Yemi Mobolade on local leadership and the common good
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade brings an independent, local perspective to the challenges facing one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. A Nigerian immigrant, pastor, entrepreneur and community leader, Mobolade emphasizes stewardship, problem-solving and the common good. He discusses preserving the city’s natural beauty and civic character, managing growth and housing pressures, balancing compassion with accountability, and keeping local government focused on residents’ needs. He spoke with American Habits editor Ray Nothstine.
Your path to the mayor’s office was unusual. You came to America from Nigeria and served as a pastor, entrepreneur and community leader. How have those experiences and your background outside partisan politics shaped the way you govern and connect with residents?
Mobolade: My story is also the story of my favorite city in the world, Colorado Springs. I took a nontraditional pathway, but also an old-fashioned American one: the farmer who leaves the farm to serve his community and then returns to farming.
Nearly 30 years ago, I came here as an international student. I had the blessing of receiving an education, finding work, building a family and discovering opportunity. Now I have the chance to give back to a country that has given me so much.
My path included serving as a pastor, small-business owner, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader and economic development official. Each experience taught me something different.
As a pastor, I learned that leadership begins with listening. Before we solve problems, we must understand people and hear their stories.
As a business owner, I learned that good intentions are not enough. You must balance budgets, meet payroll, solve problems quickly and earn people’s trust every day.
As a nonprofit leader, I learned that our biggest problems cannot be solved by government alone. They require partnerships. The relationships I built before taking office still allow me to convene people and accomplish what no single sector can on its own.
How does Colorado Springs welcome newcomers and accommodate economic growth without losing the character that drew people there? What trade-offs does that balance require?
Mobolade: These are not competing values. Welcoming newcomers and preserving the character of our neighborhoods can go together.
Growth in Colorado Springs is inevitable. Cities do not control their borders the way countries do, and many people choose to move here. Between 2024 and 2025, the state demographer ranked Colorado Springs first in population growth among Colorado cities. I see that as a positive sign. People love this city and want to be here.
My job is not to pursue growth for its own sake or try to stop it. It is to ask what is in the best interest of Colorado Springs and make sure our infrastructure keeps pace.
Our city was founded by Gen. William Jackson Palmer, who recognized the extraordinary beauty of this place. People still come here, see Pikes Peak and the surrounding landscape, and want to stay. As we welcome them, we must remain rooted in our natural beauty, military heritage, entrepreneurial spirit and outdoor culture. That means investing in our parks, roads and other foundations of our quality of life.
We also have to preserve the sense of community that makes Colorado Springs distinctive. We sometimes call it “Smallorado Springs.” We are a city of about half a million people, but everyone feels only one or two connections apart. I want to preserve that close-knit identity.
What responsibilities do newcomers have to learn about the community, participate in its institutions and help shape its future? What responsibility do longtime residents have to welcome them?
Mobolade: It is a shared responsibility. One of my dear friends, Clay Ross, showed me what that looks like. When I moved here as a pastor, Clay was also planting a church. He is a third- or fourth-generation Colorado Springs native, and he welcomed me by giving me a tour of the city—its major landmarks, important institutions and the people who helped build it. I will never forget that.
My responsibility was to respect his knowledge, listen and learn about the city before trying to shape it. I met with pastors throughout the community, explained why we were there and asked for their blessing. We were not there to compete.
That kind of mutual respect and engagement matters. Newcomers should listen, volunteer and build relationships before trying to change anything. People can tell when someone is not genuinely committed to a place.
There is no such thing as a red pothole or a blue pothole. Colorado Springs needs a shared vision.
I often say that I love Colorado Springs for what it is and for what it could become. It is like buying a house: You already love it, but you also see its possibilities. Before improving it, you have to understand what makes it worth preserving.
Longtime residents, in turn, should be hospitable and willing to work with people who genuinely want to learn about and contribute to the place. We are all in this together.
Colorado Springs’ natural beauty can be overwhelming until you experience it. How does that beauty shape the way residents think about their city, and what responsibility does local government have to preserve it as the city grows?
Mobolade: It is vast. Colorado Springs has nearly 19,000 acres of parkland, 326 miles of trails and 137 playgrounds. In 2025, our parks and open spaces drew between 22 million and 25 million visitors.
Pikes Peak, America’s Mountain, defines the city’s landscape and identity. In the late 1800s, Katharine Lee Bates visited the summit and was inspired to write “America the Beautiful.” You can still see that “purple mountain majesties” at dawn, when the sunlight first reaches the mountains.
For me, the responsibility is stewardship. We are preserving this beauty for the nation and future generations. Previous generations protected it for us, and our job is to do the same.
Like many cities, Colorado Springs faces a housing shortage. Does that reinforce the case that greater affordability requires building more homes? What is your administration doing to keep the city livable for residents across the income spectrum?
Mobolade: The people foremost in my mind are what you might call the “missing middle.” That does not mean our lower-income residents do not have significant needs. Federal incentives can support housing projects at traditional affordable-housing levels. But I am especially concerned about the teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, young adults and seniors who call Colorado Springs home. They can become the forgotten middle.
We have to be creative about increasing the housing supply. It is fundamentally a supply-and-demand issue, and we are still about 27,000 units short.
My job is to accelerate development of homes for the people who need them most. That means improving the permitting process, moving at the speed of business and encouraging innovative housing solutions.
We have built homes largely the same way for 70 or 80 years. I live in a historic home built in 1898. Building that same house today would probably cost four times as much. We have to find ways to build more efficiently and affordably.
There is growing interest in 3D-printed and manufactured homes that can be built more quickly without sacrificing quality, but as a nation, we are still hesitant to move beyond traditional construction.
