Fenn Award Recipient
Read the New Frontier Award® announcement
Background
Svante Myrick became Ithaca’s youngest mayor in 2011, at the age of 24. Since his election, he has championed innovative partnerships and development to spur economic growth and entrepreneurship in Ithaca.
Under his leadership, Ithaca has enjoyed the lowest unemployment rate in the state of New York. Myrick also revised zoning policies aimed at increasing downtown Ithaca’s density and livability, and encouraged the adoption of a living wage for city workers.
Myrick, whose childhood included periods of homelessness and poverty, began his political career while he was an undergraduate at Cornell University, when he sought and won a seat on the Ithaca Common Council.