Andrea Young

Andrea Young is the Executive Director of the Andrew Young Foundation and a Scholar-in-Residence at Morehouse College.  The Foundation works to communicate possibilities through the Emmy-winning Andrew Young Presents documentary series and promotes the development of leaders for public purpose, through its work with schools and organizations. At Morehouse, she co-teaches a course, Social and Political Change in the 20th Century  with Ambassador Andrew Young.   

She served as the Senior Program Officer for the Southern Education Foundation and specialized in the impact of quality preschool on educational excellence and equity in the South.  As Vice President of the National Black Child Development Institute, Ms. Young led a school readiness initiative that increased local investments in early care and education and led to a commitment to universal pre-kindergarten in Washington, DC.

Ms. Young has devoted her career to promoting policies to defend and extend civil and human rights. In the arena of national legislation, Ms. Young served as legislative assistant to Senator Edward Kennedy contributing to significant civil rights and international policy including the Martin Luther King Holiday Act and South Africa sanctions legislation. She later worked with the United Church of Christ in global mission and advocacy, returning to Capitol to serve as Chief of Staff for the first woman to represent Georgia in Congress, Cynthia McKinney.

Ms. Young is the author of Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me and assisted former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in writing his memoir of the civil rights movement An Easy Burden:  Civil Rights and the Transformation of America.

She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Andrew Young School for Policy Studies, Georgia State University; a board member of the Center for Civil and Human Rights and Nutrition Plus.  She is a member of Leadership Atlanta, the Links, Inc. and the First Congregational Church. She has performed volunteer service for Operation Hope, the Collective Renaissance Guild, the Andrew and Walter Young YMCA and the Jean Childs Young Middle School. She has received a number of awards for her advocacy work.

Ms. Young is a graduate of Swarthmore College and received her law degree from Georgetown University School of Law.  She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.  Her daughter Taylor Stanley is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia.