Assata Richards

Assata Richards is founder and executive director of the Sankofa Research Institute, where she brings together nonprofits, local leaders, and funders to inform effective public policy. As cofounder of the Emancipation Economic Development Council (a community-led collaborative to revitalize the historic Third Ward), the Community Care Cooperative, and the Houston Community Land Trust, she has put theory into practice. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from Pennsylvania State University, with a concentration in political and community participation, research methods, and mass incarceration.

(Fall 2021)