#SUNDAYCIVICS

The U.S. Postal Service is a vital institution. It is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation. Given how important the post office is to our economy and to our lives, why is it constantly in need of "saving"? We get a lesson from Mack Julion, a 20+ year letter carrier and postal union representative on the structure and restrictions of the postal service and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joins us to discuss the proposal to return postal banking services. Our Guests Mack I. Julion began his career as a letter carrier in Chicago, IL, in 1997 and joined Chicago Branch 11. He served his branch as steward, sergeant-at-arms and branch auditor. In 2008, then-NALC President William H. Young appointed Julion to the post of regional administrative assistant (RAA) for Region 3. The next year, Branch 11 elected Julion as branch president. He was re-elected branch president by the members in 2012, 2015 and by acclamation in 2018. Julion is also an arbitration advocate and intervention specialist. NALC President Fredric Rolando appointed Julion as trustee in May 2018 to fill a vacancy before he was elected to the position later that year. Julion also is a member of the Chicago Federation of Labor’s Executive Board and delegate to the National Executive Board of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. In addition, Julion serves on Chicago Amalgamated Bank labor council, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Labor Advisory Board and the Chicago local advisory board for United Way Emergency Food and Shelter Programs. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been a leader in some of the toughest fights in Washington. She led the effort to repeal the “Don't Ask Don't Tell” policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military; she wrote the STOCK Act, which made it illegal for members of Congress to financially benefit from inside information; and she won the long fight to provide permanent health care and compensation to the 9/11 first responders and community survivors who are sick with diseases caused by the toxins at Ground Zero. Senator Gillibrand brought Democrats and Republicans together to win these legislative victories. Senator Gillibrand believes that accountability and transparency are essential to open and honest government. She was the first member of Congress ever to post her official daily meetings, earmarks, and personal financial disclosures online. She has introduced and sponsored S.2755 - Postal Banking Act.   Reading List Coronavirus Is Threatening One of Government’s Steadiest Services: The Mail - link Trump Called the Postal Service a ‘Joke.’ I’m Trying to Save It. - link Facts about the U.S. Postal Service - link Postal Banking Act - link Delivering on Promises: How Advocates for Postal Banking Can Overcome Political Barriers - link Why the next big bank shouldn’t be the USPS - link

What would it be like to have a former Bronx middle school principal in Congress? While education is mainly managed on the state and local level, the federal government has expanded its reach in recent years. Congressional Candidate Jamaal Bowman joins L. Joy for a discussion on how he believes Congress can make further investments in public education and more. Our Guest Jamaal Bowman has been a teacher, guidance counselor, dean, and the founding principal of a Bronx middle school. He was born and raised in New York City. He spent his early years in public housing and later in rent-controlled apartments. He didn’t have much growing up, but his mother provided him all that he needed: love, a stable family, and a sense of community. ‍ After seeing the failures in our education system, Jamaal started Cornerstone Academy for Social Action (CASA). Located in the Baychester neighborhood of the Bronx, CASA is an innovative public school with a strong emphasis on student voice, holistic education, cultural awareness, and love. Through his work in education, he has seen firsthand how low-income families are locked out of opportunity by a system that’s rigged for the wealthy and privileged few. Through his work as an advocate and a Principal, he has seen the results of inadequate housing, homelessness, mental health, the racist immigration system, the school to prison pipeline, food deserts, and trauma filled environments.

Although you wouldn't know it from our regular political discourse, there are more than two political parties. L. Joy introduces us to an alternative to the democrats and republicans and brings the New York State Director of the Working Families Party to the front of the class to give us a an introduction to this progressive political party that focuses on the people. Our Guest Sochie Nnaemeka is a seasoned community organizer and national leader in the progressive movement who has spent her career building power for working people. She is the daughter of Nigerian immigrant parents, born and raised in New York and attended Yale University, where she began organizing with a local union of cafeteria and custodial workers. Today she is the Director of the New York State Working Families Party.

