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Howard was built to be a dream factory for a people – a place where you can come and be a pastor, a nurse, a teacher, an engineer, a social worker, a physician, a scientist, a lawyer, a place where if you had the grit and the toughness and the intellect, then your lesson plan could become a dream plan.

Biography

Kasim Reed is an American attorney and politician who served two terms as the 59th mayor of the city of Atlanta from 2010 to 2018. Reed is a graduate and proud alumnus of Howard University where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees and an honorary Doctor of Laws. As an undergraduate member of Howard University's Board of Trustees, he created a fundraising program entitled The Independence Initiative that has contributed more than $12 million to the University’s endowment since its inception.Reed became the institution’s youngest general trustee in June 2002 and remains a dedicated trustee emeritus. Reed was a prime-time speaker at the 2016 National Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. In 2011, Governing Magazine named Reed one of the top state-and-local government officials of the year. Thomas Friedman, the Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times columnist and author of That Used to Be Us, called Reed “inspiring” and labeled him as “one of the best of this new breed of leaders.” In 2013, he was ranked among the top 10 most influential African Americans in the nation by The Root. His civic leadership and service have been nationally recognized on news outlets and programs such as Meet the Press, MSNBC, CNN, FOX and CNBC; and in publications including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.