Blessing Yemi Mobolade was inaugurated as Colorado Springs’ 42nd Mayor on June 6, 2023, commencing his first four-year tenure. His election is historic because he is the city’s first Black and immigrant mayor, as well as one of the youngest. Mobolade, originally from Nigeria, moved to the United States at the age of 17 to pursue the American Dream through education, as did his brother.
He holds bachelor’s degrees in business administration and computer information systems from Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana. He went on to get master’s degrees in management and leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University and theology-intellectual leadership from the A.W. Tozer Theological Seminary at Simpson University, California.
Yemi Mobolade moved from Indiana to Colorado Springs in 2010 and quickly became an active part of the community. As member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, he assisted in the establishment of a church. Recognising a need for cultural gathering spaces in downtown Colorado Springs, he co-founded The Wild Goose Meeting House in 2013, becoming one of the first entrepreneurs to invest in the area after the Great Recession.
His interest in creating community collaboration led him to work as the director of outreach and engagement at First Presbyterian Church, where he co-founded COSILoveYou. This nonprofit brings together over 100 local churches to serve the Colorado Springs community. Continuing his efforts to establish friendly communal places, Mobolade co-founded Good Neighbours.
Meeting House was built in 2017 in the Patty Jewett neighbourhood. Around this time, he also took on a broader leadership position, becoming vice president of company retention and expansion at the Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corporation. In this role, he was instrumental in assisting local firms and courting new industries during a time of tremendous job development in the city.
In 2019, Mobolade began working as a small business development administrator for the City of Colorado Springs. In this capacity, he led measures to support enterprises, introducing platforms such as COSOpenForBiz.com and Permit Partner and fostering collaboration between the public and commercial sectors. In March 2022, he resigned from this role to focus on his mayoral candidacy.