We are all consuming a lot of information not only about this virus (COVID-19) and evaluating the government's response, at all levels. So coming to the front of the class we are bringing some science based facts from microbiologist Coqui Negra and some facts about how our various levels of government and bureaucracy work in a crisis from New York City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal. Our Guests Coqui Negra has an undergraduate degree in clinical laboratory science and a PhD in microbiology and immunology. Her research centered on Gram negative pathogenesis and she did postdoctoral research in a vaccine development center. After a decade of educating clinical laboratory science students, she moved to a scientific society to work on clinical laboratory policy in Washington, DC. Helen Rosenthal represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the New York City Council and is Chair of the Committee on Women and Gender Equity. Over the past six years, Helen has passed legislation to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, trained NYPD in victim-centric and trauma-informed investigations of sexual assault, improved health outcomes for black women in pregnancy and childbirth, and addressed gender wage parity. In her first term, Helen chaired the Council’s Committee on Contracts, where she focused on increasing funding and expediting payment for social service contracts. She championed worker co-operatives and focused on procurement reform for the 21st century. She also co-chaired the Women’s Caucus. In both terms, Helen was selected to join the Council’s Budget Negotiating Team and has been a vocal supporter of tenants, labor, safe cycling, and pedestrians. Helen was elected to the New York City Council in 2013 with the highest vote total of any candidate for City Council in New York City, a feat she repeated in her 2017 re-election. In 2017, she was endorsed by the New York Times [“valorously supported a school desegregation plan for her district in the face of opposition from various interests],” the New York Daily News, and the Amsterdam News.

Margaret Kimberly, author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents", comes to the front of the class for a discussion on the political relationship of Black America and the 45 U.S. Presidents. Our Guest @freedomrideblog Margaret Kimberley is a New York-based writer and activist for peace and justice issues. Dr. Cornel West has called her “one of the few great truth tellers who, along with Glen Ford, Adolph Reed, Jr. and Bruce Dixon, preserved her integrity during the Obama years.” She has been an editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report since its inception in 2006. Her work has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Consortium News, American Herald Tribune and CounterPunch. She is a contributor to the anthology In Defense of Julian Assange. She is a graduate of Williams College and lives in New York City. About the Book Throughout the history of the United States, numerous presidents have left their legacies as slaveholders, bigots, and inciters of racial violence, but were the ones generally regarded as more sympathetic to the plight and interests of black Americans—such as Lincoln, FDR, and Clinton—really much better? And what of all the presidents whose relationship with black America is not even considered in the pages of most history books? Over the course of 45 chapters—one for each president—Margaret Kimberley enlightens and informs readers about the attitudes and actions of the highest elected official in the country. By casting sunlight on an aspect of American history that is largely overlooked, Prejudential aims to increase awareness in a manner that will facilitate discussion and understanding.

Advocates of Medicare for All are burying the lead, did you know it includes dental coverage? New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera comes to the front of the class to breakdown the detailed aspects of the widely supported policy and discuss how states can adopt universal healthcare coverage. There are a lot of terms thrown around in the debate over healthcare, here are a few; * Universal Coverage: The ultimate goal is for everyone to have health insurance. * Single-Payer: A category of healthcare coverage in which the government provides insurance to everyone and pays the bills. * Public Option: A government run insurance plan is offered in addition to private health insurance plans. * Medicare for All: One of many policy proposals to achieve universal coverage that would create a national health insurance program in which everyone is covered and the government is the single payer. Our Guest: @NYSenatorRivera New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1998, Gustavo graduated from the University of Puerto Rico and moved to New York to begin a doctoral program in political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. A proud Bronxite, he has lived in Kingsbridge Heights for almost 20 years. He has represented the 33rd Senate District in the Bronx since November of 2010. The 33rd Senate District includes the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge Heights, East Tremont, Crotona Park, Fordham, Mount Hope, Belmont, Van Nest, Claremont, and Morris Park. Since taking office, Senator Rivera has focused his efforts on addressing issues of health inequity both legislatively and on the ground. In 2011, Senator Rivera launched the Bronx CAN (Changing Attitudes Now) Health Initiative. The goal of this community oriented health initiative is not only to encourage Bronx residents to develop healthy behaviors, but to shape policies that will help tear down some of the institutional barriers that stand in the way of Bronxites having a healthier lifestyle. Reading List * What is Single Payer? - Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) * Medicare for All: What Is It and How Will It Work? - Healthline * Medicare-for-All Is Not Medicare, and Not Really for All. So What Does It Actually Mean? - ProPublica

