By John Mair in London
Conservative Boris Johnson won the London Mayoral Election just last Friday. Yet, already, he has made his first major appointment: Ray Lewis as his Deputy Mayor for Young People. Johnson calls him ‘inspirational’. Lewis, 44, was born in Guyana and made his name by setting up London’s EastSide Young Leaders Academy (EYLA) for troubled young black boys in 2001.That aims to turn their lives around away from crime As the new Deputy Mayor puts it “We see no shortage of young black males in the courtrooms, so my vision is to seek to prepare as many as possible for the boardrooms.”. Now he has the chance to take that vision to the whole of one of the great cities of the World as its Deputy Mayor for Young People.
Ray was born in 1963 and attended schools in Walthamstow North East London. He began his career working as an administrative officer for the Civil Service before becoming a Clerk in Holy Orders for the Church Commissioners in 1990. During this time he studied for and gained a degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies from Middlesex University.