Andrea Young has devoted her career to promoting policies and practices that defend and extend civil and human rights. She is an attorney, author and Professor of Practice at the Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Public Policy and Scholar in Residence at Morehouse College. She teaches Public Policy Leadership and initiated the multi-faceted Making of Modern Atlanta Project researching, documenting and disseminating the lessons learned from the development of Atlanta for current and future leaders. She is the author of “Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me” and assisted former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in writing his memoir of the civil rights movement, “An Easy Burden: Civil Rights and the Transformation of America”.
At Morehouse College, she developed a course on Leadership and Social Change and developed a series of public forums with sector leaders that integrated students into a community-learning exchange on a variety of topics exploring leadership challenges in civil and human rights, the private sector and the arts. Her teaching and research interests include: the political and economic history of Atlanta; the relevance of the Atlanta experience to other cities; the meaning of the legacy of Martin Luther King for 21st century leaders; leadership and public policy and leadership and social change. She was the founding executive director of the Andrew Young Foundation, and developed the Foundation into an institution with core staff, $2 million budget, developed leaders for public purpose through strategic partnerships with schools and other organizations and initiatives; served as executive producer of a series of documentary specials for television; and worked with local, national and international partners to promote global health, community leadership and sustainability, and the extension of civil and human rights.
She served as legislative assistant to Senator Edward Kennedy, where she made significant contributions to crafting civil rights and international policy, including the Martin Luther King Holiday Act and legislation to sanction apartheid South Africa. She later worked with the United Church of Christ in global mission and advocacy, returning to the U.S. Capitol to serve as Chief of Staff for the first woman to represent Georgia in Congress, Cynthia McKinney. She served as Vice President of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, Vice President of the National Black Child Development Institute and led a school readiness initiative funded by the Kellogg Foundation that increased local investments in high-quality early-care and education that led to the implementation of universal pre-kindergarten in Washington, DC.
Andrea is a member of several boards, including the Advisory Board of the Andrew Young School for Policy Studies, Georgia State University, The Center, Nutrition Plus and Crime Stoppers of Greater Atlanta. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, Leadership Atlanta, the Links, Inc., and First Congregational Church. She has received a number of service and advocacy awards including the Dove Award from the Pine Bluff, Arkansas NAACP, the Child Advocate Award from the Washington Child Development Council, Georgia Speaker of the Year, Emory University; Woman of Influence, Atlanta Business League; the Hosea Williams Community Service Award from Georgia State University and the first Alvin Bronstein Human Rights Award from the ACLU of Georgia.
She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and received her law degree from Georgetown University School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.