We celebrate 100 episodes of #SundayCivics with another installment of our #WhoWeElect series focusing on the elected position of state attorney general. The state attorney general is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. We are joined by New York State Attorney General Letitia James who shares how she serves "the people". The state attorney general is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. The state attorney general is an elected position in 43 states and majority serve 4 year terms. In Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming, the attorney general is appointed by the governor. For those of you listening in Tennessee, your state supreme court appoints the attorney general for an 8 year term and in Maine the state legislature votes for the attorney general for a 2 year term. The National Association of Attorneys General describe the typical duties of the state attorney general; ...to issue formal opinions to state agencies; act as public advocates in areas such as child support enforcement, consumer protections, antitrust and utility regulation; propose legislation; enforce federal and state environmental laws; represent the state and state agencies before the state and federal courts; handle criminal appeals and serious statewide criminal prosecutions; institute civil suits on behalf of the state; represent the public's interests in charitable trust and solicitations; and operate victim compensation programs. Our Guest NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 12: Attorney General Letitia James interviews with L. Joy Williams on SiriusXM Urban View's Sunday Civics at SiriusXM Studios on February 12, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Bonnie Biess/Getty Images for SiriusXM) Letitia “Tish” James is the 67th Attorney General for the State of New York. With decades of work, she is an experienced attorney and public servant with a long record of accomplishments. She is the first woman of color to hold statewide office in New York and the first woman to be elected Attorney General. In 2013, Ms. James was elected Public Advocate for the City of New York and became the first woman of color to hold citywide office. As Public Advocate, Ms. James served as a watchdog over New York City government agencies and as an advocate for the City’s most vulnerable communities. She transformed the Public Advocate’s office to be a formidable engine for change. Prior to serving as Public Advocate, Tish James represented the 35th Council District in Brooklyn in the New York City Council for ten years. As a Council Member, she passed the Safe Housing Act, legislation that forced landlords to improve living conditions for tenants in New York City’s worst buildings. She helped uncover the corruption behind the Office of Payroll Administration’s CityTime contract, a scheme that cost New York City over $600 million. She also pushed through a revolutionary recycling package that included expanding plastic recycling, a new clothing and textile recycling program, and increased access to recycling in public spaces. Before her election to the City Council, Tish James served as head of the Brooklyn Regional Office of the New York State Attorney General’s Office. She resolved hundreds of consumer complaints and investigated predatory lenders who preyed on first-time homebuyers. She assisted the Civil Rights Bureau in its investigation of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy and cracked down on firms engaged in deceptive business practices including violations of human rights, environmental laws, and scams targeting immigrants. Tish James began her career as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society. A proud Brooklynite,

How do those adorned in Black robes make it to the bench? Some judges are appointed but some also appear on our ballots. In another installment of our Who We Elect series we discuss the elections of judges, who funds their campaigns, lack of diversity in state supreme courts and how we should evaluate judicial candidates. Our Guest Alicia Bannon is the managing director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. She leads the Center’s Fair Courts Project, where she directs research, advocacy, and litigation to promote a fair judicial system. Bannon has authored several nationally recognized reports and articles on judicial selection, access to justice, judicial diversity, and government dysfunction, and her writing has been featured in the New York Times, Atlantic, and Time, among other outlets. Bannon was previously an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law, where she taught the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic, and at Seton Hall Law School, where she taught a course in professional responsibility and legal ethics. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Bannon was a John J. Gibbons Fellow in public interest and constitutional law at Gibbons P.C. in Newark, New Jersey, where she engaged in a wide range of public interest litigation within New Jersey and nationally. Bannon was also previously a Liman Fellow and counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. Bannon received her JD from Yale Law School. She clerked for Hon. Sonia Sotomayor in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Hon. Kimba M. Wood in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude with a degree in social studies. Prior to law school, she worked in Kenya and Uganda, managing impact evaluations of education and health interventions, and at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. Reading List * Brennan Center for Justice Fair Courts Project - link * Elected or Appointed: History of Judicial Selection in the U.S. - Harvard Law Today * Methods of Judicial Selection - Ballotpedia * Judicial Elections Portal - Ballotpedia * Money in Judicial Elections - Brennan Center for Justice

