Leadership. Access. Equity.

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A COMMUNITY LEADER

Andrea Jenkins is currently the Vice President of the Minneapolis City Council, she represents the 8th Ward in South Minneapolis. She grew up in Chicago, IL and graduated from Lindblom Technical High School 1979.

Jenkins is the first Black transgender woman to be elected to public office in the United States. She was elected to the Minneapolis City Council with 73% of the vote. A poet and artist as well as a public official, Andrea is the author of the poetry collection, The T is Not Silent: New and Selected Poems (Purple Lioness Press, 2015), and contributor to the acclaimed anthologies Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose and Pride (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019), A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016), and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2015). Jenkins is currently the Oral Historian for the Transgender Oral History Project at the University of Minnesota Libraries, documenting the lived experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming people in the Upper Midwest and the United States. Previously she worked for twelve years as a policy aide to two members of the Minneapolis City Council.

Discussing what made her campaign successful, Jenkins notes, “We didn’t shy away from my identity as a black woman, as a trans woman,” Jenkins told Minnesota Public Radio. “I have lived firsthand the oppressions that others only talk about, only think about. But that is not what we led with. That’s not what won us this race,” Jenkins added. Her platform framed all of her key issues in terms of equity: in public safety, transportation, and affordable housing, among other issues. “There is a very deep gap between whites and people of color. The disparities are present in healthcare, homeownership, employment … all of these issues.”. Minneapolis is one of America’s most racially segregated cities.

Jenkins holds a bachelor’s degree in human services, a master’s degree in community economic development, and an MFA in creative writing. She is the recipient of many awards, including a Bush Foundation Fellowship.

A COMMITMENT TO EQUITY

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Andrea has exhibited leadership in several nonprofits, educational institutions, and grant-making entities. Her past and present positions include:

  • chair of the board of directors, Intermedia Arts

  • vice chair, Metropolitan State University Alumni Board

  • board member, OutFront Minnesota

  • board member, PFund Foundation

  • board member, District 202

  • board member, Forecast Public Arts

  • grant reviewer for the Minnesota State Arts Board

  • grant reviewer for Forecast Public Arts

  • grant reviewer for the Trans Justice Funding Project

  • grant reviewer for the Bush Foundation

  • grant reviewer for the Minnesota Regional Arts Commission.

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AN ARTIST AND A SCHOLAR

Andrea is also an award-winning poet, writer, and performer. She has earned fellowships from the Bush Foundation, the Givens Foundation, and the Playwrights Center, among others. She has performed her original work in venues around Minnesota and the nation, including Pillsbury House Theater and the Walker Art Center. Her poems have been published in journals, anthologies, and chapbooks, and in 2015 she published a full-length poetry collection, The T is Not Silent.

Andrea is a well-known public speaker and has delivered keynote addresses on college campuses and at conferences throughout the country. In 2016, she delivered a TEDx Minneapolis talk at the Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota.

In 2015 Andrea became the first Oral Historian for the Transgender Oral History Project of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Andrea holds a bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University (St. Paul, MN), a master’s degree in community economic development from Southern New Hampshire University (Manchester, NH), and a master’s degree in creative writing from Hamline University (St. Paul, MN).

A proud parent and grandparent, Andrea is also in a long-term, committed relationship.