Adem Bunkeddeko and Dr. Paul Perry have a few things in common. Both are connected to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and New York City public school system. Bunkeddeko and Perry are also alum of the prestigious and globally renowned Ivy League research institution, Harvard University. But most notably, in their respective Pennsylvania and New York communities, Perry and Bunkeddeko are two dynamic public servants and civic leaders seeking to serve in the 116th Congress.
“We need a new kind of politics in Washington - a politics that cares about everyday folks and the concerns on their hearts and minds,” Perry said recently. “Pennsylvania’s Seventh District deserves a leader who listens. Plain and simple,” added Perry, an educator and nonprofit executive who grew up in Montgomery County’s borough of Norristown.
A scholar and writer, Perry earned his doctorate in education leadership from Harvard, masters’ degrees from the University of California, Berkeley (public policy) and the University of Pennsylvania (education), and a dual degree in political science and international studies from American University.
A Teach for America Philadelphia alum, the son of military veterans has taught reading and language arts and worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District on teacher and principal professional development.
During his career in education, Perry worked with the New York City Department of Education’s Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), a program designed to increase the number of black and Latino young men who graduate high school and are prepared for college and career success, and as Executive Director of The Reset Foundation, a San Francisco–based nonprofit dedicated to breaking the poverty to prison cycle.
“Right now, we have a lot of politicians in Washington and Harrisburg who can’t connect to their constituents on a human level,” said Perry, whose mother was incarcerated while pregnant with him, leading to his being adopted by two gay fathers — Paul and Ken.
“I’m sharing my story so that we can bring human connection and compassion back into the halls of government,” Perry said.
“My family is an American family. We’ve got White people, Black people, gay people, straight people, people who have struggled with addiction, and people who have gone on to graduate from college and do amazing things,” said Perry, a former staffer of Senator Barack Obama. On Perry’s first day with the soon-to-be-President of the United States, Obama announced that he would be running for president, forcing Perry to make a crucial decision to make.
“I had about four or five months to decide whether I was going to join the [Obama] campaign or go teach kids [Anna Howard Shaw Middle School] in Southwest Philly. And I chose to go teach kids because to me, that’s what service really meant,” Perry said.
While the Norristown native and former College Board Fellow navigated the murky waters of Philadelphia’s education system, Bunkeddeko was thriving mere miles away on the quaint campus of Haverford College.
A son of Ugandan war refugees and product of the New York City public school system, Bunkeddeko earned a scholarship to attend The Pennington School before making his way to Philadelphia’s Main Line. One of the first members of his family to graduate from college, the banker turned community organizer went on to earn his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
“I want to bring new ideas into a party that has lost its way,” Bunkeddeko said yesterday announcing his bid for New York’s 9th Congressional district.
“The pioneering Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm once ran for president to be ‘a catalyst for change.’ That inspired me and should inspire all of us. Politicians cannot get elected, take a check, and do nothing. They have to answer to the people and make their lives better,” he said.
Having served in leadership positions with the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Empire State Development Corporation, and Brooklyn Community Services, Bunkeddeko said “We forgot that we’re the party of working people and, when push came to shove, we didn’t know how to help them and their kids prosper in a changing world. The answer is community ownership: ownership by working people of the means of their own support.”
In her Thursday Big City column, New York Times columnist Ginia Bellafante noted that, “Adem Bunkeddeko... has caught the attention of several politically powerful people in the city, including [Former Lt. Governor Richard] Ravitch and the prominent civil rights activist Vernon Jordan, who are both supporting his candidacy for congress next year.”
In 2016, more than 40 Harvard alumni won seats in 115th Congress Congress, the most racially diverse congress ever with record numbers of Hispanics, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and women of color. In a U.S. News & World Report list featuring where the members of the 111th Congress earned their undergraduate degrees, Harvard took top honors.
Former Deputy Historian of the House of Representatives, Fred Beuttler, said members are not measured by a "certain educational bar," but rather that "intelligence can be demonstrated outside of the classroom.”
With their stellar reputations proceeding them, both rooted in a respect for education, Bunkeddeko and Perry are gearing up to demonstrate their intelligence outside of the classroom and boardroom.
“I support Paul because his life’s work has been about service to the people,” said Former Pennsylvania State Representative, Tony Payton Jr. “He has a background that taught him empathy and understanding, and we need those qualities in Congress now more than ever.”