If your favorite celebrity endorses a candidate for public office it may not matter much to you unless of course it is the candidate you are already supporting. Endorsements from individuals may not move your vote but endorsements come from many different sources and can have a huge impact on a campaign. Our favorite civics teacher gives us a lesson on how endorsements can move politics, money and votes in support of a campaign. 2:55 - 14:10 If you are a documentary filmmaker L. Joy is the embodiment of your target audience. L Joy chats with her thoroughest girls about how she takes action after watching documentaries on the spread of diseases, recycling and more. 16:20 - 48:08 L Joy steps to the front of the class to give us a lesson on political endorsements. Endorsements come from many different sources. They can be from individuals like celebrities, former and existing elected officials, activists, organizers and even regular folks like you. Campaigns actively seek out endorsements from other sources like labor unions, PACs, and local community based organizations. A number of entities have a process that candidates must follow in order to receive an endorsement and can include issue questionnaires, interviews with members and leadership and/or votes from the organizations membership. As a political strategist, L. Joy shares how she evaluates pursuing and using endorsements. Does it move our politics, move money or move voters? All endorsements may not move all three things but they should move at least one. Campaigns also determine how to effectively use endorsements in their favor. You can use individual endorsements as surrogates for the campaign. Endorsements from newspapers, issue based PACs and political institutions communicate to voters your political ideology or your support for specific issues and causes. Endorsements from membership based groups like labor unions can give your campaign boots on the ground to help knock doors and help make calls to voters. 48:12 Campaign donations can also come from endorsements. If a candidate receives the endorsement from a labor union or a PAC that may also come with a campaign contribution or the entity can spend money on behalf of the campaign (with some restrictions). While we overall want to reduce the influence money has in our political process, L Joy argues that only restricting how much individuals and entities can contribute without addressing the other side of how much campaigns have to spend and what those increasing costs are.  

"The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans..." That is a statement straight out of a Senate Intelligence Committee Report on the 2016 presidential cycle. But did you know that there is a history of Russia using race to to interfere in United States politics? We bring Mutale Nkonde to the front of the class for a history lesson on Russian propaganda tools and a discussion on the intersection of race and technology. #FirstCivicAction Mutale Nkonde’s shares her #FirstCivicAction which was with our teacher L. Joy and Higher Heights. She attended a day party held by Higher Heights which inspired her to #GetCivicallyEngaged. Our Guest Mutale Nkonde is an AI policy analyst and researcher based in New York City. She started her career as a 2018-19 fellow at Data & Society, a Research Institute in New York City and works at the intersection of race, technology, and policy. Nkonde has been working as a senior tech policy advisor for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke since 2016. She was part of the team that helped introduce the Algorithmic Accountability Act into the House of Representatives in April 2019, and is currently considering a series of data privacy proposals. She is also the founder of the Dorothy Vaughn Tech Symposium, a briefing series that takes place on Capitol Hill. Her work has been covered in MIT Tech Review, WIRED, Venture Crunch, Muse and PBS News Hour, as well as being a co-author of a report on racial literacy and tech, and she speaks widely on race, policy, and AI. Episode Reading List When the Soviet Union Tried to Woo Black America - Ozy The History of Russian Involvement in America's Race Wars - The Atlantic A brief history of Russia exploiting American racism to manipulate US politics - Quartz Free Speech in the Age of Algorithmic Megaphones - Wired Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans on Social Media - NY Times Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism - Safiya Noble

