Starsky Wilson (born 1976, Dallas, Texas) is an American activist and minister who is the president of the

Children's Defense Fund The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on child advocacy and research. It was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. History The CDF was founded in 1973, ci ...

. He is known for advocating for

children's rights Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

and

racial equity Social equity is concerned with justice and fairness of social policy based on the principle of substantive equality. Since the 1960s, the concept of social equity has been used in a variety of institutional contexts, including education and pu ...

Education

Wilson, a native of Dallas, traveled to

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

in New Orleans and entered the NAACP's ACT-SO oratorical competitions when he was a teenager. He later earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Xavier. His master's degree in divinity was earned from

Eden Theological Seminary Eden Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary based in Webster Groves, Missouri. It is one of the six official seminaries of the United Church of Christ (UCC). History The seminary was established in 1850 by German pastors in Marthasville ...

and his doctorate in ministry from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Career

Wilson worked for the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

, which led to him moving to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. In 2008, Wilson took over as pastor for St. John’s Church, an interracial, inner city

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

congregation in St. Louis. Wilson was the fourteenth pastor and the second Black pastor to lead the church since its founding in 1855 by German immigrants. In 2012, Wilson joined with other Missouri faith leaders to advocate for a ballot initiative to regulate payday lending in Missouri. In 2011, while serving as pastor of St. John’s, Wilson became President and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation in St. Louis. When Michael Brown was killed by police in 2014, St. John’s Church was at the forefront of the peaceful protests that followed. As Pastor of St. John’s Church, Wilson played a key role in orchestrating the 2014 Freedom rides. In 2014, Wilson was appointed by Missouri governor

Jay Nixon Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

to serve as a co-chair to the Ferguson Commission. The Commission released a report based on the four categories of "Citizen-Law Enforcement Relations", Municipal Courts and Governance", "Child Well-Being and Education Equity", and "Economic Inequality and Opportunity." Wilson received the

Annie Malone Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and education ...

Legacy Award in 2019. In December 2020, Wilson took over as CEO and President of the Children’s Defense Fund from founder and civil rights leader

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman ( Wright; born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, an ...

. In addition to leading the Children's Defense Fund, Wilson serves on the board of: the

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) is a progressive advocacy and watchdog group that monitors charitable spending in the United States. It was established in 1976 and is based in Washington, D.C. It advocates for a greater fo ...

(chair), the Atlanta-based Forum for Theological Exploration (vice chair), and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. Wilson delivered the keynote speech at

's annual

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

commemoration in January 2021. In 2022, Wilson became an inaugural member of NinetyToZero, an initiative founded to address the racial wealth gap in the United States, alongside other philanthropists, business executives, and community leaders.

Personal life

Wilson resides in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, with his wife LaToya and their four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Starsky 1973 births Living people United Church of Christ ministers Eden Theological Seminary alumni Xavier University of Louisiana alumni Duke University alumni American civil rights activists