Washington, D.C. — The Center for American Progress announced today the selection of its first class of Leadership Institute Fellows.
Twelve fellows, selected from a competitive pool of 120 applicants, will participate in a series of CAP-directed seminars, events, policy case studies, and field trips to network with Washington’s public policy world. This new program aims to identify and assist the next generation of progressive public policy experts who have an interest in issues related to people and communities of color. Reflecting their varying perspectives and communities, the Leadership Institute Fellows will bring the concerns and talents drawn from their life experiences to bear on the policy challenges and opportunities presented by an increasingly diverse America. The Institute’s first class convenes Friday and will meet monthly through June.
“This is a new and exciting venture for the Center for American Progress because it provides a platform for greater inclusion of people of color in public policy at every level of government, within nonprofit organizations and throughout the media,” said CAP Senior Fellow Sam Fulwood III, the founder and director of the Leadership Institute.
The inaugural Leadership Institute Fellows include:
- Jamiah Adams produces web videos for Unity Productions Foundation’s My Fellow American Campaign, highlighting prominent non-Muslim Americans sharing stories about Muslim Americans they know or admire. Previously, Adams was new media manager of constituency content for the Democratic Party. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University where she received a B.A. in broadcast communications and the University of Southern California where she earned a master of professional writing degree.
- Jamaa Bickley-King is a consultant and founder of Commonwealth Civic Coalition, a nonprofit program with the mission of training progressive college students to be civic activists. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a B.S. in electrical engineering.
- Darius Brown is an organizing specialist with the Delaware State Education Association in Dover, Delaware. He has served as director of public affairs for the Connections Community Support Program in Wilmington, Delaware, the state’s largest substance abuse and mental health nonprofit. He attended Delaware State University.
- Jamila Aisha Brown is an author, scholar, advocate, and entrepreneur. In 2007 she founded Global Awareness Project Consulting, a progressive agency that relies on community research and documentation in order to provide quality consulting services to nonprofit, government, and corporate clients on how to create target-specific programs that positively impact communities of color. She holds a B.A. in international studies from Emory University and an executive master’s degree from American University in international service.
- Inimai Chettiar is a policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Justice, where she manages and coordinates the organization’s efforts to reform state criminal justice policies to end mass incarceration. She holds a B.A. in political science and psychology from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Chicago.
- Alicia Criado is a policy associate with the National Council of La Raza. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in peace and conflict studies and holds a M.S. in public policy and management from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
- Guy Donald Gatlin is an associate at The Raben Group. Previously he’s worked with the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities and the United Negro College Fund. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
- Tonyé Lofton is a data collection and tracking coordinator for the National Council on Aging. Previously he was a program analyst for the KRA Corporation and a team leader for the City of Norfolk’s federal workforce development programs. He graduated from Old Dominion University with a B.S. in criminal justice.
- Dawn Mabery is a consultant and was formerly the outreach manager for the National Immigrant Forum. She has worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign as a surrogate scheduler and for the William J. Clinton Foundation as an assistant director. Mabery is a Spelman College graduate with a B.A. in political science.
- Tolu Olubunmi runs Ada Consulting, a Washington-based firm that provides federal legislative and administrative policy analysis and advocacy focused on immigrant rights and education. She has also served as communications director for United We Dream. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University with a B.S. in chemical engineering.
- Samir Paul is a Teach for America corps member, serving as a high school math and computer science teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. in computer science and is working toward a M.A. in teaching from American University.
- Alejandro T. Reyes is an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where he is a member of the Legal Mobilization Project, which focuses on addressing pressing national civil rights issues related to housing, voting rights, and immigrant rights. He is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz with a B.A. in politics and holds a law degree from the Howard University School of Law.
The Leadership Institute is a product of CAP’s Progress 2050, a program that promotes innovative policy ideas, examines the intersection of race and policy, analyzes demographics, and promotes new leaders from diverse communities.
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