museum.[11][12]
In 2021, as the city council chair for the Health and Human Services Committee, Tyson encouraged the public to wear masks and get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]
After deciding not to run for another term, Tyson retired as city councilwoman on December 31, 2021.[1][2][6][3][14][4] She spent 14 years on the council.[6] Throughout her time as council member, she had been involved with numerous projects. She also assisted in launching a complete review of the Columbus zoning code.[2] During her time on the council's Finance Committee, she spearheaded the effort to pass Columbus' largest General Fund and Capital Improvement Budgets.[5] She advocated for the established of the Commission on Black Girls in 2018, which researches and analyzes Black girls' quality of life in the city and state.[2][6][4][15][16] She also spearheaded the passage and implementation of the Columbus CROWN Act that aims to bans hair discrimination.[17][4]
Affiliations
Tyson was a board member and Finance Committee member for the National League of Cities (NLC).[7] She was President of the NLC's National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials[7][5] and a member of the Ohio Municipal League.[7] She had also served as the Services to Youth chair of The Links, Inc.[5] Additionally, she was a board member of the Columbus Education Commission, Community Shelter Board, Great Columbus Art Council, and the Phoenix Theater Board.[5] She has also been shown to be a member of Columbus Carrousels Inc. as of 2011.[18]