I would like to see more local incentives for these approaches. We also have to make sure permitting does not become an obstacle. If we are serious about catching up, we need to get homes built sooner and make innovation a priority.
You have governed as an independent, focusing on local issues rather than national controversies. Some mayors enter debates over Trump, socialism and other national political fights, while others concentrate on the practical work of city government. Why has that local focus been important to you? Do mayors risk losing sight of their responsibilities when they become too involved in national politics?
Mobolade: It is difficult for me to criticize my fellow mayors. We all have a job to do, although we come to it through politics. Party affiliation can bring baggage into office. That is one reason I value being an independent mayor.
The mayor’s office is close to the ground, where human flourishing and the well-being of a city take place. Politics should not determine how we keep people safe, repair roads or maintain infrastructure. There is no such thing as a red pothole or a blue pothole. Colorado Springs needs a shared vision.
I was elected mayor of Colorado Springs, not mayor of Washington, D.C., or the United States. On election night and again at my swearing-in, I promised to remain nonpartisan, work across party lines and keep our city focused on local priorities rather than the noise of Washington.
Residents may care deeply about national politics, but when they call 911, they want someone to answer. When I took office, more than 200 calls could be waiting in the queue. Today, that number is generally between five and seven, and 96% of calls are answered within 20 seconds. Response times for the most serious emergencies have fallen from 24 minutes to 11 minutes.
That is what I was elected to address—not to weigh in on every national debate. Those issues may be important, but they are not the job I was elected to do.
As a person of faith, I see local government as a practical instrument of grace that can advance human flourishing. Roads may seem ordinary, but if they are not safe and reliable, people cannot take their children to school, get to work, buy groceries or participate in community life.
Introducing national political divisions into that practical work can bring progress to a halt. I want to remain relentlessly focused on the responsibilities the people of Colorado Springs entrusted to me.
Public safety requires both accountability and second chances. How do you balance rehabilitation with the need to protect residents, businesses and neighborhoods, particularly when headlines show repeat offenders cycling through the criminal justice system?
Mobolade: I thought about this quite a bit as a candidate. One of the values I emphasized was the common good—the welfare of the whole community rather than only the individual. Another value, rooted in my faith, is compassion paired with accountability. Those are not competing values.
It is what we teach our children. We hold them accountable, but we also show them compassion and give them second chances. My chief of staff sometimes reminds me of Jesus’ instruction to forgive “70 times seven.” That does not eliminate accountability, but it reminds us that mercy matters too.
In Colorado, I believe we have sometimes leaned too far toward compassion and restorative justice while losing sight of accountability. Residents and businesses are feeling the effects. I experienced it as a small-business owner, and my wife still has to think about her safety when she goes downtown.
Colorado Springs needs to lean more firmly into accountability, but we can still act with compassion. Politics often tells us we must choose one or the other. I believe the answer is yes to both.
Our homeless outreach team reflects that approach. These police officers work with people experiencing chronic homelessness, and they describe themselves as 50% social workers and 50% law enforcement officers. They know people by name, connect them with services and treat them with dignity.
At the same time, they enforce the law. They may help someone move belongings from an unsafe encampment while explaining that services are available, even if that person is not ready to accept them. They are compassionate, but they are also clear that the encampment cannot remain.
Accountability and compassion can exist together. That is the approach I am trying to advance in Colorado Springs.
You have a master’s degree in divinity, and your faith has surfaced several times in this conversation. How does it shape your understanding of public service, leadership and the proper role of government?
Mobolade: My office is filled with reminders of my faith. One challenges me to pursue goals that would fail without divine intervention, to dare to be different and to live for something greater than myself. Those reminders keep me grounded amid competing interests, personal attacks and enormous pressures. Without faith, I do not know how I would remain healthy and centered in this work.
Faith grounds me, inspires me and informs my values. In my conference room, you will see the words courage, empathy and humility. They come from Micah 6:8: Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Justice requires courage. Mercy requires empathy. Humility reminds me to put the “we” before the “me.”
But I am not a pastor in this role. I was elected to be mayor of Colorado Springs. I do not use faith as a weapon or to advance my personal interests. Instead, it shapes how I lead. It reminds me to make the table bigger, wider and longer.
I also draw inspiration from biblical figures such as David. He was an underdog, and I was an underdog in my election. My slings and stones looked different, but I used what had been given to me.
Even for people uncomfortable with faith, courage, mercy, humility and service can help all of us become better leaders. That is why faith remains central to how I approach the mayor’s office.
Being mayor of a large city is demanding and often feels like a 24/7 job. What do you do to step away from the office and enjoy Colorado Springs? What are some of your favorite things to do in the city?
Mobolade: Let’s go back to where we started: Colorado Springs is a beautiful city. We have Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods and an outstanding zoo. I am fortunate to live where I can step outside and experience the natural landscape. Walking, hiking and perhaps getting back into running allow me to escape into nature and remember that life is bigger than the job.
Family also keeps me grounded. Sometimes that means wrestling with my kids or playing card games with my daughter.
Even within the job, one of my favorite things is visiting elementary schools. I read with the students, answer their questions and try to inspire them, but they inspire me just as much. They remind me why I do this work.
I also enjoy being out in the community and visiting small businesses. Before I was mayor, I was a community leader and small-business owner who loved this city. Staying close to the people and places I care about helps me keep the main thing the main thing.
When this season ends, I hope to return to my own version of farming. It reflects the old American tradition of farmers leaving their fields to serve their communities and then returning home. Remembering that this role is only a season keeps me grounded.
