Calynn Carter

Prior to her selection, Calynn Carter served as Pastoral Staff and Children’s Director for Renew Church LA where she was responsible for building the children’s ministry from the ground up including program execution, recruitment and training of volunteers, and empowering families to support their children’s spiritual development. She played a significant role managing Renew’s outreach partnerships and the foundational groundwork for social justice initiatives, including the launch of a virtual tutoring center in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She is a former early childhood educator and founder of The Traveling Preschool, a home based educational organization that expanded access to early education for low resourced families. 

Calynn developed a passion for policy at Indiana University Bloomington where she earned a Master of Science in Urban Education and Leadership in 2016. Her studies highlighted the critical role policy plays in our everyday lives and the development of 

and perception towards societal values. In service of her master’s thesis, Calynn served as a volunteer administrator at a South Los Angeles charter school. This experience grounds her belief that policy must be shaped by collective needs and power. Governance should be a tool to support equitable, dignified, and meaningful living. 

In addition to the education field, Calynn has extensive experience in the non profit sector throughout Southern California. She has served in several roles including as a member of the board of directors for various nonprofits addressing healthcare, food and housing security, disparities in educational outcomes, and more. She holds a deep appreciation for the critical gap non profit organizations fill and firmly believes public policy, rather than goodwill, must guarantee basic human rights. 

Calynn is eager to continue her work in public service as a National Urban Fellow at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. She is particularly interested in the criminal justice system and contributing to policy that remedies societal inequities rather than punishes State failures. She is also committed to the principles of redemption and restoration and plans to center these beliefs in her work.