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GOV_jabari-simama

Jabari Simama

Senior Contributor

Jabari Simama is an education and government consultant and a senior fellow with the Center for Digital Government. He served two terms on the Atlanta City Council, from 1987 to 1994; as deputy chief operating officer and chief of staff for DeKalb County, Ga., from 2009 to 2012; and as president of Georgia Piedmont Technical College from 2012 to 2018.

Simama received his bachelor's degree from the University of Bridgeport, his master's degree from Atlanta University and his Ph.D. from Emory University. He is the author of Civil Rights to Cyber Rights: Broadband & Digital Equality in the Age of Obama, published in 2009, and has been a columnist for Creative Loafing and Southwest Atlanta magazine and a feature writer for Atlanta magazine. He blogs at Jabari Simama Speaks.

Vincent Fort served in the Georgia Senate for nearly three decades as a forceful, effective voice for “the least of these.” As he copes with cancer, it's important to acknowledge a vanishing breed of leader.
Beset by funding issues and questionable program duplication from predominantly white institutions, too many historically black colleges and universities are struggling. We must ensure that these valuable institutions thrive.
Mayors and other local leaders have an important role to play in the psychological well-being of their constituents, protecting them from harmful policies and helping them handle new uncertainties.
It will be the leadership of our states and cities that will have the most direct impact on the issues that animated the presidential campaign.
It’s an emerging form of grassroots activism that could have a big impact, from educating voters to calling out political shenanigans.
We continue to underfund them, their student bodies are becoming more diverse, and their values are under political assault. We need to preserve the cultural significance of these important institutions.
With strong mayoral leadership, Atlanta is not only leveraging creative financing to provide housing but also getting tough on landlords of blighted properties. It’s a recognition that homelessness is a moral issue rooted in poor public policy.
We know what works to prevent tragedies like the recent one at a Georgia high school. Effective gun policies could save thousands of lives.
The humiliation and ridicule that Fulton County’s prosecutor, Fani Willis, has been subject to after indicting Donald Trump are known all too well by African Americans, as a new report documents.
As many states move to dismantle their diversity, equity and inclusion programs and politicians turn the term into an insult, we need to keep sight of these efforts’ potential for good.