Jessica Stender
Policy Director and Deputy Legal Director at Equal Rights Advocates
Kevin Powell is one of the most celebrated political, cultural, literary, and hip-hop voices in America. The Jersey City product of a single mother, absent father, horrific poverty, and violence, he was able to study at Rutgers University in his home state of New Jersey due to the Educational Opportunity Fund, a program created during the Civil Rights Movement to benefit poor youth. Says Kevin, “Just to be able to get to college, to be exposed to a new world, a new way, changed my life forever, and I am forever grateful for the chance.” Kevin has gone on to be a poet and journalist and the author of 15 books, such as Grocery Shopping with My Mother, his new collection of poetry; and his critically acclaimed autobiography, The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood, which is being adapted for the screen. His upcoming books will be The Kevin Powell Reader, a collection of his writings, interviews, and speeches covering three decades; and his biography of Tupac Shakur, who Kevin interviewed several times while a senior writer for Quincy Jones’ Vibe. Indeed, he has penned articles, essays, and blogs for a wide range of newspapers and magazines and major websites, like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Nation, NPR, ESPN, Essence, Ebony, Rolling Stone, Esquire, HuffPost, Utne Reader, The Guardian, The Baffler, The Progressive, Complex, and British GQ. As a civil and human rights activist, Kevin will launch a new American organization in 2023, yet to be named, focused on voter education and voter empowerment, and bringing people together, and which will showcase a website full of blogs from contributors of diverse backgrounds. Kevin’s activism has also included an annual clothing drive for homeless youth in New York City; a leadership role in the movement to re-define manhood away from sexism and violence; a deep responsibility to mentorship and development of people of every age as agents for change; and a commitment to democracy, justice, diversity, inclusion, and equality for the American people, be it education, #MeToo, immigrant rights, gun violence prevention, marriage equality, economic opportunity, healthcare access, or an end to racial profiling. To further demonstrate that commitment to a life of service Kevin ran for Congress in his adopted hometown of New York City in 2008 and 2010; he has lectured and worked and traveled in all 50 American states and 5 of the world’s 7 continents; he is directing, writing, and producing his first documentary film, titled “When We Free The World,” about healthy manhood versus toxic manhood, about fathers and sons; and Kevin is the playwright of an upcoming stage play, based on the poems in Grocery Shopping with My Mother. Kevin is a proud and long-time resident of Brooklyn, New York.