About Mark
Mark Harper, 27, was born and raised in Central Ohio calling Columbus his home for most of his life until making Sandusky his new and future home in 2021. He has one sister, two half-brothers, a beautiful and wonderful new niece proudly giving him the title of Uncle, and a handful of friends whom are family and have been nothing but supportive - they know who they are. Mark is currently involved as a member of the North Coast Concert Band, Ohio State University Alumni Club of Erie County, North Coast Young Professionals, Member of the United Way of Erie County Board of Directors, and community development and service events throughout the city. In his free time, you can find him spending time with his family and friends, decompressing, and traveling around the country to different amusement and theme parks as well as exploring the wonders of the world.
Mark is a product of the public school system having attended 4 major Central Ohio school districts and 2 public charter schools throughout his K-12 education. He ultimately graduated in 2014 from Canal Winchester High School with Honors and then went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from The Ohio State University in 2019 with a B.A in Political Science and Minor in Music.
Growing up, Mark was primarily raised in a bi-racial family by his single Mother and his Grandmother with a couple step mothers and family members in their corner assisting. So, when they say it takes a village to raise a child, he knows first hand. His Grandmother and Mother are from the Ohio Appalachian region and were dedicated to do what it took to end their family's cycle of generational poverty while instilling the values of education, hard work, and determination into him. This resulted in his Mother moving away to Columbus from what she knew as home, her becoming a First Generation college student, making sure that her son and future daughter had every educational and extracurricular opportunity they could afford, and a Grandmother there to selflessly assist in anyway she could. For that, he is forever eternally grateful. His father, a Second Generation United States Veteran, also felt that education was important. He also pushed Mark to achieve and succeed and ultimately secured his own Bachelors degree during Mark's high school and collegiate career.
Throughout High School, Mark was involved in Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Marching Band, French Club, Student Council, and National Honors Society. All of these organizations involved one major common theme of being an integral part of the fabric of his community. Upon graduating high school, Mark went to Ohio University (OU) during his first year of undergrad for general studies before ultimately transferring to The Ohio State University (OSU). While attending OU and OSU, Mark was a commuter student taking on a full course load while working 20-25 hours/week and was extremely involved in community based organizations such a Alpha Phi Omega; OSU sponsored Community Service Days such as MLK Day of Giving; Buck-I-Serve where he participated in two alternative spring break trips serving the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) organization in the fight against AIDS/HIV in New York City and a behind the scenes educational experience serving incarcerated juveniles at the Broad River Road Complex in Columbia, South Carolina; and was a Member and Section Leader of The Ohio State University Athletic Band performing, bringing comradery to, and supporting the Ohio State and State of Ohio community. Upon graduation, Mark continued to be a part of OSU as a full-time staff member for the next two years until moving to Sandusky.
While attending OSU and after graduation, Mark was involved in the Columbus Community as an Area Commissioner for the Greater South East Area Commission which encompassed an area of 14.7 square miles that had roughly 17,000 housing units and 45,000 residents. Area Commissions were created back in the 1970s as a way for the City of Columbus to avoid having to create districts for City Council by providing residents the opportunity to sit on self-define, city codified, and resident occupied and ran community advisory boards regarding mostly development and zoning at the time. To this day, they have evolved to provide a more holistic approach regarding their respective areas to improve the areas quality of life. During his three-year tenure prior to losing residency, he started off as Secretary of the Commission and ultimately the Chair through the latter of his term. At the time, to City knowledge, he was the youngest elected Area Commissioner to date in the history of Area Commissions and respectively the youngest Area Commission Chair. He was a member of the Zoning Committee, Co-Chair of the Outreach Committee, and Chair of the Bylaws and Communications and Marketing Committee. Within his first couple of months, he was able to advocate and secure funding to install Wi-Fi in all of Columbus' One-Stop Shop Neighborhood Pride Centers. It didn’t make sense to him that Columbus would have these City Pride Centers designed to provide a one-stop shop for its residents regarding city departments and city matters and not have Wi-Fi for its residents or even for Area Commissions and city employees to conduct business. Throughout his tenure as Secretary, he provided a complete overhaul of their digital presence, completely digitized all their records that were subject to the Ohio Sunshine Law and City Ordinances and increased their social media following by 500%. Overall, he was an integral part in advocating and securing successful changes to over $500 Million worth of zoning projects that included infrastructure revitalization, commercial development, job growth, the first Permanent Supportive Housing for 18-24 year old’s who are prone to being at risk to experience homelessness or have experienced homelessness, and over 1000 new units of housing within their boundaries aiding in increasing the housing supply in an ever tightening market.