Amara Enyia
Amarachuku C. Enyia,[2] known as Amara Enyia, is an American strategist, politician, community organizer, and municipal consultant. She is the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives; the chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and a senior advisor to the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School. She has also worked as the director of Chicago's Austin Chamber of Commerce; the interim village manager of University Park, Illinois; and chief executive officer of ACE Municipal Partners, a municipal consulting firm. Enyia was a candidate for mayor of Chicago in 2015 and 2019, receiving 8% of the vote in the first round of the latter election.
Amara Enyia | |
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Born | Amarachuku C. Enyia 1982 or 1983 (age 40–41)[1] |
Education | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BS, MEd, JD, PhD) |
Occupations |
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Website | amaraenyia.com |
Enyia is regarded to be a political progressive.[3]
Early life and education
Enyia's parents were born in Nigeria and migrated to the United States in the 1970s.[1] She was born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in University Park, Illinois, where she attended Crete-Monee High School.[4][1] Her father was a professor at Governors State University.[5] She attended graduate school and law school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received a Master of Education in 2008, a J.D. in 2009, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies in 2010.[1][6] At the University of Illinois, Enyia worked as a reporter, development editor and editor-in-chief for Illini Media.[7]
Policy work and community organizing
Enyia worked in the policy department of the Chicago mayor's office from 2009 until the end of Mayor Richard M. Daley's term in May 2011.[1][4] In this fellowship she worked on a variety of matters, including ones related to transportation and ecumenic development.[8]
After her fellowship in Daley’s office, she worked as a community organizer in Chicago's West Side. In April 2011, she was hired as the executive director of Austin Coming Together, an umbrella organization that promotes coordination and collaboration between community and nonprofit organizations in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.[9][4][10] She spent roughly a year in this position.[8] During her time as executive director of Austin Coming Together, she was also part of the Community Action Councils, which assisted the Chicago Public Schools to develop an educational strategy in the city's communities.[11] She also founded ACE Municipal Partners, a consulting firm that works with municipal officials.[4] In 2013, Enyia began working as the director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.[12] She held this position until 2019, when she stepped down amid her second campaign for mayor of Chicago.[13] Enyia also blogged about local government affairs under the pseudonym "The Municipal Maven."[8][14]
Having aborted a campaign for mayor of Chicago months earlier, in September 2015, Enyia formed an exploratory committee to look at launching a possible primary election challenge to longtime incumbent Democratic congressman Danny Davis in 2016.[15][16] In November 2015, she had announced that would not be challenging Davis and that she would instead be collaborating with Davis to establish a new youth initiative called the "Bridge program" that would partner local youth with elected officials and community stakeholders with expertise.[17] The aim of the program was to increase youth engagement in political organizing. In late-2015, Enyia, in partnership with Congressman Davis, launched the Bridge initiative in the Austin neighborhood.[18]
Enyia was one of eight co-authors of the 2016 book Chicago Isn't Broke: Funding the City We Deserve, the main author of which was former Chicago alderman Dick Simpson.[19] Enyia also worked as a policy director for the Chicago Pincipals and Administrators Association.[20]
In May 2017, Enyia took a job as the interim village manager of University Park, Illinois.[21] Her brief tenure as interim village manager was later reported to have been troublesome, with a dispute taking place between her and the village surrounding what her salary should be, and some village trustees criticizing her during her tenure for doing what they regarded to be an insufficient amount of work.[21][22] The village's mayor Vivian Covington praised the value of Eniya's legal expertise, despite critics in the village arguing it was limited in value by the fact she was not a practicing attorney.[21] In August 2017, her tenure ended.[21]
In September 2017, Enyia began consulting work for Kids First Chicago, a significant school choice advocacy group.[23] This came despite Enyia’s stated political opposition to charter schools.[23] Enyia worked as a consultant on Chris Kennedy’s 2018 Illinois gubernatorial campaign.[22] Enyia founded of the Institute for Cooperative Economics and Economic Innovation social lab in 2018, for which she partnered with the organization Blue1647.[24][23][25] However, the social lab never advanced beyond a nascent stage before Enyia abandoned it to pursue her second campaign for mayor,[24] at which time she also left her role as director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce.[13]
