Amara Enyia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Amara Enyia
Enyia in 2018
Born	Amarachuku C. Enyia 1982/1983 (age 42–43) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Education	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BS, MEd, JD, PhD)
Occupation	Activist Community organizer Strategist Public policy consultant

Amarachuku C. Enyia is an American leader who works as a strategist (someone who plans big goals), a politician, and a community organizer (someone who helps groups of people work together for change). She also advises cities and towns.

Amara Enyia is important in several groups. She helps lead policy and research for the Movement for Black Lives. She is also the chairwoman of a group at the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. She advises a special institute at The New School that focuses on race, power, and money.

In the past, Enyia worked as the director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. She was also the temporary manager for the village of University Park, Illinois. She even ran for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2019. In the 2019 election, she received about 8% of the votes. Many people see Amara Enyia as a progressive leader, meaning she supports social and political changes that improve society.

Early Life and School

Amara Enyia's parents were born in Nigeria. They moved to the United States in the 1970s. Amara was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in University Park, Illinois, and went to Crete-Monee High School. Her father was a professor at Governors State University.

Enyia went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her advanced degrees. She earned a Master of Education degree in 2008. Then, she got a law degree (called a J.D.) in 2009. In 2010, she completed her PhD in Educational Policy Studies. While at the University of Illinois, she also worked as a reporter and editor for Illini Media, a student news organization.

Helping Communities and Shaping Policy

Amara Enyia started her career in the policy department of the Chicago mayor's office in 2009. She worked there until May 2011, helping with topics like transportation and economic growth.

After this, she became a community organizer in Chicago's West Side. In 2011, she became the executive director of Austin Coming Together. This group helps different community organizations in the Austin neighborhood work together. She also helped the Chicago Public Schools create education plans for city communities. Enyia also started her own company, ACE Municipal Partners, which advises city officials.

From 2013 to 2019, Enyia was the director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce. She also wrote a blog about local government, using the nickname "The Municipal Maven."

In 2015, Enyia helped start a program called the "Bridge program" with Congressman Danny Davis. This program connected young people with elected officials and community leaders. The goal was to get more young people involved in politics and community work.

Enyia also co-wrote a book in 2016 called Chicago Isn't Broke: Funding the City We Deserve. She also worked as a policy director for the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

In 2017, Enyia briefly worked as the temporary manager for the village of University Park, Illinois. She also advised Kids First Chicago, a group that supports different school options. In 2018, she worked as a consultant for Chris Kennedy's campaign for governor of Illinois.

By 2021, Enyia became the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives. She also leads the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) for the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. She advises the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School.

During the 2020 George Floyd protests, Enyia helped organize local groups to protect businesses in the Austin neighborhoods. She also wrote an article suggesting that Chicago should "defund" its police department. In 2021, she supported a plan to use federal money to create more COVID-19 vaccine sites and increase health department staff in Chicago.

Running for Mayor

2015 Mayoral Campaign

Amara Enyia announced she would run for mayor of Chicago on February 25, 2015. She was one of the first people to say they would challenge the current mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Enyia wanted to run a campaign that involved many local people, often called a grassroots campaign.

However, her campaign did not gain much support in polls. She also did not share many specific plans. She decided to stop her campaign on December 9, 2014. The next day, she supported another candidate, Bob Fioretti. Enyia dropped out because her campaign did not have enough money to fight challenges to her election paperwork.

2019 Mayoral Campaign

On August 28, 2018, Enyia announced she would run for Chicago mayor again in the 2019 election. She spoke about making changes to the police department, making the city's budget more clear, and investing in neighborhood projects. She also suggested creating a public bank. She described herself as an independent Democrat.

On October 16, 2018, famous rapper Chance the Rapper supported her campaign. This brought a lot of attention to her from local and national news. Chance later gave $400,000 to her campaign.

Her campaign faced some challenges. On December 12, her communications director left, mentioning "troubling factors." Some people later described Enyia's campaign as not very organized.

On January 31, Dorothy Brown, another politician, supported Enyia. This made people wonder if it would help or hurt Enyia. It might have helped by connecting her to Brown's supporters. But it might have hurt because Brown had faced some ethics concerns, and Enyia wanted to be seen as a new kind of leader.

Enyia's 2015 campaign had not filed financial reports, which led to a debt of $73,540. To be on the 2019 ballot, this debt had to be paid. On October 22, 2018, Kanye West donated the exact amount needed to her campaign. Her campaign announced the debt was paid and thanked West.

Enyia's campaign tried to get young people to vote. One event was a "Party to the Polls" on February 11. This event was supposed to bring college students to a rally and then to early voting. However, it did not go well. Chance the Rapper did not show up, and only about 40 people attended the rally. In the end, not many young people voted in the election.

As the election got closer, more news stories came out about Enyia. The Chicago Tribune reported that she had not reported some of her income in 2018. They also reported that she had not paid a former campaign spokesperson. Additionally, her campaign website claimed she was an Ironman competitor, but she had never competed in an official Ironman event.

In the first election on February 26, 2019, Enyia finished sixth out of fourteen candidates. She received about 8% of the votes.

After the first election, Enyia chose not to support either Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle in the final runoff election. She felt that neither candidate was truly "progressive" enough.

In July 2019, Enyia's campaign was sued by 24 former staff members. They claimed they were not paid their wages. The campaign said it was in debt and planned to raise money to pay what was owed.

Enyia's campaign was featured in the 2020 documentary series City So Real, which was about the mayoral election.

Personal Life

When she ran for mayor in 2019, Amara Enyia lived in the Garfield Park neighborhood in Chicago. She has five brothers and sisters, including a twin sister.

She says she can speak Igbo, Spanish, French, and Portuguese fluently.

Relatives

In 2020, her cousin, Chibuike Enyia, was elected to the village board of Oak Park, Illinois.

Her brother, Chimaobi Enyia, used to be the director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. He also worked for former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

Electoral History

See Also

• 2023 Chicago mayoral election