-  Meet Our Executive Director, Erika Harrell

Erika Harrell was 19 when she started working with young people in juvenile detention centers. The experience changed the way she understood education, opportunity, and what can happen when children fall through the cracks. It also shaped the questions she spent much of her career trying to answer.

“That work opened my eyes to how our most vulnerable children get treated, and how much public education is really the front line for whether a kid gets seen for their potential or falls into a pipeline that leads somewhere else,” Erika said. Some of the young people she met reminded her of kids she had grown up with, kids she knew were brilliant but who never finished high school. “They fell through cracks I hadn’t even known were there,” she said. “That’s when I got serious about finding those cracks before they got wider. First in the classroom, then in policy.”

That commitment now informs how Erika leads as Executive Director of ElectED DC. Some of her clearest lessons about education, however, have come from watching her own children navigate very different educational experiences. Two of her children are at opposite stages, with one in college and another in elementary school.

Her older son experienced public school much the way Erika did, with technology becoming central later in his education. Her younger son has been creating content in Canva and PowerPoint, in English and Spanish, since he was seven and has access to information in ways his older brother did not at the same age. “For him, technology isn’t new or exciting; it’s just normal, like air,” Erika said. “For my 22-year-old, it’s necessary, but he still remembers life without it.”

For Erika, that difference is about much more than technology. It shapes how she thinks about equity and whether schools are preparing children for the world they will actually inherit. “I try not to think in terms of what we wish we’d had growing up, but what these kids will actually need as adults in the world they’re inheriting,” she said.

That question sits at the center of how Erika approaches education. She thinks about the skills and opportunities young people will need to thrive, the relationships that will help support them, and what happens when access to those things depends on where a child lives. Her younger son’s experience has also reinforced how important school communities can be, particularly for children whose support systems may be smaller.

For Erika, this work is personal in another way because Ward 7 has been home for nearly fourteen years. She has lived in different parts of the ward and has seen firsthand that no single story captures what life East of the River looks like. Her perspective comes not only from working in education, but from living, parenting, and building relationships in the community.

“Some parts of Wards 7 and 8 feel very suburban. Quiet streets, friendly neighbors who focus on their own busy lives,” she said. “But there are other parts, and I’ve lived in both, where it doesn’t feel as quiet, resources are concentrated in pockets, and friendly is based on the relationships you invest in, not just your proximity to another person.” What she says has remained consistent is the strength of the people who call these communities home.

“Smart, big-hearted neighbors who want to see the community thrive, who want to see kids thrive, who want older adults taken care of,” Erika said. “I’ve met so many people who genuinely love living east of the river. They just wish they had access to the same resources and programs they’d have if they lived west of the river or in another ward.” For Erika, that is an important part of what equity means.

Equity is not about assuming communities east of the river need someone else to tell them what they need. It is about recognizing the strength and commitment already present while asking why access to opportunity can still look so different across the city. That forward-looking perspective shapes Erika’s leadership at ElectED DC and keeps her focused on the children growing up in Washington, DC right now.

What will they need to thrive in the world they are inheriting? What opportunities should be available to them regardless of their ZIP code? And where are the cracks we can address before another child falls through them? Those questions continue to drive Erika’s work and the perspective she brings to ElectED DC every day.

We are just getting started getting you schooled on ElectED DC. Stay with us as we continue introducing you to the people and vision behind the work.