Djenaba Kelly

SENIOR ADVISOR & CO-FOUNDER

Djenaba Kelly is a proven leader with over 20 years of professional experience who is passionate about driving systems-level change and building solutions that address disparities and injustice and promote dignity for all.

She most recently served on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s senior leadership team as the First Deputy Chief of Staff where, along with the Chief of Staff, she assisted with the operationalization and implementation of the mayor’s governing agenda. This involved, among many other things, aligning with the mayor on her priorities and working with her Cabinet of commissioners and agency heads as well as other senior leadership to implement accountability structures and processes necessary for the execution of priority initiatives.

She began supporting the Lightfoot administration in her role as an Associate Principal at Civic Consulting Alliance—a non-profit management consulting firm. Most notably, she helped develop the framework for and provided project management support to the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team (RERRT)—the City of Chicago’s response to the alarming impact COVID-19 disproportionally had on Black and Brown communities in Chicago­. She also worked closely with the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) and the City’s first Chief Equity Officer in developing a roadmap for racial healing in Chicago through the Together We Heal initiative, which includes the City’s first ever Equity Statement of Principles. Additionally, she supported the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety team by helping develop Chicago’s first comprehensive violence reduction strategy. Her team also developed a roadmap for reallocation of City resources and the creation of tactical violence reduction plans for both city agencies and community groups on the city’s South and West sides.

Prior to CCA, she served as a Regional Director of Programs with BRIDGE Housing Corporation—an affordable housing developer. During that time, she successfully designed, developed, and implemented transformational programs delivered to three separate affordable housing family communities.

 Kelly holds a B.A. from Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo and a M.A. from John F. Kennedy University. She is based in Chicago with her husband and two teenaged daughters.