Watch: ‘What’s Your Wish, Tacoma?’ event with local leaders Woodards, Dammeier, Santorno

The pandemic has impacted all of our lives in different ways, and while it’s hard to understand what’s next and how we bounce back as a community, we must keep moving forward.

Join us at 1 p.m. Feb. 4 for a live, virtual discussion with three influential community leaders — Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Tacoma Schools Superintendent Carla Santorno — to hear how they plan to navigate 2021.

What are their goals for our city, county and schools?

How do we plan for the vaccine?

What can the community do to help?

This subscriber-exclusive event will be hosted by The News Tribune’s President and Editor Stephanie Pedersen.

We’ll also be asking reader questions. Please submit your questions for our community leaders when you RSVP at the link below.

This event is open to News Tribune subscribers. To subscribe, click here.

Victoria Woodards, Mayor, City of Tacoma

Woodards has called the “City of Destiny” her home for nearly her entire life. She is a proud graduate of Tacoma’s Lincoln High School and served as a soldier in the U.S. Army. During her tenure as mayor, she’s expanded her involvement in regional and national conversations on affordable housing, transportation, strengthening youth and families, public safety, growing local business, and the creation of family wage jobs.

Carla Santorno, Superintendent for Tacoma Public Schools

Santorno has led an academic improvement effort that has increased the Tacoma Public Schools graduation rate to 89.8 percent for the class of 2019. That’s up from 55 percent when she joined the district in 2009 as deputy superintendent. AASA, the School Superintendents Association, named Santorno the winner of its national 2016 Women in School Leadership Award.

Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County Executive

A Pierce County native, Dammeier attended Curtis High School before going on to graduate with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and serve eight years as a Civil Engineer Corps officer. While on active duty, he was deployed on humanitarian relief missions in the United States and across the world. At the conclusion of his military service, he returned to Washington state and became a dedicated community volunteer.

Moderator: Stephanie Pedersen

Editor & President of The News Tribune and Northwest Region Editor for McClatchy.

This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 4:54 AM.