Our Team

Ruqiyyah's work combines her experience with direct service, coalition building, and policy research and analysis. In her role, she conducts research, advocacy, and coalition-building to promote policies that make DC a place where all children have equitable opportunities to thrive.

After completing her undergraduate education at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2011, Ruqiyyah served as an AmeriCorps member to support low-income, first-generation high school students in preparing for and applying to college. Her AmeriCorps service reinforced her understanding of the structural barriers that women, children and families face in achieving their full potential.

This experience inspired her to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, with coursework and research focused on health, gender and family policy. Her educational background coupled with her recent experience working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on disease prevention policy and her service in community has given her work the benefit of a lens built on a combination of direct service and policy analysis. She is excited to apply that lens to work serving DC children.

As a Policy Analyst, Jarred works with the Under 3 DC coalition to monitor, evaluate and promote key public investments in the City’s early childhood education community. Jarred brings his expertise in child well-being, race equity and youth development to deepen relationships with key stakeholders focusing on issues affecting Black and Brown families.

As a fifth generation Washingtonian, Jarred is deeply passionate about DC’s youth and is committed to using research and advocacy to build political power for young people and their families. In response to early encounters with systemic injustice and inequality, Jarred has been involved in grassroots organizing from a very young age, and has won several major victories on local, state, and national legislative campaigns. As a proponent of cooperative movement building, Jarred believes in combining research with local engagement to build educational equity that includes and supports historically marginalized communities.

Jarred most recently served as the School Climate Policy Analyst at the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, where he managed the District’s groundbreaking school climate data collection program and played a key role in leading the agency's initiative to expand school climate surveys and multi-tiered systems of support to all DC schools.

His prior research includes examining the organizational conditions of urban schools and assessing the relationship between well-being, sense of belonging and confidence in Black male students.

Jarred holds a B.S. in Government, Politics & History from St. John’s University and a Master’s in Urban Education from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives close to his early-childhood home in Riggs Park, and is excited to be a part of the DC Action family.

As Policy Analyst, Ryllie brings her background in community engagement, and social policy to support the development of child and youth focused policy, with a focus on out-of-school-time,  expanded learning and youth workforce.

Prior to joining DC Action, Ryllie assisted with workforce development programming at A Wider Circle, where she also provided job search assistance to residents across the DC-area experiencing poverty. She has also worked at DC Hunger Solutions, where she supported District residents in signing up for SNAP and resolving issues with their benefits. 

Ryllie developed a passion for economic, racial, and social justice while working as a communications specialist for the public school district in Cleveland. There, she documented the district’s efforts to transform schools that had experienced decades of disinvestment in communities marred by a history of racist policy and administration. 

Ryllie holds a B.A. in Journalism from John Carroll University. She is currently working toward completing her Master’s in Public Administration, with a social policy concentration, at American University. 

Outside of work, Ryllie enjoys exploring various genres of dance through attending performances, taking classes, and teaching young dancers.

As Lead Organizer, Jamar facilitates a team of six community organizers, which many refer to as the heart and soul of Under 3 DC, DC Action's signature campaign, to increase public investment in early childhood education.

Jamar is a community educator from Baltimore with a background in Education as well as community outreach and organizing. During his tenure with Baltimore City and KIPP DC Schools, he has always made a promise to be a voice for his students inside and outside of the classroom. 

Jamar obtained his B.A. in History with a concentration in Political Science from Paine College in Augusta, GA. As a freshman in college one of his first tastes of organizing was the efforts he helped spearhead sending six buses of students to protest in Jena, LA in 2006. In 2014, Jamar moved back to Baltimore to pursue his M.S. in Negotiations and Conflict Management at The University of Baltimore. His equitable approach and restorative practices come from groups such as Journey For Justice, Teachers Democracy Project and Baltimore Rising.  

Jamar’s studies and lived experiences have shown him that any problem can be solved using analytical and creative means, especially when policy and government are involved. He has liaised for Congressmen and Council Presidents in the past and looks forward to driving the mission and work of DC Action as we eliminate disparities and strengthen our early childhood system so it can support families with young children from birth through age five. Jamar is currently a resident of DC.’s Hidden Gem, River Terrace and enjoys the Anacostia River Trail with his nieces and nephews.

As Chief of Staff, Mat works alongside the Executive Director to help grow the organization and build power among its constituents. He provides leadership and management of staff, execution of the organization's strategic plan, and ensures racial justice and equity is fully integrated into the work at every level. 

