The Office of Public Witness is pleased to welcome our new Representative for Domestic Issues, Christian Brooks. A St. Louis native, Christian recently graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. As a seminarian, Christian served as President of the Student Association and co-founded a student advocacy group called Seminarians United for Racial Justice (SURJ), which is committed to giving voice to the concerns of students of color across a broad coalition of allies.
Off campus, Christian served as pastoral intern at Judah Fellowship Church and as a group supervisor for the Manchester Youth Development Center (MYDC), where she served upwards of 60 youth in a neighboring Pittsburgh community. At MYDC, she gained invaluable insight into the causes of the national disparities in educational outcomes between suburban and inner city, at-risk youth. It was at this pivotal moment that Christian heard her demonstrative call to justice advocacy, realizing with determination that policy initiatives are the only adequate responses to the educational system, which is replete with inequities and injustices.
While in seminary, Christian also had the opportunity to explore what social justice advocacy can look like in the international context. Christian went on a trip to Trinidad and Tobago for the Transatlantic Roundtable on Race and Religion, as well as attending mission trips to Vietnam and Kenya. During her time in Kenya, she encountered the remarkable strength and courage of women of the all-female village of Umoja. Their confidence and determination inform her efforts towards justice. These global experiences undergird her understanding of how properly to use her power and privilege on behalf of others.
“As Jesus demonstrated, advocacy work is about coming alongside marginalized people, joining in unambiguous solidarity with them, creating space for them to tell their own stories and envisioning with them what God’s future intentions for them are, based on God’s faithful promises.”
Most recently, Christian served as the Racial Equity Policy Fellow for Bread for the World Institute, a DC-based anti-hunger advocacy organization. This role spotlighted Christian’s professional writing, research and analytical skills, as she regularly wrote and published blogs regarding connections between food security and education. She also co-authored a research paper on racial equity in federal nutrition programs.
Christian holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Divinity from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Welcome, Christian! Your background is impressive, and I am sure you will need every bit of it in your new job. I live in southern California, but will be in DC April 16 – 22nd. I would like to visit the office, meet you, and discuss our new GA policy of a Carbon Fee and Dividend with whomever is leading the advocacy for it and for HR 763. Hope to hear from you! Beryl
Wow, welcome to Christian (with such great credentials and experience so impressive) who gives us old folks hope for a more beloved community in our world.