Meet Junior Ezeonu | Grand Prairie City Council Member

We had the good fortune of connecting with Junior Ezeonu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Junior, how does your business help the community?
I serve as an at-large council member for the city of Grand Prairie, TX. I am the youngest ever elected council member to represent the city of Grand Prairie and I was elected at 22 years old, 2 years ago. I am also the first Black council member to represent the city of Grand Prairie since the early 1990s. My job provides me with the opportunity to positively impact the lives of my neighbors and community as well as to inspire others to serve in their own capacity. Being an at-large member I represent the entire city of Grand Prairie which is a city of 200,000+ people so I have the ability to positively improve the quality of life for all of our residents. Whether it’s issues dealing with infrastructure, or accessibility to transportation, getting trash picked up or public safety concerns; I am blessed to be able to be there and resolve these issues and provide information to our residents. And when it comes to inspiring others to serve in their own capacity, it is not lost on me how blessed I am to be serving as a young elected official. I have the ability to show other individuals that you too can achieve what may be considered improbable regardless of age, demographic, disability or whatever circumstances make it seem unattainable. And I make sure that anytime I’m invited to speak at any event whether its career day at a school, or giving a keynote speech at an black-tie event, I try to leave a message centered on service of others.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I love the opportunity that I have for impact while serving on our city council. In my role I have the opportunity to impact the lives of my constituents through the legislative process as well as community engagement. To start with the legislative process in my last 2 years on our city council we have accomplished a great deal. We have cut property taxes twice, increased the homestead exemption from 10% to 15% which saves our homeowners even more on their property taxes, we brought a micro-transit rideshare system to the city called VIA Grand Prairie which allows our residents to travel anywhere in the city for $3 a ride. As well as to nearby universities such as UTA and TCC SE campus for $3 a ride and to Dallas Baptist University and DCCCD-Mountain View campus for $4 a ride. This program has helped alleviate some of our issues centered around a lack of public transportation. We also increased the minimum wage for all full time city employees to $17.82/hr and are working to raise the minimum wage for part time city employees to $15/hr in the near future. Through these policies we have collectively changed the lives of our residents.

Now I want to also focus on how through community engagement I am able to make a difference in the lives of my community. Every year I host a series of community events centered around giving our residents an opportunity to engage and fellowship amongst each other, see different parts of the city and be able to get to know me outside of city hall.
I annually host a community basketball game between our Grand Prairie Police Department and Grand Prairie teenagers at The Epic called “The Epic Showdown” and the reason for this game is to allow our youth to get to know our officers outside of their work uniforms and to allow our youth to see officers as community leaders that they can play ball with just like anyone else. So in the future if there is ever an emergency, these young people will be less apprehensive about calling the police for assistance. I also annually host a community picnic and school supplies drive that allows me to provide a diverse array of food from various cultures and also raise a good deal of school supplies that are donated to schools in Grand Prairie. Through this event our residents come out and have a great time while supporting a good cause that helps our teachers and students who need the supplies. Lastly, I annually cohost a Halloween Fest in which I have businesses, nonprofits and individuals in our community to set up tents/booths and pass out candy to children dressed up in their halloween costumes. With this event the businesses are able to pass out information about what they do to the parents that accompany their children as well as make a child’s day with a delicious halloween treat.

All of this work truly makes my job as a council member very rewarding and fulfilling and I am just grateful for the opportunity to serve,

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We are blessed to have an abundance of destinations in our city and are continuing to bring more eye-catching development. For breakfast/brunch you can go to First Watch or Good Day Cafe to list a couple. For Lunch Chicken N Pickle, Fire House Gastro Park, Kemi’s Kitchen, Drafts are some nice spots that you can’t go wrong with. For Dinner you can go to The Finch which recently opened up, Beto’s, Outlaw’s Barbecue, The Pearl at Asia Times Square, Guanataco. For some great popcorn I always recommend to head over to Mama Moore’s gourmet popcorn. And there are dozens of other great restaurants in our city.

For fun active entertainment we have a lot of options whether it’s Main Event, Boulder, Epic Waters, ActionPark Skate Park, Lone Star Park, and we have Andrettis, Big Shots, and many other fun active places coming in the near future!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would definitely like to give a shoutout to my family for the consistent encouragement. I have great parents that have always been support system for me since I was a child and also terrific younger siblings who look up to me and have my back through thick and thin. I want to also give a shoutout to my community in Grand Prairie, TX that gave a young 22 year old college graduate the opportunity to serve our great city. The last 2 years has truly been a blessing and I look forward to continuing to serve our city in the years to come.

Website: votejuniorezeonu.com

Instagram: Callmejre

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezeonu/

Twitter: @Callmejre

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoteJuniorEzeonu

Other: I will be up for re-election next year so I am fundraising as I prepare for my campaign. I would truly appreciate if you could support me with a donation here- https://secure.actblue.com/donate/junior-ezeonu-campaign-1

Image Credits
I have the rights and permissions for the images.