Jordan Ramsey
SUNY Broome Community College
Jordan was recommended for the fellowship by his Professor, Carla Michalak, who notes that Jordan’s passion for civic engagement is exceptional. Jordan is civically engaged in his home community and in neighboring communities. George Floyd's killing sparked his activism. He joined the Black Lives Matter movement, and participated in a number of demonstrations and rallies across upstate New York. It is evident that racial justice and inequity are important issues to Jordan. He also chose to participate in a campus wide deliberation on December 7th, 2021 which focused on Racial Justice. Jordan plans to be trained as a moderator to more fully participate in future campus deliberations. Jordan is passionate about the issue of food insecurity and volunteers at a local food pantry in Unadilla with his parents. Jordan shared, “It saddens me to know how many people struggle with food insecurity in my community when our economic system produces a surplus of food. I hope to build upon my past experiences in social activism to bring about long-lasting change in the lives of Binghamton citizens. We cannot leave all of the work up to our elected officials, we must be agents of change at the ground level.”
Personal Statement
My sense of social responsibility was instilled in me at an early age by my mother. For three consecutive summers in middle school, my mother and I embarked on mission trips to remote parts of Ecuador to help our sister church build an orphanage, and to volunteer at a free healthcare clinic. These mission trips fostered in me an awareness of the social disparities that are present in the world today. Following the death of George Floyd in police custody, I participated in several demonstrations in upstate New York, including rallies in Binghamton, Norwich, and my hometown of Unadilla. Like so many Americans, I felt it was my civic duty to protest the use of arbitrary and excessive force against unarmed citizens by law enforcement officials. More recently, I attended a deliberation on racial justice at SUNY Broome, where members of the community and student body discussed possible approaches to confront institutional structures that perpetuate white supremacy in the United States. I plan to participate in moderator training for future deliberations. If selected for this prestigious award, it is my hope to work with other young leaders to devise new strategies that will address issues of economic and social inequities.
