Youth Leadership in Politics -In Conversation with 34year Old Michael Blake.
Yesterday Evening, Michael Blake brought it all the way home for me during the Centre for Public Leadership Workshop on Mobilizing Change with Professor Leah Wright Rigeur.
Michael Blake is the Assembly member of the 79th District in The Bronx, New York (the most diverse and democratic district in the US with 139 000 people 53% Latino and a huge West African Population).

with Michael Blake
In early 2007, Michael joined then Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign and served as the Iowa deputy political director and constituency outreach director. After serving as the Michigan deputy state director for the general election, Blake joined the White House staff as the associate director of public engagement and deputy associate director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He created the White House Urban Entrepreneurship Summit series, which sought to foster public, private and not-for-profit partnerships and provide strategic advice in seven cities across the nation. Blake left the White House to serve as the national deputy director of Operation Vote for President Obama’s 2012 re-election and helped expand the diverse electorate that later re-elected the president, leading to historic turnout among constituencies nationwide.

Michael Blake
He left us enriched with real insights on Candidate Selection, Policy Messaging and how Political parties need to build their bench whenever they lose elections.
I’ll also be shadowing him for some days in his District next spring early 2017 to understudy the US State Legislative Process and Political Organising at the bottom of the Pyramid.
I’m so proud of promising Young Leaders like Michael.

TAO.