E-Mail the Mayor at MayorDeStefano@newhavenct.net

was sworn in as New Haven's 49th Mayor on January 1, 1994, and was recently reelected to his  seventh term in office. Since his inauguration, Mayor DeStefano has cut crime in half, launched one of the nation’s largest school construction programs and revitalized its downtown.New Haven has been awarded the highly regarded "All-America City" prize twice during DeStefano's tenure, in 1998 and in 2003. Mayor DeStefano has been a consistent public policy leader in Connecticut. He has prioritized strengthening neighborhoods by cutting crime, rebuilding housing, and investing in education.

Crime has been cut in half through a nationally recognized community policing initiative. In 2003, he appointed Francisco Ortiz, Connecticut's first Latino police chief. New Haven's police force reflects the city's demographics-over half of its officers are African-American or Latino and it includes a larger percentage of women police officers than any other department in the state.
The DeStefano administration has reduced vacant structures in the City through his creative Livable City Initiative. The City's homeownership programs and its partnerships with other institutions and agencies have helped thousands of New Haven families become homeowners since 1994, both stabilizing neighborhoods and creating wealth.

Under Mayor DeStefano, the City’s magnet school program has grown to 20 schools of choice, drawing from city and suburban families. The school system has the largest suburban enrollment of any urban district in the state, with 1,600 suburban students from 21 contiguous towns. The magnet school program has been recognized statewide and nationwide for successfully racially and economically integrating schools in the Greater New Haven area. DeStefano's $1.5 billion school construction project has also received national and statewide attention for effectively leveraging the state's matching funds to create smaller classroom sizes for New Haven's schoolchildren. The Mayor's Early Childhood Initiative has increased the accessibility and quality of early education in New Haven. Under DeStefano's administration, the high school dropout rate has been cut in half through aggressive community-based initiatives.
The Mayor has consistently been Connecticut's leading advocate for property tax reform and smart growth. He was chosen by his colleagues to chair Connecticut's Blue Ribbon Commission on the subject. The commission outlined a detailed proposal for reform, and its recommendations are being championed by chief elected officials throughout the state. Reflecting his commitment to organizing for social change, DeStefano founded an advocacy group - 1000 Friends of Connecticut - that is bringing together statewide officials, businesspeople, and grassroots activists to push for reform.

Mayor DeStefano is the past president of the National League of Cities - the nation's oldest and largest organization representing some 18,000 American cities and towns - and is a past president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Born May 11, 1955, Mayor DeStefano is a lifelong New Haven resident. John and his wife, Kathy DeStefano, met at the University of Connecticut when both were undergraduates. They were married while John was a graduate student. Kathy is a kindergarten teacher and they are the parents of Dan and Jim. Dan is a senior at the University of Connecticut and Jim is a sophomore at Providence College.