Jamira Burley

Jamira Burley grew up in Philadelphia. She had fifteen siblings, including a brother who was murdered in an act of gun violence, and ten others that had been incarcerated at some point.[1] 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 to expand the program to the ten high schools in Philadelphia with the highest rates of violence.[2] She was the first of her siblings to graduate from high school, and graduated from Temple University, where she studied business and international studies.[3]

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.[4][5] She held the job for two and a half years.[2] 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,[6] during Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign she was named the national deputy millennial vote director.[4] In addition to national strategy, her role included work on the ground campaign in Pennsylvania, leading door knocking campaigns and other campaign work.[7]

Burley became the sole American to sit on the United Nations Global Education First Initiative, Youth Advocacy Group.[2] After the presidential election, she became the Senior Campaigner for Gun Violence and Criminal Justice with Amnesty International.[3] Her advocacy work led to her receiving a “White House Champion of Change” award from the White House in Washington DC in 2014.[8] In 2017 she was also named to Forbes Magazine’s 30 under 30.[4] In 2018 she became the first US recipient for the Vital Voices, Global Leadership Award.[9] Burley is currently Head of Youth Engagement and Skills at the Global Business Coalition for Education and a MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow.[10] She is also the founder of GenYNot.[2] Jamira is at the moment directiong Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education, in United States. [11] She also continues her human rights activities with Amnesty International USA. [12]

Burley appeared in a video shown on the opening night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention which also features Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, activist Gwen Carr, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.[13]