Dorcas Adekunle

MY GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Spearheading the creation of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls — the first-ever congressional caucus dedicated to making health, education, safety and opportunity for black women and girls a priority. I strive to ensure that black women’s voices are centered in policy discussions. Through the caucus, I educate and I construct legislative and programmatic proposals to address systematic obstacles that black women and girls face. Most recently, under the leadership of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, the first African-American Congresswoman from New Jersey, I led two conferences for girls. The “&Girls” conference brought together more than 400 girls between the ages of 10 and 23 to discuss neighborhood safety and leadership qualities. The “In Her Power” conference empowered girls in middle school by fostering healthy relationships and providing self-advocacy tools to help students combat the impact of the school-to-prison pipeline.

HOW DREXEL HELPED: While a student, I interned and completed a co-op with the New Jersey state legislature. These experiences exposed me to the process of crafting a legislative agenda with legislative members and leadership.

WHERE I’ll BE IN FIVE YEARS: I will continue to look for opportunities to reduce disparities. I seek to promote equity and justice through government, corporations and communities.