In 2019, after her mayoral campaign, Enyia joined the board of directors of the Chicago Community Loan Fund.[26][27] By 2021, Eniya had begun serving as the policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives.[7][28] Enyia also has served chairwoman of the International Civil Society Working Group (ICSWG) of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.[29][30] She also has served as a strategist for the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH).[31] Enyia also worked as a leader in residence at the Atlantic Institute.[7] Enyia is a senior advisor to the Institute On Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School.[32]
Amid the 2020 George Floyd protests and coinciding civil unrest, Enyia helped organize local organizations and block clubs to protect local businesses in the Austin neighborhoods from vandalism and looting.[33] She also penned an op-ed for Injustice Watch arguing that Chicago should "defund" its police department.[34] In March 2021, Enyia gave her endorsement to an ordinance introduced by Byron Sigcho-Lopez that would see the city of Chicago spend $180 million in federal stimulus funding on creating new sites to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and increase the staffing at the city's health department.[35]
Mayoral campaigns
2015
Enyia announced her candidacy for the 2015 mayoral election on February 25, 2015.[14][36] Alongside Robert Shaw, who announced the same day, she was one of the first two candidates to announce that they were going to challenge incumbent mayor Rahm Emanuel.[14][37] Eniya planned to run a grassroots campaign operation.[14]
Enyia's campaign failed to register in preference polls, and as a candidate she didn't disclose many specific plans.[38] She withdrew from the race on December 9, 2014[39] and endorsed Bob Fioretti the next day.[40] Enyia dropped-out due to the fact that her candidature petitions were being challenged and her campaign lacked the resources to fight such a challenge.[37][39][41]
2019
On August 28, 2018, Enyia announced that she would once again run for Chicago mayor in the 2019 election at a campaign launch event in the Bridgeport neighborhood.[42][43][44] Enyia expressed support for police reform, increasing budget transparency, investment in neighborhood development projects, and proposed the creation of a public bank and the use of Community Benefits Agreements for large development projects.[45][46] Politically, Enyia described herself as an independent Democrat.[47]
On October 16, 2018, she was endorsed by Chance the Rapper,[48] garnering significant attention for her campaign in local media[49][46][50] and national media.[51] Chance later donated $400,000 to her campaign.[52]
On December 12, her campaign saw a high-profile departure, with her communications director quitting citing, "troubling factors".[53] Enyia replaced her departing communications director with Camonghne Felix.[54] Some ultimately characterized Enyia's campaign as disorganized.[55]
On January 31, Dorothy Brown, whose own candidacy had ended after she was removed from the ballot due to issues with her petition, endorsed Enyia.[56][57] Enyia embraced this endorsement, and praised Brown.[56][57] There was speculation as to whether this endorsement would be of assistance or detriment to Enyia's candidacy. It was speculated that it might have helped Enyia by introducing her to Brown's base of support (which tended to be older African American churchgoing women), and might have elevated her to be considered more of a tip-tier candidate.[58] It was also speculated that it could have harmed her candidacy, as Brown was a longtime officeholder with significant ethics concerns, which could have undermined Enyia's efforts to present herself as an outsider candidate seeking to upend political corruption.[57][58]
Due to her 2015 campaign not filing quarterly finance reports after it was suspended, she accrued $73,540 in debt that would have to be paid in order for her to appear on the 2019 ballot.[59] On October 22, 2018, Kanye West made a contribution of that exact amount to Enyia's campaign.[59][60] The campaign released a statement that its debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections had been paid in full and thanking West for his "generous action".[60]
Eniya's campaign focused much of its efforts on the youth vote.[61] One of her efforts was a February 11 "Party to the Polls", which Eniya described as a key part of her strategy aimed at engaging college students. The rally bussed college students from seventeen Chicago-area campuses to the Richard J. Daley Center for a rally followed by early voting. It went poorly. Despite having been advertised to appear, Chance the Rapper backed out the day of the rally. Despite heavy advance advertising of the event on college campuses, only roughly forty people showed up to the rally.[62][63] Ultimately, youth turnout in the election was low.[64]