Mat has spent more than a decade working to promote economic, racial and social justice. He joins DC Action after serving as the DC Director for the Working Families Party, a national organization that unites activists, community and labor organizations to advance systemic change. During his time there, he used electoral, political and legislative strategies that concentrated on increasing economic security for low-income families and bringing greater fairness and equity to our elections. He helped oversee large and small teams, developed and set organizational strategy as well as organized and built winning coalitions that united advocates, business owners, faith leaders, policy experts, unions and other allies. These efforts have resulted in policy changes that have successfully raised statewide minimum wages for more than half a million workers in Maryland and Washington, DC, passed and implemented one of the most progressive public financing of elections programs in the country, and helped secure funding for early childhood education and health programs. 

He has worked at the local, national and international level. A graduate from the City University of New York, he is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, a proud father, and Ward 7 resident.

Nisa brings her maternal and child health background, skills in program coordination and workforce development to her role as Program Manager to support the priorities of the Early Childhood team.

While completing her undergraduate degree in Community Health at the University of Maryland, College Park, Nisa discovered a passion for women’s health, sexual health, and health promotion. Before coming to DC Action, she managed a workforce and leadership development portfolio at the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs. Through her experience in that role, she recognized the demand for change around health disparities, racial inequities, and cultural competence within public health and the policies that impact maternal and child health populations. 

Outside of work, she loves to spend her time going to concerts around the city, supporting reproductive rights campaigns, and enjoying a good book.

Tawana Jacobs leads strategic brand and communications efforts for Under 3 DC and shines a spotlight on the need for more public investments for families with infants and toddlers.

Tawana is an accredited public relations (APR) professional with over 20 years of experience in leading marketing communications programs and public interest campaigns for nonprofits, government agencies, and strategic communication firms. She is a 2020 Higher Heights Senior Leadership Fellow and a proud Terp as a University of Maryland graduate.

Prior to joining DC Action, Tawana was a consultant for the Montgomery County, Maryland’s Early Care and Education and Policy Office, and the National Black Coalition for Black Civic Participation/Black Women’s Roundtable. She began her career at DC’s Bread for the City. Her wide-ranging background includes international development communications - she led communications for an alliance of international nongovernmental organizations at the Pittsburgh G20. 

When Tawana is not working, she spends her spare time cooking tasty plant-based meals, enjoying music, sports, and art and traveling to and from her hometown of Detroit to spend time with her husband (a DC native) who is a design student.

As Coalition Director, Ronald works with Under 3 DC's leadership and members to educate and inform DC residents and policymakers on how we can increase public investment in the City's infants and toddlers. He helps to set strategic direction with a lens toward racial and gender equity and leads a team responsible for organizing and coalition building, creative communications and digital media efforts, and strategic legislative tactics through active committees and working groups.

Ronald Jarrett was recently Director of Public Policy & Advocacy at United Way of Greater Portland in Maine. During that time, he was instrumental in successfully advocating for expanded access to farmers’ markets for W.I.C. recipients. Ronald’s professional experiences have been at the intersection of policy development and grassroots community organizing with a strong emphasis on advocating progressive policies that support under-served communities. While Public Policy Director of the Mayor’s Office of the City of Hartford, Connecticut, he shepherded the creation of the Hartford City I.D. program. Ronald has held advocacy and/or leadership roles at the New York State Senate Democratic Conference, Maine People’s Alliance, and the Service Employees International Union. Ronald has a Juris Doctor from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law/Yeshiva University and a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. He lives in Silver Spring, MD with his daughter.

As Research and Data Manager, Rachel works to collect, analyze, and share data that can help advocates understand and address issues facing DC's kids and youth, particularly kids and youth of color. She produces the DC KIDS COUNT suite of publications and online data center, DC Action’s interactive data tools, as well as translating the national KIDS COUNT press releases, annual reports, and other publications into the DC context.

As an undergraduate, Rachel performed demographic and policy research at the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network for its State of the States report. After completing her undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary, she worked with Illinois Action for Children to research barriers to accessing and delivering quality early childhood care and education and to help providers and programs connect with resources for improvement. This experience inspired her to bolster her research skills by pursuing a Master’s degree at Ben Gurion University, after which she spent time in the classroom as a substitute teacher at a Navajo Nation school.

