Name: Jaylen Smith, 19
Location: Earle, Arkansas
Have you ever looked around your community and noticed something you wished could be fixed? Jaylen Smith did.
The teen’s rural town was struggling. The shoe factory closed. Then the supermarket left. So after graduating from high school, Smith took action.
He ran for mayor this past December—and won.
“Why should I have to go somewhere else to be great when I can be great right here in Earle, Arkansas?” Smith says.
At 18, Smith became the youngest Black mayor now in office, according to the African American Mayors Association.
Since then, he has been busy working to bring a supermarket back and to staff the police department 24 hours a day. He also plans to patch up streets, tear down abandoned buildings, and improve public transportation.
Smith dreams of one day being Arkansas’s governor. But for now, his focus is on Earle. New challenges crop up by the minute, with everyone wanting his attention. When the phone rang as Smith was being interviewed for this story, he didn’t hesitate.
“Mayor’s office,” he said.
—with reporting by The New York Times