Emnet Almedom

She is a first-generation Eritrean immigrant from Georgia. Her work has primarily focused on economic justice policies and practices that combat wealth-stripping and enable wealth-building for communities of color. Her early career was in direct services with foreign-born survivors of human trafficking in Georgia, followed by a few years in social services policy and consulting in Washington DC. In 2019, she conducted qualitative research with unhoused Oaklanders to support organizing for a divestment from policing as a response to mental health crisis and poverty. Her work serves a contribution to a growing, community-led movement for reversing decades of harmful policing and surveillance of Black communities. Her graduate thesis investigated pathways to community-driven economic development in Inland California, while also detailing the harm and economic inefficiency of corporate-driven economic development via tax credits. Emnet holds a BS in International Affairs and Economics from Georgia Tech and an MPP from the University of California, Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.