Meet Eryn
Eryn Santamoor wants more for the people of Philadelphia and has the values, experience, and true grit that we need in our City Council to help make a difference in our communities.
Raised in a working-class family with a union leader and a nurse as parents, Eryn quickly embraced two values that would drive her for the rest of her life: hard work and service to others. As a first-generation college graduate of Cornell University, Eryn later came to Philadelphia in search of more – she wanted to know more about how government could be a solution for people – so she went a step further and worked her way through graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where she studied government administration.
Leadership & Compassion
When Eryn came to Philadelphia, she immediately felt like she was home. She fell in love with the underdog spirit of the city and the sense of community that permeates all around. Philadelphia is where she lives, works, and is raising her two young children. It’s where she has spent her career helping people, working inside and alongside City government while focused on one thing – the number of people she can help.
Eryn’s decision to run for City Council comes from more than a desire to improve the City’s policies and programs – it comes from her firsthand knowledge of how we can do better for people and her years of personal engagement with the community regarding some of our greatest challenges.
Eryn’s commitment to addressing substance use disorder and alcoholism in our families is at the core of her campaign. Her experience with loved ones’ recoveries has shown her that entire families bear the brunt of this crisis and any public response to it must be family-based. She knows that new comprehensive ideas and approaches are necessary as the stakes and costs of this crisis are simply too high for us to keep doing business as usual.
As a mother raising two school-aged children, Eryn also understands what it’s like to be a working mom raising children in Philadelphia. All families deserve well-resourced schools and programs that meet the academic, physical, and emotional needs of their children. Eryn is committed to resolving some of the underlying issues of emotional pain for kids and sits on the board of the Uplift Center for Grieving Children, a non-profit that supports Philadelphia’s children and families through the trauma of losing a loved one.
She is a Democratic Committeeperson for the 9th Ward, and an active member of several civic associations. Eryn is a ‘full-contact’ community leader who is always willing to step up and get the job done for the people of Philadelphia – even when it’s difficult, because that’s what true public service is all about.
Experience Matters
Back in 2008 when many were complaining that City government was a ‘who ya know’ culture, Santamoor helped build Philly311 and PhillyStat so that everyone had direct access to the important services they need and deserve. During the Great Recession, her work to help change operations so that our government was smarter, faster, and better led to savings of over $21 million – helping to prevent any City layoffs.
Later, Eryn brought her expertise as a city management expert to Philadelphia-based management consulting firm, PFM, acting as an outside expert to help cities like Compton, Baltimore, and Reading, PA to find a path forward in the face of challenging fiscal and social issues.
Most recently, Eryn has been serving the people of Philadelphia as a Chief of Staff in City Council throughout the Covid pandemic. When employees were being let go and restaurants were closing, Santamoor helped keep businesses afloat by pursuing safe and accessible outdoor dining opportunities.
Eryn has always prioritized listening and hard work over sound bites and hand-ringing – she’s a doer and not a talker. A career in public service has shown Eryn that government can be the solution to many of our problems if only our elected leaders will listen and hold themselves accountable for results.
Eryn Santamoor knows Philadelphians need and deserve more from their City government, and her policy knowledge, legislative experience, and commitment to making Philadelphia the greatest place to live and work, make her the right candidate for City Council At-Large.