Jamira Burley is a human rights activist and social impact strategist. She is currently the Head of Youth Engagement and Skills at the Global Business Coalition for Education a Summit and an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow.
Burley grew up in Philadelphia. She had fifteen siblings, including a brother who was murdered in an act of gun violence, and ten others that had been incarcerated at some point.[1] Her father was also incarcerated with a lengthy murder sentence, and her mother was a recidivist convict. Attending Overbrook High School, she founded Panther Peace Corps, a violence prevention group. After it was responsible for reducing violence by 30%, she received a grant from Governor Ed Rendell to expand the program to the ten high schools in Philadelphia with the highest rates of violence.[2] She was the first of her siblings to graduate from high school, and graduated from Temple University, where she studied business and international studies.[3]
Career
In 2012 Burley became Philadelphia's youngest ever agency executive when she was named executive director of the Philadelphia Youth Commission by Mayor Michael Nutter.[4] After an initial stint with Amnesty International working on “a united approach to gun violence, police violence and criminal justice reform” according to The Guardian,[5] during Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign she was named the national deputy millennial vote director.[6] In addition to national strategy, her role included work on the ground campaign in Pennsylvania, leading door knocking campaigns and other campaign work.[7]
Burley became the sole American to sit on the United Nations Global Education First Initiative, Youth Advocacy Group.[citation needed] After the presidential election, she became the Senior Campaigner for Gun Violence and Criminal Justice with Amnesty International.[3] Her advocacy work led to her receiving a “White House Champion of Change” award from the White House in Washington DC in 2014.[8] Burley is currently Head of Youth Engagement and Skills at the Global Business Coalition for Education and former MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow.[9]
↑ Peters, Jennifer (2018). Critical perspectives on social justice. New York. p.106. ISBN978-0766095632.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
.png)