About Mayor Victoria Woodards
As Mayor of Tacoma, Victoria Woodards is an equity champion focused on transformational efforts that improve public engagement and trust in government and highlight the livability of Tacoma. She has brought focus and resources to local community while expanding her involvement in regional and national efforts related to homelessness and affordable housing, public safety, support for youth and families, growing local business, and the creation of family wage jobs.
Under her leadership, the City appointed members to its first Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, launched Compassionate Tacoma to recognize acts of compassion and service in our community, established the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners to regionally address affordable housing, and started a paid Introduction to Healthcare Apprenticeship Pathways pilot that guides equitable workforce development to this day. She has also worked to more fully engage the City’s youth in community decisions that impact them every day, by expanding Student Government Day and establishing the City's first Youth Commission.
With a renewed focus on public safety, the Mayor is serving as the City Council’s first appointed liaison to the Community’s Police Advisory Committee (CPAC) in a new position created in 2024. In this role she will help provide guidance and support important conversations about public safety issues.
As a founding member of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, Mayor Woodards partnered with United Way of Pierce County to launch 'Growing Resilience in Tacoma' or GRIT -- A local guaranteed income demonstration that was recently expanded that is informing State and Federal policy efforts to address poverty.
National and Regional Leadership
Mayor Woodards has been selected to serve in several national leadership roles that allow her to work with other cities across the country and bring best practices back to Tacoma. She is the immediate past president of the National League of Cities (NLC), which collectively represents 200 million people across the Country, and connects local leaders with the tools and information to improve the quality of life in their communities. Under her leadership she launched partnerships with the American Planning Association and the Federal Department of Labor that address affordable housing and workforce needs to ensure our residents and our local businesses can fulfil their destiny in Tacoma and across the Country. As a part of these efforts, Tacoma was names one of 16 Good Jobs, Great Cities leaders to expand green jobs in Tacoma and Pierce County. Additionally, building on the relationships she has built with Tacoma’s local Puyallup Tribe of Indians, she also launched NLC’s Local Indigenous Leaders Constituency group focuses on native issues across the country.
Locally, her leadership roles include positions on the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board, Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board, Greater Seattle Partners, South Sound Housing Affordability Partners, Tideflats Subarea Planning Steering Committee, and the WorkForce Central Board.
Mayor Woodards was also appointed to the JustServe National Advisory Council, the board of Power Forward Communities and the Advisory Council for Accelerator for America where she continues her advocacy on volunteerism and workforce development.
Before she was Mayor
Demonstrating a lifelong track record of public service, Mayor Woodards served for seven years as an at-large member of the City Council before becoming Mayor in 2018. During that time, she launched the Equity and Empowerment initiative which led to the establishment of the City’s Office of Equity and Human Rights. She also brought partner organizations together for then President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative and spearheaded the City’s Project PEACE initiative which bridged community members with the Tacoma Police Department.
Mayor Woodards has also served as president of the Tacoma Urban League and director of community development for the Tacoma Rainiers. Her past civic engagement work also included leadership positions with the Tacoma Metropolitan Parks Board, the Washington State History Museum, and the Washington State Commission of African American Affairs.