Commissioner Daisy W. Lynum

Daisy W. Lynum, one of the longest-tenured commissioners in the city’s history, championed initiatives in the areas of education, housing, infrastructure, downtown redevelopment and transportation and provided leadership in revitalizing the Parramore Community and economy.

Born and raised in Leesburg, FL, Lynum earned an undergraduate degree in Sociology at Bethune-Cookman College and a graduate degree in Social Work from Florida State University.

After more than 30 years of employment as an educator and social worker, Lynum entered public service when she was elected as Commissioner of District 5 in 1998 and served for 16 years, until 2014.

Representing downtown Orlando and Parramore, Commissioner Lynum was an advocate for including more minority-owned companies on city projects, bringing the Florida A&M University College of Law to Orlando and securing funding for the CityView mixed-use development which brought affordable housing to Parramore and was one of the largest construction projects in the neighborhood’s history.

Connecting residents to jobs and opportunities was something Commissioner Lynum was most passionate about. Commissioner Lynum created the city’s original BLUEPRINT program, which placed residents in construction jobs and apprenticeship opportunities on the community venues, with the goal of providing jobs for those experiencing homelessness, the justice-involved and those living in Parramore. BLUEPRINT was incredibly successful and continued until 2019 with a total of 4,252 residents placed in jobs with 2,422 from the target population.

Commissioner Lynum’s community and civic involvement included numerous organizations including serving on the Board of Directors for the National League of Cities and Florida League of Cities, President of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC LEO) and President of the NBC LEO Foundation Board and a life member of NAACP.

Commissioner Lynum was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc.

At Commissioner Lynum’s last City Council meeting before retirement, she was commended for giving generously of her energies and talents while consistently exemplifying good citizenship and dedicated service and was therefore appointed to the honorary position of City Commissioner Emeritus.