JACINTA GREENE
Democrat Jacinta Greene is a second-term school board member and independent marketing consultant. She was born in Glen Allen, Va., a suburb of Richmond. After receiving an undergraduate degree in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University, Greene stayed in the Richmond area and pursued journalism. She worked for WXCX, the local ABC affiliate, as a reporter, and for the Richmond Free Press as a copy editor and advertising specialist. In 2001, she joined the marketing team at Kraft foods and moved to Alexandria. Three years later, she began working for McDonalds Corporate as the regional marketing manager for the Washington, D.C. area. In 2013, she left corporate America and launched her career as an independent marketing consultant. Before serving on the School Board, Greene was vice chairwoman of the Alexandria Commission for Women. She was also vice chairwoman of volunteering at the Alexandria Democratic Committee and created the Ruby Tucker Readers program, which promotes literacy among disadvantaged children.
“There needs to be an advocate for our school system and our youth on the City Council, and that’s why I’m running,” Greene said. “Our children are our most precious commodities and they deserve to get the best education possible. I want to move into a role where I can continue advocating for our school system, but also fight for those who are less fortunate in our city.”
Like Elnoubi, Greene voted to raise teacher salaries by 6 percent this past budget session. However, the City Council did not allocate the full amount of funding the school system requested, and Greene is now vying for the seat where she would have a say in city budget processes. In addition to education, Greene says she is a proponent of affordable housing, and that she “absolutely” supports providing a housing allowance to teachers, emergency responders and other city employees. She also says she supports Zoning for Housing, and would like to “make sure things are very transparent and that everyone is listened to” when council makes future housing affordability policy.
“I’m a strong believer that if you want to live here in Alexandria, you should be able to,” Greene said. “I have friends who could not continue to stay here because renting prices kept going up. We need to really focus on affordability. That’s extremely important to me.”
Greene is all for keeping free DASH buses, what she called one of the city’s “best programs,” and says she would like to see a bike network in the city if it will ensure safety for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. Although she supports the Duke Street in Motion project, Greene says she “very much” would like to fine-tune the plan to a point where more residents are satisfied with it. She says she is also open to hearing residents’ perspectives on transitioning to ward-based city council elections, though “as of now” she is not in favor. On the topic of immigration, she says she would resist the efforts of ICE as much as possible in the event of a second Trump presidency.