Svante Myrick was the youngest mayor to be elected in Ithaca, NY, taking office at the age of 24 in 2011.<\/p>\n
He pulled Ithaca out of a $3.5 million deficit after just 2 years in office. But maybe his most innovative accomplishment is in public health: Svante and Ithaca have set up the country\u2019s 1st supervised heroin injection site.<\/p>\n
Svante\u2019s dad battled addiction so he knows a little about what it can do to a family and a community.<\/p>\n
He started the program after a 2-year study found that providing users with a medically supervised safe space to use diminished overdoses and increased rehab participation.<\/p>\n
That means less money spent on sending non-violent folks to prison or covering the costs of overdoses. Plus when they get therapy the chance of them recovering goes way up. Healthy communities and healthy families \u2013 that\u2019s what\u2019s up.<\/p>\n
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