Wayne County HHVS Director Johnson: “This Man is Transformational”
MICHIGAN – Today, the El-Sayed campaign released a two-minute sit-down interview with Kennyle Johnson, the current director of Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans’ Services. Johnson served as Abdul’s chief of staff during his tenure leading the department before succeeding him as director. In the video, she discusses the impact Abdul’s leadership had in the department and the communities it serves.
During Abdul’s tenure, the department launched a program to eliminate up to $700 million in medical debt for Michiganders, brought the Vision to Learn program to the county to provide 10,000 children with glasses, and deployed air quality monitors across the county to hold corporate polluters accountable and better understand the conditions residents live in. The department also made life-saving Narcan universally accessible, installing 100 vending machines across the county – the largest community investment in Narcan access in U.S. history.
Johnson says those accomplishments were driven by a leadership philosophy that never lost sight of the people government is meant to serve.
“Abdul did a great job bringing the human part to the work that we do, because working in government you can get so lost in just, the challenges – the day to day battles,” Director Johnson said in the video. “But Abdul always brought it back to why we’re doing this and making sure that the community was always at the core of what we did.”
“It was an honor to have Kennyle serve as my Chief of Staff and it’s been an even greater honor to watch her lead the Health Department,” Abdul said. “Kennyle leads with purpose, commitment, passion, and grace — and the people of Michigan are better off because of her leadership. I’m grateful we had the chance to serve together, and to continue to have her support means the world.”
View the full video here.
Transcript:
Wayne County HHVS Director Kennyle Johnson:
“My name is Kennyle Johnson and I am the Director for the Department of Health, Human and Veteran Services at Wayne County. I started the county in September of 2023 as Abdul’s chief of staff. My first impression of Abdul was, ‘This man is transformational.’ He’s a visionary, he is intelligent, and Abdul has an ability to bring people together. Abdul did a great job bringing the human part to the work that we do because working in government you can get so lost in just, the challenges – the day to day battles. But Abdul always brought it back to why we’re doing this and making sure that the community was always at the core of what we did.
He always encouraged us [to] never settle for the status quo. Think innovative. Think how government can bring services differently to everyone. Abdul is about the people, and that’s why I think he’ll be a good US senator. It’s not about the politics – it’s about serving the people and making sure that government works for the people.
If I had an opportunity to work with Abdul again, I know that It would be life changing work that we would embark upon together. In Abdul’s words, he always loves to say – he always would say, ‘Imagine a world’. And I must say, imagine a Michigan where people that struggle, those that don’t have a voice, can actually have someone to fight for them and they don’t have to sit back and suffer in silence. I trust him and I believe in him, and I know the work that he can do. And if I worked for him again, I know that we’re on for a really – for a good, good ride, and we’re going to make an impact.”
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