Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Visit Andrea at DMI's new blog: the DMIBlog. Since 2002, Andrea Batista Schlesinger has led the effort to turn the Drum Major Institute, originally founded by an advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, into a progressive policy institute with national impact. Under Andrea’s leadership as Executive Director, DMI has released several important policy papers to national audiences including: Middle Class 2003: How Congress Voted, People and Politics in America’s Big Cities, and From Governance to Accountability: Building Relationships that Make Schools Work. Andrea studied public policy at the University of Chicago, and since then has worked in various capacities to promote educational equity and youth empowerment. She directed a national campaign to engage college students in the discussion on the future of Social Security for the Pew Charitable Trusts, and served as Director of Public Relations of Teach For America before working as the education advisor to Bronx Borough President and mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer. Andrea has been profiled in the New York Times, New Yorker magazine, and in “Hear us Now,” an award-winning documentary about her tenure as the student member of the New York City Board of Education. She has been published in Alternet.org, New York Newsday, New York Sun, and City Limits magazine.