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Mayor taps Carama to lead One Lexington

Devine Carama

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mayor Linda Gorton named Devine Carama the director of One Lexington, a program that works to coordinate, leverage and mobilize city government and community resources to enhance safety and quality of life in neighborhoods experiencing violent crime.

Carama is an adjunct professor at the University of Kentucky, where he teaches a course that merges hip-hop writing and community engagement. He is the director of “Believing In Forever,” which offers youth programming like “Poetry in Motion Youth” and community service projects like “A Coat To Keep The Cold Away.”

Carama is a community engagement coordinator with FEND, which helps students “beat the opioid crisis.” He also teaches an interactive summer class on the history of hip hop and how to write hip hop lyrics through the Carnegie Center.

A native of Lexington, Carama studied journalism at Aquinas College in Nashville, and business management at Bluegrass Community and Technical College.

Among other awards, Carama won the Bluegrass Community Foundation Black Leadership Award in 2021, was named a “Point of Light” by the late President George H.W. Bush in 2018, and was the recipient of the Lauren K. Weinberg Humanitarian Award in 2018.

Carama and his wife, Cierra Spaulding, who is a life coach for girls and young women, have three daughters. He is expected to begin his work with One Lexington on June 7. His appointment is subject to the approval of the Urban County Council.