Before the Campaign, There Was the Work

For D’Andre Lampkin, investing in young people is not a new campaign promise. It is a continuation of work already underway.

For the last 15 years, creating opportunities for young people has not been a political talking point for me. It has been part of the work.

Through the D’Andre D. Lampkin Foundation, I have spent years working alongside schools, educators, local businesses, community leaders, volunteers, and families to create opportunities for young people to learn, lead, grow, and imagine something bigger for themselves.

That work has taken many forms: scholarships, mentorship, youth entrepreneurship, educational support, leadership development, community service, school partnerships, and opportunities for young people to connect directly with professionals and business leaders who could help open doors.

None of it required me to hold elected office.

I was not wealthy when this work began. I did not have access to a city budget, a council office, a government staff, or the authority that comes with an elected title.

What I had was a willingness to organize.

I learned how to bring people together around a common purpose. I asked businesses to participate. I built relationships with schools. I recruited volunteers. I found resources. I listened to young people and their families. And when something needed to be done, we figured out how to do it.

That distinction matters in this election.

Candidates will make promises about what they intend to do if elected. That is part of every campaign. But residents should also be willing to ask every candidate a simple question:

What was stopping you from doing it before you became a candidate?

And perhaps an even more important question:

What is stopping you from doing it right now?

None of the candidates currently represents District 3 on the Ontario City Council.

In that respect, we are all on equal footing.

We all have access to the same community. We all have the ability to call a school, contact a local business, organize volunteers, mentor a young person, convene residents, raise private resources, or create something that adds value to Ontario.

Public service does not have to begin after Election Day.

Leadership does not require permission from City Hall.

And helping a young person should never have to wait for a campaign.

For years, the Lampkin Foundation has demonstrated what can happen when people are willing to bring schools, businesses, families, nonprofits, and community leaders together around the needs of young people.

Some of those efforts succeeded without broad institutional support. There were times when people were invited to participate and chose not to. There were times when organizations had to move forward with the people willing to show up.

We kept going anyway.

Because the young people we were serving could not afford to wait for everyone else to decide that the work was worth doing.

There is nothing wrong with candidates talking about their vision for Ontario's youth. In fact, they should.

But there is an important difference between describing what you hope to do and demonstrating what you have already done.

A campaign promise asks voters to imagine what might happen.

A record gives voters something they can evaluate.

For 15 years, I have had the opportunity to learn what it takes to turn an idea into an actual program, recruit partners, work with schools, earn the trust of community members, identify resources, solve problems when plans change, and continue showing up long after the cameras are gone.

Those experiences have also taught me that creating opportunity is rarely the work of one person or one organization.

It requires partnerships.

It requires trust.

It requires people who understand that government does not have to do everything itself—but that good government can become an extraordinary partner to people who are already doing good work in the community.

That is what excites me most about the opportunity to serve on the Ontario City Council.

Not the title.

Not the office.

The ability to take lessons learned from years of community work and apply them on a larger scale.

Imagine what becomes possible when someone who has already built partnerships between schools, businesses, volunteers, nonprofits, and families can help strengthen those relationships from City Hall.

Imagine more opportunities for young people to meet local employers.

More pathways to mentorship.

More collaboration between community organizations instead of duplication.

More opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

More ways for businesses that want to invest in Ontario's future to connect with students who need someone to believe in theirs.

And imagine approaching those ideas with the understanding that we do not always need to create another government program to make something happen. Sometimes leadership means identifying the people already doing the work and helping remove the barriers standing in their way.

That is an approach I already understand because I have lived it.

I am not asking Ontario residents to believe that, after being elected, I will suddenly become interested in young people.

I am not asking voters to take my word for what I might someday do.

The work is already there.

The partnerships are already there.

The years of service are already there.

And the results provide a foundation upon which we can continue building.

That is why creating opportunities for youth is not simply another item on my campaign platform.

It is personal.

It is proven.

And it is already underway.

I am asking residents for the opportunity to take the same philosophy that has guided 15 years of community service and bring it to the Ontario City Council—not to begin serving, but to expand what we have already demonstrated is possible.

This isn't a campaign promise.

It's a continuation of the work.