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 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Media Lab Director's Fellow.

Early life

Burley grew up in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She had fifteen siblings, including a brother who was murdered in an act of

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, an ...

, and ten others that had been incarcerated at some point. 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 Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American lawyer, prosecutor, politician, and author. He served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011, as chair of the national Democratic Party, and as the 96th Mayor of Philade ...

to expand the program to the ten high schools in Philadelphia with the highest rates of violence. She was the first of her siblings to graduate from high school, and graduated from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

, where she studied business and international studies.

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 Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia. Elected on November 6, 2007, he was reelected to a second term on November 8, 2011. He is a previous member of the Philadelphia ...

. 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, during

Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign The 2016 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton was announced in a YouTube video, on April 12, 2015. Hillary Clinton was the 67th United States Secretary of State and served during the first term of the Obama administration, 2009 to 201 ...

she was named the national deputy millennial vote director. In addition to national strategy, her role included work on the ground campaign in Pennsylvania, leading door knocking campaigns and other campaign work. Burley became the sole American to sit on the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Global Education First Initiative, Youth Advocacy Group. After the presidential election, she became the Senior Campaigner for Gun Violence and Criminal Justice with Amnesty International. Her advocacy work led to her receiving a “White House Champion of Change” award from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

in Washington DC in 2014. Burley is currently Head of Youth Engagement and Skills at the Global Business Coalition for Education and former MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow. Jamira is at the moment directiong Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education, in United States. She also continues her

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

activities with

Amnesty International USA Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is one of many country sections that make up Amnesty International worldwide. Amnesty International is an organization of more than 7 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, with comp ...

. Burley appeared in a video shown on the opening night of the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates ...

which also features Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden,

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Police Chief

Art Acevedo Hubert Arturo Acevedo (born July 31, 1964) is an American police officer who is the interim chief of police of the Aurora Police Department as of December 2022. Previously, he was the chief of police of the Houston Police Department, Austin Po ...

, activist Gwen Carr,

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

President

Derrick Johnson Derrick O’Hara Johnson (born November 22, 1982) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned consensus All-American honors twice. He was drafted by the Kansas Cit ...

, and

Chicago Mayor The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burley, Jamira Living people Temple University alumni Activists from Philadelphia Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign Amnesty International people Year of birth missing (living people)