Michael Tubbs
Mayor, City of Stockton
September 13, 2018 — 4:10 PMInternational House, Chevron Auditorium — 2299 Piedmont Avenue, UC Berkeley Campus
About the Lecture In his lecture, Mayor Tubbs will share his belief that talent and intelligence are universal, but resources and opportunities are not. In order to solve society’s biggest problems, like poverty, illiteracy, and inequality, an investment in people is paramount. About Michael Tubbs … Continued
International House, Chevron Auditorium - 2299 Piedmont Avenue, UC Berkeley Campus Berkeley Graduate Lectures [email protected] false MM/DD/YYYYAbout the Lecture
In his lecture, Mayor Tubbs will share his belief that talent and intelligence are universal, but resources and opportunities are not. In order to solve society’s biggest problems, like poverty, illiteracy, and inequality, an investment in people is paramount.
About Michael Tubbs
Michael Tubbs is the youngest mayor in Stockton’s history as well as the youngest mayor in American history of a city with a population over 100,000. He is also Stockton’s first African-American mayor to date. Elected mayor in 2016 at age 26, he was endorsed by then-President Barack Obama less than a week before the election. He previously served as a City Councilmember representing the city’s 6th District.
Born and raised in Stockton, Tubbs attended Franklin High School where he graduated with an International Baccalaureate diploma in 2008. He then attended Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and a master’s degree in Policy, Leadership and Organization Studies. At Stanford he was a recipient of the Truman Scholarship and joint winner of the Lloyd Dinkelspiel award for “for his efforts to provide opportunities for the underserved – and to inspire others to do so as well – both on campus and in his hometown of Stockton.” Tubbs also was commended “for his ability to translate vision into action, founding The Phoenix Scholars, a California-based nonprofit designed to mentor and help low-income and first-generation college students achieve academic success.” Prior to his political career, he interned at the White House and Google.
Tubbs’ political mission is to turn Stockton, which declared bankruptcy in 2012, into one of the nation’s pioneering cities in experimental, cutting-edge, progressive policies. Starting in 2018, Tubbs has worked on a test program for implementing city-wide universal basic income called the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, a strategy that he believes will expedite the city’s financial rehabilitation. A universal basic income system would administer fixed amounts of discretionary money to all citizens, of particular relevance in Stockton where mean incomes are considerably below the average for California, and with unemployment double that of the national rate.