What does it mean to be “healthy” and how does our civic life and that healthy life intersect? What role does the government play in your “healthy” life and how should it address healthcare disparities, healthcare coverage and drug prices? Our civics teacher and friendly neighborhood strategist L. Joy Williams brings Dr. L Toni Lewis to the front of the #SundayCivics class to answer these questions and have a discussion on how we move toward health equity. Our Guest Dr. Luella Toni Lewis pursued a career in social justice through medicine and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in sociology and a Medical Doctorate from Georgetown University. In 2004, Dr. Lewis became a family medicine resident and a member of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU)–the largest physician’s union in the Service Employees International Union. Dr. Lewis became very active with CIR/SEIU, working with unions and allies to advocate for the community served by the failing system. She served the members of CIR/SEIU in many capacities from 2006-2010, including roles from delegate to National President. From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Lewis served as Chair of SEIU Healthcare, the 1.1 million healthcare worker division of SEIU, and was elected International Vice President of SEIU. Dr. Lewis has worked with SEIU in many areas — including ACA implementation and health system transformation, global health, youth engagement, racial justice, disaster response, and political strategy. Currently, she serves on various boards and leadership committees of health and social justice organizations, including as President of the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leadership Program, and a member of Equity Advisory Group for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Dr. Lewis has a diverse set of tools to pull from for this mission. In addition to founding Liberation Health Strategies, which focuses on community, national, and global holistic strategies for health justice, she is a licensed Family Physician and Geriatrician and is internationally credentialed in Kemetic Yoga — an inclusive and afrocentric practice inspired by ancestral and ancient Egyptian culture–and Femme!–a multisensory fusion of dance, sensual motion, meditation and celebration for self-care, release, and empowerment. Dr. Lewis is originally from Mounds (pop. 800), a rural city in southern Illinois, and currently resides in the Bed-Stuy Neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

Welcome to the 20's...what our civics teacher & friendly neighborhood political strategist L. Joy Williams has dubbed the Empowering 20's. The new decade dawns and L. Joy outlines the many civic opportunities that are coming up that if we get involved, have the opportunity to empower our communities. We welcome back Ifeoma "Ify" Ike and of course our girl June joins in the discussion to discuss the myriad ways to #TakeCivicAction in the next decade. Our Guest Ifeoma Ike—Ify, for short—is a first-generation, Nigerian-American activist, artist and attorney whose entire career has been dedicated to empowering marginalized communities and creating data-informed strategies to reduce inequity. Ify is a co-founding Principal of social impact firm, Think Rubix, a professor at Lehman College, and a board member of the Women’s Prison Association, as well as a Junior Board member of the Nigerian Healthcare Foundation.

Anger can motivate a voter to the polls, to the streets and even to the White House. L Joy brings Assistant Professor of Political Science Davin Phoenix to the front of the class to discuss his book "The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotion in Politics" to explore anger as a political resource that mobilizes black and white Americans differently. Our neighborhood political strategists also talks to Radhika Sainath of Palestine Legal about anti-boycott legislation being passed in various states across the country. Our Guests Davin L. Phoenix is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. His research examines how race interacts with different spheres of American politics to shape the attitudes, emotions, and behavior of both everyday people and elites. He is a recipient of the 2016–17 University of California Hellman Fellowship and the 2017–18 Dean's Honoree for Teaching Excellence Award. Radhika Sainath is a senior staff attorney at Palestine Legal, where she oversees the organization’s casework on free speech, censorship and academic freedom. Together with the Center for Constitutional Rights, she brought a landmark lawsuit against Fordham University after it refused to grant club status to Students for Justice in Palestine. Prior to joining Palestine Legal, Radhika represented clients in individual and class action civil and constitutional rights cases involving discrimination, human rights abuses, and prison conditions at one of California’s most prestigious civil rights firms. Radhika has successfully litigated numerous state and federal class actions and other federal civil rights cases. Radhika is a frequent commentator on media outlets including MSNBC, Democracy Now!, Al Jazeera English, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, theWashington Post, Jezebel, Politico, the Village Voice and more. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, Jacobin and Literary Hub. Radhika is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and the University of California, San Diego. Prior to attending law school, Radhika organized workers across the U.S. and Canada with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (now UNITE-HERE). She is based in Palestine Legal’s New York City office and is admitted to the California and New York state bars.