As press coverage of Eniya increased towards February, the increased scrutiny brought bad press. At the start of February the Chicago Tribune reported that in 2018, Enyia had failed to report a third of her income, including the $21,000 she received or her work on Chris Kennedy’s gubernatorial campaign.[24] In mid-February, the Tribune reported that Eniya had allegedly failed to pay a former campaign spokesperson $24,000 for four month of work.[65] Additionally, Enyia’s campaign website was criticized for claims on her website and in past media appearances that she was an Ironman competitor, despite never having competed in an Ironman-branded event.[66]
In the preliminary election on February 26, 2019, Enyia placed sixth in a field of fourteen candidates, winning about 8% of the vote.[67]
Enyia opted against endorsing either Lori Lightfoot or Toni Preckwinkle in the runoff, arguing that neither of the two candidates were truly "progressive".[68]
In July 2019, Enyia's campaign was sued by 24 former campaign staffers alleging wage theft.[69] Enyia's campaign responded by saying that the campaign was in debt, and that it planned to continue holding fundraisers to pay off the debt and unpaid wages. Enyia and Gray are defendants in the lawsuit, along with campaign operations director Pilar Audain, field director Marcus Ferrell and treasurer and finance director DeAnna Gran.[70] Enyia’s campaign manager, Joshua Gray, accused her of making proimises to pay the staff in question, alleging that she promised them, “she could get the money from her celebrity donors who were giving her money at the time.” On October 24, 2022, the Illinois Department of Labor’s Law Division found that Gray had been responsible for the operations and involved in talks about expenditures.[71]
Enyia's campaign received significant coverage in the 2020 Steve James documentary series City So Real, which centers on the mayoral election.[72][73][74]
Personal life
At the time of 2019 mayoral candidacy, Enyia was residing in the Garfield Park neighborhood in Chicago.[75] She has five siblings, including a twin sister.[44]
She describes herself as fluent in Igbo, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.[20]
Relatives
In 2020, her cousin Chibuike Enyia was elected to the village board of Oak Park, Illinois.[76][77][78]
Her brother, Chimaobi Enyia, was formerly the director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and formerly an aide to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. 2023 Chicago mayoral election runner-up Paul Vallas, after his 2023 election loss, filed a lawsuit against Chimaobi Enyia for allegedly defrauding his campaign of $680,000 while working as a vendor hired for Black voter outreach.[79][80]
Bibliography
Enyia was one of the contributors to political scientist and former Chicago alderman Dick Simpson's 2016 book Chicago is Not Broke: Funding the City We Deserve.[81]
- Op-eds by Enyia
- Mayoral candidates need to focus on economic divide –published by Crain’s Chicago Business (March 12, 2019)
- Chicago must defund—not just reform—the police –published by Injustice Watch (June 16, 2020)
- Amara Enyia: Beware ‘dialogue as spectacle’ in fight to transform Chicago police –published by Injustice Watch (September 15, 2020)
- A Global Commitment to Combatting Anti-Blackness: Why the World Needs a Permanent Forum on People of African Descent –published by Ms. (July 29, 2021)
- Why The Biden Administration Is Accountable For America’s Bullying Past Towards Haiti –published by BET (September 25, 2021)
- "Compromising" On $3.5 Trillion Social Safety Net Bill Harms Black Communities. We Can't Let That Happen. (co-written with Maurice Mitchell) – published by Essence (October 26, 2021)
- Op-Ed: Chicago’s Bitter Pill of Violence –published by Chicago Magazine (June 6, 2022)
- Op-Ed: Reparations Must Be More Than A Check –published by NewsOne (August 2, 2022)
- Looking for Tax Money in All the Wrong Places: Structural Racism at the IRS –published by Nonprofit Quarterly (April 19, 2023)
- Other written works
- The Municipal Maven –blog authored by Eniya (active between April 2013 and July 2015)
Further reading
- Amara Enyia on Systems Building for Reparations and Racial Healing –published by the Rockefeller Foundation (February 27, 2023)
Electoral history
2019 Chicago mayoral election | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | General election[82] | Runoff election[83] | ||
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Lori Lightfoot | 97,667 | 17.54 | 386,039 | 73.70 |
Toni Preckwinkle | 89,343 | 16.04 | 137,765 | 26.30 |
William Daley | 82,294 | 14.78 | ||
Willie Wilson | 59,072 | 10.61 | ||
Susana Mendoza | 50,373 | 9.05 | ||
Amara Enyia | 44,589 | 8.00 | ||
Jerry Joyce | 40,099 | 7.20 | ||
Gery Chico | 34,521 | 6.20 | ||
Paul Vallas | 30,236 | 5.43 | ||
Garry McCarthy | 14,784 | 2.66 | ||
La Shawn K. Ford | 5,606 | 1.01 | ||
