Flint native Santino Guerra’s political career is continuing in the place it sort of began.
Guerra, who was appointed to fill the remainder of former Trustee Janet Couch’s term on the Mott Community College Board of Trustees on August 26, was introduced to politics when he was a teenager in a building that is now part of Mott’s campus.
“My whole involvement in politics actually started at the building that is now the Lenore Croudy Center,” Guerra said. “When I was 14 years old, my great-grandpa, he wanted me to get involved in politics. Growing up in Flint, it was a pretty rough neighborhood. He was like, ‘There’s another path for you, I wanna show it to you.’ So he took me to an event and Congressman Dale Kildee was speaking. I’d never listened to any politician talk before and I thought, wow, you can actually do a lot in this field.”
Guerra has actually accomplished quite a bit in local politics in a short amount of time. He served one term on the Flint City Council, representing the city’s third ward. At only 19-years-old at the time, he’s the youngest person ever elected to Flint’s City Council. He served his term while also completing his education at the University of Michigan-Flint. Both of those experiences are ones he hopes serve him well in his new role as a trustee on Mott’s board.
His term on City Council required developing an ability to work with colleagues despite the council’s reputation for chaos and conflict. He joins a Mott board that has been deeply divided on several key issues over the past two years, most notably a controversial presidential search that has resulted in a grievance and legal battle between the board and the faculty union which could take months to be resolved, accusations that current and previous board members may have violated the open meetings act in the past, cycled through several board attorneys in a short amount of time, and Couch’s resignation after conflict of interest allegations and past racist and homophobic posts from a social media page with her name on it resurfaced.
Guerra will serve the remainder of Couch’s term, which ends in December of 2026.
“This seat wasn’t on my radar, I wasn’t planning on this,” Guerra said. “But it’s a nonpartisan seat, and I know that the board could use some unity. I feel like my talent with the Flint City Council would serve me well in this capacity.”
Guerra’s appointment in itself is a hopeful sign that more consensus is possible among board members. Several votes over the past two years, including the appointment of a permanent president, have been passed with split 4-3 votes. Guerra was appointed to the remainder of Couch’s term on a 5-1 vote. The lone vote against Guerra, Kenyetta Dotson, still had positive things to say about him on her Facebook page after the vote.
“There were 13 candidates total who interviewed for the open board seat,” Dotson wrote. “In the end, Santino soared to the top. We look forward to this new path forward.”
Guerra said “transparency” is the biggest thing that creates a sense of unity on boards, and he hopes to model that during his tenure.
“In any public office not only do the board members need to know how you feel, because they’re gonna be voting with you, but the community who listens needs to know how you feel as well,” he said.
In addition to his experience finding common ground with people of differing perspectives, Guerra is also a major proponent of education, especially locally.
“I’m passionate about education, because I think the leaders of our community are going to come from Mott, they’re going to come from University of Michigan-Flint,” he said. “So we can help mold those leaders to lead our community in the future.”
Guerra, who now lives in Swartz Creek, has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UM-Flint. He also graduated from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations Academy in Brunswick, Georgia, and completed the Summer Venture in Management Program at Harvard Business School. He’s currently a federal law enforcement officer and was formerly a deputy at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.
He also volunteers at Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and started his own project to give back to the community called The Guerra Project. It isn’t a nonprofit organization, rather it’s just his attempt to inspire people to give back to the community through what he calls “small but meaningful initiatives.” He launched it about two years ago, and has three main focus areas: Operation Clean Cardio, passing out basketballs, footballs, or soccer balls to kids, and doing school supply drives for schools.
Operation Clean Cardio is simply grabbing a bag and picking up trash while also getting exercise and walking around, and was inspired by his time on City Council.
“My favorite things to do were community cleanups,” he said. “Seeing neighborhoods picked up, blight getting removed, and people just being happy. And the second idea came from, when I was a kid, we didn’t always have a field or a court, but if we had a ball, we could play. We’re not a nonprofit or LLC or anything like that. So there’s no donations. It’s just a personal project, right? So the only way that I can really say if people want to support it would be to just get out there and participate in a cleanup. Shoot me a picture and I’ll share it on our social media to encourage other people, or if you know somebody who needs a basketball or football, shoot me a message and we’ll try and get to them.”
He hopes to bring that same desire to build community to Mott’s board.
“It feels good to be on a board with ‘community’ in the name,” he said.
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