L. Joy brings her mentor to the front of the class for a discussion on the presidential race, speaking up in corporate spaces and the role of legacy civil rights organizations in the modern era. Karen shared her #FirstCivicAction which was in college when she visited her state representative for a student lobby day to advocate for TAP (Tuition Assistance Program). We then discussed how she used her position as a corporate leader to More About Our Guest: Karen Boykin-Towns has built a reputation as a visionary and strategic results-driver in complex business and government environments based on demonstrated success in the areas of policy, advocacy, communications, and proactive change management. She excelled in her career at Pfizer for 22 years, being named the company's first Chief Diversity Officer in 2008 and became the Vice President Corporate Affairs for their $34B Innovative Medicines business. She served as Legislative Director then Chief of Staff to New York State Senator David Paterson, who later became the 55th Governor of New York. Karen Boykin-towns leverages her talent as a coalition-builder and social change agent through her active participation in various organizations. She has served as a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors for 12 years before being elected as Vice Chairman of the Board in 2018. She is also the Chairman of its National Health Committee. Karen is a member of the Brewster Academy Board of Trustees and past Co-Chair of the Business Council of New York State. She has been featured in Black Enterprise, Bloomberg Businessweek, Ebony Magazine, Crain’s, African American Career World, Network Journal and Crisis Magazine. Savoy Magazine named her a “Top Influential Woman in Corporate America” in 2016.

Our #WhoWeElect series continues with a focus on school boards. School boards set the vision of your local school district, hire and evaluate the school superintendent, approve the budget, set spending priorities, approve vendor contracts and can even make decisions on curriculum or the textbooks schools will use. L. Joy brings Tomeka Hart to the front of the class to discuss her previous role as an elected school board member in Memphis and more. #FirsCivicActionOut guest, Tomeka Hart shares her #FirstCivicAction as a high school senior. She decided she would, with no experience, run for senior class treasurer. Our Guest Tomka Hart serves as a Senior Program Officer, US Policy, Advocacy and Communications for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading grant making to civil rights and equity organizations. She previously served as the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Institutional Advancement for the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), leading and supporting SEF’s work to improve student outcomes from early childhood to adulthood, helping the CEO and staff to implement a broad range of advocacy, research, and coalition building activities across the Southern region. Prior to SEF, she served as the Vice President of African American Community Partnerships for Teach for America, where she was responsible for building alliances within the African American community, including civil rights groups, policy organizations, HBCUs, and media outlets. Prior to joining Teach For America, Hart served as the president and CEO of the Memphis Urban League. She is a former middle/high school teacher, and a former labor/employment lawyer. Hart served two terms on the elected Memphis City Schools Board of Education, serving 2005-2013. She served as Board President 2008-2009. In 2010, Hart joined with a colleague and led the efforts to merge the Memphis City and Shelby County school systems. In 2011 Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam appointed Hart as a Commissioner of the Education Commission of the States, a national non-partisan organization that helps states develop education policies. Former Tennessee Governor, Phil Bredesen, selected her for Tennessee’s Race to the Top team, and he appointed her to the state’s Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee, and the First to the Top Advisory Council. Hart is an Aspen Institute Rodel-Fellowship in Public Leadership fellow and a Pahara-Aspen Institute Education Fellow, and has served on several non-profit boards. Tomeka Hart holds a B.S. degree in Marketing Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; an M.B.A. from Kennesaw State University; and a J.D. from the University of Memphis. Reading List School Boards and School Board Elections - Ballotpedia Books * The Governance Core: School Boards, Superintendents, and Schools Working Together * The Essential School Board Book: Better Governance in the Age of Accountability * The Art of School Boarding: What School Board Members Need to Know Articles * What Does a School Board Do? * What Every Parent Should Know About Their School Board * Demystifying School Boards