Shawn Ginwright

Shawn Ginwright, PhD, is a leading innovator, provocateur and thought leader on African American youth, youth activism and youth development. He is a professor of education in the Africana Studies Department and a senior research associate at San Francisco State University. He’s also the author of the new book, The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves (North Atlantic Books.) Dr. Ginwright’s research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities navigate the constraints of poverty and struggle to create equality and justice in their schools and communities. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Flourish Agenda, Inc., a research lab and consulting firm whose mission is to design strategies that unlock the power of healing and engage youth of color and adult allies in transforming their schools and communities. In 2011 Dr. Ginwright was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Senior Specialist award from the US State Department for his outstanding research and work with urban youth. He is the author of the books Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Urban Activists and Teachers Are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart; Black Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America; and Black in School: Afrocentric Reform, Urban Youth, and the Promise of Hip-Hop Culture; and co-editor of Beyond Resistance! Youth Activism and Community Change: New Democratic Possibilities for Practice and Policy for America’s Youth. Dr. Ginwright served as chairman of the board for the California Endowment from 2018 to 2021, with oversight of a $3 billion endowment to improve the health of California’s underserved communities. He also serves on the advisory board for the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning at the Jonathan Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. Dr. Ginwright lives in Oakland, California. Learn more at www.ShawnGinwright.com.