Robert "Bob" Fioretti | 4,302 | 0.77 | ||
John Kolzar | 2,349 | 0.42 | ||
Neal Sales-Griffin | 1,523 | 0.27 | ||
Write-ins | 86 | 0.02 | ||
Total | 556,844 | 100 | 523,804 | 100 |
Notes
- Joravsky, Ben (21 May 2014). "Amara Enyia runs for mayor! Wait, who?". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- "City of Chicago :: View Statements of Financial Interests for Independent Contractors 2018". www.cityofchicago.org. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Rakich, Nathaniel (4 April 2023). "The 4 Political Neighborhoods Of Chicago". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- Erbentraut, Joseph (2014-04-02). "This 30-Year-Old Community Organizer Thinks She Can Beat Rahm Emanuel". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Apantaku, Erisa (28 August 2018). "Amara Enyia: Continuing to Challenge the Status Quo". South Side Weekly. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- C., Enyia, Amarachuku (2011-05-25). When good faith is not enough: Ensuring education equity during and after legal intervention (Dissertation thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
{{cite thesis}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Findlay, Kathleen; Bresnahan, Lilli (5 April 2022). "Amara Enyia sees journalism as 'an eye toward exposing injustices'". The Daily Illini. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- Lydersen, Kari (February 20, 2014). "Who's Afraid of Rahm Emanuel?". In These Times. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- "'Austin Coming Together' brings together neighborhood at new headquarters on Chicago's west side". IFF. 2017-10-04. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Austin Coming Together getting a new leader". AustinTalks. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Mayoral Candidate: Mayor Emanuel Is The 'Typical Candidate,' And That's The Problem". CBS Chicago. WBBM-TV. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Ferencak, Dawn (20 December 2013). "Austin Chamber of Commerce Holiday Party at Because I Care, Inc". www.austinweeklynews.com. Austin Weekly News. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Studenkov, Igor (3 April 2023). "Austin Chamber regains city business development funding". Austin Weekly News. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- Belanger, Christian (7 May 2014). "Enyia vs. Shaw vs. Emanuel". South Side Weekly. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
- Romain, Michael (17 September 2015). "Head of Austin chamber explores possible congressional run". www.austinweeklynews.com. Austin Weekly News. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- "Amara Enyia Could Challenge Davis For 7th District House Seat". The Chicagoist. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Hutson, Wendell (17 November 2015). "Enyia won't run for Congress". www.austinweeklynews.com. Austin Weekly News. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Dean, Terry (17 December 2015). "West Side youth to learn leadership from adult mentors". AustinTalks. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Simpson, Dick; Gradel, Thomas; Potter, Jackson; Kalven, Jamie; Baiman, Ron; Denk, Hilary; Enyia, Amara; Peck, Jonathan (26 July 2016). "Chicago Is Not Broke. Funding the City We Deserve". The CivicLab. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- Board, CST Editorial (9 January 2019). "Mayoral candidate Amara Enyia". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Heinzmann, David (4 February 2019). "Amara Enyia's financial problems: Underreporting income, tax lien, lawsuits". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- Vinicky, Amanda (4 February 2019). "Enyia Casts Personal Financial Issues as Selling Point in Campaign for Mayor". WTTW News. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- Black, Curtis (7 February 2019). "Amara Enyia and Dorothy Brown are a match made in Chicago political theater". Chicago Reporter. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- Heinzmann, David (11 May 2020). "Amara Enyia's financial problems: Underreporting income, tax lien, lawsuits". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
- "Chicago Mayor Candidate: Amara Enyia". ABC7 Chicago. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- "Chicago Community Loan Fund Staff & Board". cclfchicago.org. Chicago Community Loan Fund. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- Pratt, Gregory (26 August 2019). "6 months ago, they were part of the largest field of mayoral candidates in Chicago history. Here's what the former City Hall hopefuls are doing now". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- Tensley, Brandon (7 April 2021). "Only time will tell just how 'big and bold' Biden's infrastructure plan is for Black Americans | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- Lawrence, DaQuan (9 January 2023). "Amara Enyia on the Inaugural UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent Sessions - The Hilltop". The Hilltop. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- Steinberg, Neil (17 February 2023). "Amara Enyia is fighting all problems everywhere". