Core Team
The Core Team is made up of representatives from Coalition members. Core team members are nominated by the existing core team and full coalition. Members of this team provide the necessary strategic planning, vision, and administrative support for operationalizing the full coalition’s platform and vision.
Core team members attend and actively participate at twice-monthly meetings in addition to attending and planning full coalition meetings. Members also complete work between meetings and promote coalition events/outreach.
**Core Team biographies are historical and reflective of their roles and experience as of 2020
Dietra Wise Baker
Dietra is the organizing the “Break the Pipeline” (BTP) campaign aiming to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in Missouri, of the Gamaliel Networks’ Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU). The BTP campaigns aims to end the criminalization of black youth by introducing reforms in education, policing, and juvenile courts. Dietra has a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.; a Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary St. Louis, MO; and her Doctorate of Ministry in Preaching degree from Aquinas Institute of Theology.
Karishma Furtado
Karishma Furtado is a the Research and Data Catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson and a doctoral candidate in Public Health Sciences at Washington University. She works at the intersection of race, racism, health, and policy and systems change. She completed her Masters in Public Health also at Washington University and received Bachelors degrees in Biology and Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
Emily Hanson
Emily Hanson is the Lead Researcher on the ACLU of Missouri’s School to Prison Pipeline project and a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work with the ACLU focuses on understanding discipline inequity in Missouri in service of developing better policy solutions and empowering communities to work toward change. She has Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Florida, as well as two Master of Arts degrees from Wake Forest University and Washington University.
Madhav Narayan
Madhav is a member of the West County Community Action Network (WE CAN) and a co-lead of its “A Solid Stay-In-School Team” (ASSIST) team. ASSIST is focused on eliminating disparities in school discipline by advocating for the elimination of out-of-school suspensions for pre-K through 5th grade and the implementation of alternative practices such as trauma-informed care and restorative justice. Madhav has a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Master of Public Health in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from Saint Louis University.
David Dwight IV
Driven by a passion for systems change and equity, David Dwight IV serves as a founding team member and the lead strategy catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson, the organization created to carry on the work and vision of the Ferguson Commission. In this role, he leads the organization, develops strategic initiatives, and directs policy and systems advocacy. David earned his degree in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2015. His experience co-founding Students in Solidarity — an organization that mobilized student activism after the killing of Michael Brown Jr. and lobbied university administrations to improve the experience of people of color on campus — and helping to build the Ferguson Commission Report led him to center equity, justice, and advocacy in his career. He is dedicated to supporting the region as we forge a path toward a transformed St. Louis where racial equity is the status quo.
