Editor’s note: This is another story in a series about candidates for the state House 200th Legislative District seat.

Qasim Rashad, a 22nd Democratic Ward Committee member, has announced his candidacy to fill state Rep. Chris Rabb’s seat, as Rabb is not seeking re-election in favor of running for Congress.

The 64-year-old candidate is running in Pennsylvania House District 200, which represents Mt. Airy, parts of Chestnut Hill, West Oak Lane, and Blue Bell Hill.

“I’ve been very active in the community, helping people and assisting people as a community volunteer. So what better way to accentuate my community work than to become a legislator, and help people at the next level,” Rashad told the Local. “I love the diversity of this community … It’s probably one of the best communities in America. And I’ve traveled a little bit.”

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Rashad attended Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Germantown. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Dillard University in New Orleans in 1983, before marrying and returning to Philadelphia to live in Mt. Airy, where he raised his seven children.

A business owner, Rashad runs a small information technology company, Final Mile Tech, which he started in 1998. He started the business after the IT company he worked for closed, seeing an opportunity to fill the gap with his own company for his clients.

Prior to founding his company, Rashad worked as a regional rail conductor for SEPTA.

Serving as a committee person, Rashad also coached 4- to 6-year-olds with City Athletics, a non-profit youth soccer development organization, and serves as a chaperone for a local chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s annual HBCU tour, which sends students to tour and attend historically Black colleges and universities.

“I just want the folks to know that I’m a different kind of Democrat,” he said. “I’m not endorsed by the party, but I am endorsed by my community. I think there are people in my community that believe in what I do and what I represent … I plan to be a very active, seen community person, to have a branch office, maybe two in the district … I want to be accessible to the entire district.”

Rashad is running on a platform with three main focus areas: economic development, workforce development, and education.

The platform

As a business owner, Rashad aims to utilize his skills and experience to promote economic development in Mt. Airy’s commercial corridors.

He said access to mentorship could help create and sustain small businesses in the district.

“I went to West Philly’s business enterprise center because I had to learn how to write a business plan, how to apply for a loan, how to present myself when I do apply for a loan,” Rashad said. “That was a challenge for me, but the West Philly Business Enterprise Center really helped me get over that hurdle. … So my plan will be to bring a business enterprise center to the Northwest.

“I’ve talked with some of those business folk, and they don’t have the support that they need. … We can give the upstart entrepreneurs the accounting skills, the business skills, how to apply for a loan, how to pay that loan and stay in business at the same time through a business enterprise center, and take the skill sets from people who are business consultants.”

For Rashad, another aspect of promoting small businesses is tax policy. One way he’d like to achieve that is a potential tax abatement for new small businesses that meet certain criteria. Another idea is to shift the state tax burden, putting less on small businesses and more on larger corporations that utilize loopholes to avoid taxes, he said.

For education, Rashad says more funding needs to come from the state to Philadelphia schools. He says he believes that Philadelphia pays more than its fair share toward the state’s budget, but does not receive enough back to fund modern school buildings and pay teachers.

“This is why a teacher in Montgomery County can make $120,000 and a teacher in Philadelphia can only make $60,000,” Rashad said.

If elected, Rashad wants to push for fair education funding and bring resources to Philadelphia schools.

The primary election is on May 19. Rashad is running against Chris Johnson and Deshawnda Williams in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives District 200.

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@chestnuthilllocal.com.