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- Brown, Stacy M. (July 21, 2022). "Vatican: Moment is Ripe for Serious Consideration of the Harms of the Transatlantic Slave Trade". The Seattle Medium. NNPA Newswire. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- "Assessing the Intersection of Economic Sovereignty, Development, and Reparations". event.newschool.edu. The New School. April 18, 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- Sabino, Pascal (11 June 2020). "What Does Public Safety Without Police Look Like? South, West Siders Say Block Clubs Are Cheaper, More Effective". Block Club Chicago. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- Enyia, Amara (15 June 2020). "Chicago must defund—not just reform—the police". Injustice Watch. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
- Peña, Mauricio (24 March 2021). "More City-Run Vaccination Clinics Needed In Hard-Hit Areas, Aldermen Say, As Vaccine Scandals Show Urgent Need For Oversight". Block Club Chicago. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
- Lydersen, Kari (2014-02-20). "Who's Afraid of Rahm Emanuel?". In These Times. ISSN 0160-5992. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Slodysko, Brian (10 December 2014). "Enyia dropping out of mayoral race, endorsing Fioretti". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- Anspach, Rachel (25 June 2014). "Community Organizer Amara Enyia is Taking on Rahm Emanuel to Make a Point". Gapers Block. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- "Amara Enyia's Withdrawal Reflects the Ongoing Reality of Chicago Politics". Gapers Block. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Amara Enyia drops out of mayoral race". www.austinweeklynews.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Sudo, Chuck (10 December 2010). "Amara Enyia Drops Out Of Mayoral Race, Endorses Fioretti". The Chicagoist. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- staff, Chicago Tribune. "Morning Spin: Amara Enyia marks 11th challenger to enter crowded race against Mayor Rahm Emanuel". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Amara Enyia Takes Aim at Emanuel in Second Bid for Chicago Mayor". WTTW News. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Amara Enyia: Continuing to Challenge the Status Quo". southsideweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chicago's deadly summer". The Guardian. 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
- "Chance the Rapper's Mayoral Endorsement Is a Pretty Big Deal". Chicago magazine. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
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- "(Press Release) Chance the Rapper Endorses Amara Enyia for Mayor – AMARA". amaraenyia.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chance the Rapper Endorses Amara Enyia for Mayor of Chicago". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Multiple sources:
- Tribune, Chicago. "Chance the Rapper endorses Amara Enyia for mayor". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Ruthhart, Bill. "Chance the Rapper brings his star power to a long-shot campaign, backing Amara Enyia for Chicago mayor". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chance the Rapper endorses Amara Enyia to be Chicago's next mayor". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
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- "Chance The Rapper Endorses Activist Amara Enyia For Chicago Mayor". Block Club Chicago. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Multiple sources:
- "Chance The Rapper endorsed Amara Enyia for Chicago mayor. Here's what she stands for". Newsweek. 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Richards, Kimberley (2018-10-17). "Chance The Rapper Endorses Chicago Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chance the Rapper Endorses Amara Enyia for Chicago Mayor | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chance the Rapper Isn't Running: Your Tuesday Pop Culture Cheat Sheet". Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Hyman, Dan (2018-10-16). "Chance the Rapper Endorses Amara Enyia in Chicago Mayoral Race". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- "Chance the Rapper Endorses Activist Amara Eniya For Chicago's Upcoming Mayoral Election". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- Lifshutz, Hannah (January 17, 2019). "Chance the Rapper Donates $400,000 to Amara Enyia's Chicago Mayoral Campaign". Complex. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
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- "TABULATED STATEMENT OF THE RETURNS AND PROCLAMATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE CANVASS OF THE ELECTION RETURNS FOR THE FEBRUARY 26, 2019 MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION HELD IN EACH OF THE PRECINCTS IN ALL OF THE WARDS IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO" (PDF). Chicago Board of Elections. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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