LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Forging the future of North Las Vegas, Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown is using her life experiences to lead the fastest-growing city in Nevada.
While she's blazing a trail of her own as the city's first Black mayor, 13 Action News anchor Rachel Moore shows us how her path bears a resemblance to the city's first Black official.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Goynes-Brown!" says Raiders Announcer.
"So many things have been so so surreal in the last few months of my life," says Goynes-Brown.
REIGNITING A LEGACY
Whether it's lighting the Torch at a Raiders game, "That was an experience of a lifetime," says Goynes-Brown, or breaking ground on a new development...
"To have those moments, those are once in a lifetime things," says Goynes-Brown.
North Las Vegas Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown is reigniting the rich legacy of North Las Vegas.
But long before this predominantly Black and Hispanic city elected its first Black mayor, her parents chartered her historic journey to City Hall, in City Hall.
"My father was the first African American councilman and Mayor Pro Tempe during his tenure on the council, and so we always would come to City Hall," says Goynes-Brown.
After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Theron Goynes began a career in education in an Arkansas school district where he met his wife, Naomi. They moved around the southwest before both signing contracts with the Clark County School District, settling in Las Vegas with their young children.
As the daughter of highly educated teachers, Goynes-Brown's future was stamped in stone.
"I finished high school and I just told my parents, "I'm done with school. I'm not going to college." And my mom looked at me and as calm as she could be she said, "OK, but you can't stay here," says Goynes-Brown.
EDUCATION CAREER
Goynes-Brown eventually enrolled in school, going on to earn a degree from Prairie View A&M in Texas, just like her father, and went on to begin a career in education.
"I served 35 years in CCSD. 20 years I taught music and then in the last part of my career I was a school administrator," says Goynes-Brown.
A retired elementary school principal himself, Theron Goynes was first appointed as a North Las Vegas City Councilman in 1971, serving off and on until 1993. His daughter, still a young girl, sitting in on council meetings and government events.
"When he went to conventions and things, we would all go with him. We weren't so focused on the political side of things, but we did learn," says Goynes-Brown.
She learned what it meant to lead. In 2011, Goynes-Brown makes history as the first Black woman elected to the North Las Vegas City Council.
"Coming into this position and as a councilman, it's all about our constituents, so being able to listen to them, hearing them, but really, am I hearing what they're saying versus just listening to them so I think that's a huge part of this job," says Goynes-Brown.
MAKING HER FATHER PROUD
Eleven years later, she's elected to sit in the center seat of the chambers her father once served.
"To watch his processes, and I told him, he's 93 now and still with us, and I said, "I hope I am making you proud of me as I was proud of you," says Goynes-Brown.
Goynes-Brown's passion for education continues as the city of North Las Vegas and CCSD prepares to open a career and technical academy this year, along with charter schools in the city.
