About me

I live in Ft. Lincoln with my wife and two sons. As a parent of two sweet, curious, and energetic Black boys, I have long had a vested interest in the quality of DC’s schools. My family navigated the school lottery system, enrolling my oldest son in more than one school before accepting a spot at Two Rivers Young. I was an active and involved parent at the school level, but five years ago, when my then seven-year-old son asked me if DC schools are still segregated, I realized that there are still too many unacceptable realities in our school system and I resolved to get more involved at the system level to try to change them.

I contacted our current Ward 5 State Board of Education Representative, Zachary Parker, and he invited me to join him in the work of reconstituting a Ward-level education group to convene neighbors and advocate for Ward 5 schools and students. I worked with Zachary and other community leaders to re-establish the Ward 5 Council on Education, now called the Ward 5 Education Equity Committee, which I served as vice chair.

I attended public schools where I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and then came to Georgetown University (Hoya Saxa!) for college and fell in love with DC. I earned a MA in history at the University of Pittsburgh and served a year in the AmeriCorps program working for Habitat for Humanity, followed by two years as a carpenter in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, before returning to the DC area to continue graduate school at the University of Maryland.

I completed a Ph.D. in history at UMD, where I wrote a dissertation on the politics of housing finance and fair housing. Professionally, I write about housing policy — translating technical and scholarly literature for a broad audience to make it more accessible, practical, and actionable.