Since then she has continued to build her data and policy skills. She led and supervised rigorous quality assurance checks of paper and online student, teacher, school, and district reports in the Assessment Division at American Institutes for Research. And most recently, at The Education Trust she researched, analyzed, and interpreted key teacher and other education data, with a focus on understanding patterns of access to strong, well-supported teachers for low-income students and students of color.

Rachel is excited to bring her experience with data, research, and policy to help raise awareness and advocate to dismantle structural barriers that stand in the way of all young people reaching their full potential.

A former teacher turned lobbyist, Kimberly has spent her career dedicated to building powerful organizations to amplify citizen's voices. Her work has driven critical policy change to improve the lives of nearly 30 million children and families across the globe. As DC Action's executive director, she has set a vision to achieve race equity in child policy; and is ramping up the organization's resources, human capital, and networks to break down structural barriers that stand in the way of all kids reaching their full potential.

Kimberly brings more than 20 years of experience as an advocate for children and families and has a proven record of success in nonprofit management, policy advocacy, and civic engagement. She is most well known as Founding Director of DC Hunger Solutions, Vice President of the Clinton Foundation’s Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Executive Director of DC Vote, as well as other advisory roles in political campaigns, public policy advocacy and philanthropy.

Kimberly serves on the Board of Directors of the Congressional Hunger Center, the DC Community Housing Trust, and is Chair of Highest Ground.

When she’s not working you can find her at home perfecting recipes, watching and producing documentaries, salsa dancing, or on a hiking trail. 

You can also find Kimberly on Linkedin and Twitter.

As a Digital Organizer, Vanessa Petion uses social media and online platforms to drive awareness and organize engagement and support for DC Action's campaigns that advance education, health and racial equity.

Vanessa is a first generation Haitian American, born and raised in Orlando, Florida. She obtained her M.A. in Strategic Communication at American University and worked at a local DC elementary school as an AmeriCorps VISTA. As a child of Haitian immigrants, Vanessa’s cultural background served as a starting point for her passion in storytelling and social change. This passion has since evolved with her interest in collective memory and the role that communication plays in acts of social change. She believes that encouraging people impacted by social issues and structural barriers, not only taps into the power and agency that people already have but also bridges gaps in information and fuels social change and awareness.

Before joining DC Action, Vanessa worked as a Communications Coordinator for a DC Councilmember, where she helped highlight legislative priorities to District residents via social media. She also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA, a role that allowed her to become active in the DC community, where she connected the school where she was stationed with local and corporate partners to provide activities, programs and resources that adhered to student and staff needs. Much of the work Vanessa has done in the last few years has focused on amplifying voices, racial equity, and social justice. She hopes that her work with DC Action will drive awareness about the social issues impacting District residents and encourage systemic change in the DC government.

When she is not working, you can find Vanessa listening to music, knitting, or reading a good book. She also loves pop culture, watching re-runs of One Tree Hill and going to bookstores.

As a Bilingual Community Organizer, Natasha Riddle Romero focuses on building and mobilizing a base of Spanish speaking parents, childcare providers, and workers around DC Action’s Under 3 DC campaign. 

Natasha is a third-culture Salvadoran-American who spent her childhood between Central America and the midwest. She landed in the District, where she got a B.A. in Literature and Cinema Studies at American University. Her multinational background, combined with her love of art and film led her to the world of social justice. As she sees it, books and movies are windows into the lives of others-- they show us the details of life, but also expose the overarching systems in which each of us operates; the blood versus the body. She believes that joining the stories of others and grassroots organizing can lead to more political awareness and greater social change. 

Before joining DC Action, she worked on a DC Councilmember campaign. She is also a former restaurant worker who became active in organizing restaurant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, she connected with parent-workers-- particularly Spanish-speaking immigrants-- who were not aware of the services the city has to help working families. Much of the work she has done in the past year has been focused on increasing awareness and access amongst Spanish-speaking immigrants to programs like WIC, food stamps, and Medicaid. She hopes for that awareness to be expanded so that immigrants-- regardless of legal status-- have a bigger say in DC’s political process. Central American families have had a particularly difficult time in the US over the past three decades, and she hopes her work at DC Action can push DC government to invest more resources in the youngest members of these communities. 

When she is not thinking or working to bring about systems change, she can be found in the kitchen cooking up something complicated and messy. She also enjoys biking around the city and getting to know DC’s history.