Community Advocate

Amara Omeokwe is a reporter and multiplatform journalist at Bloomberg News, covering the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy.

Previously, she worked as an economics reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she covered the U.S. labor market, consumer and inflation trends, and economic policy. Her work and reporting have been featured on MSNBC, National Public Radio, and other media outlets. She is an on-air contributor to American Public Media’s "Marketplace" radio program.

Before joining the WSJ, Amara worked at NPR on the flagship program Morning Edition. While there, she contributed reporting and producing to team coverage of immigration policy at the U.S.-Mexico border that won an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2020. She also worked as a local television reporter in Wilmington and Greensboro, North Carolina, where she shot, wrote, and edited video stories on a daily deadline.

Amara began her journalism career at CNBC, where she covered the equity, bond, options, and futures markets as a producer on the Fast Money and Options Action shows. She later worked as the network’s producer for investment and retail banking coverage.

Amara is a graduate of Harvard University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree with honors, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she earned a Master of Science degree with honors.

Community Member

Fairlawn resident and Washingtonian

Jacqueline Johnson

Community Member

Resident of Southeast, DC’s Ward 7 for almost three decades, Jacqueline Johnson is a business owner and entrepreneur. The disparity in the quality of education in DC became very apparent when her daughter started school in the early 2000s. After spending two years in a Southeast public school, she and her husband participated in the school lottery. They spent the following eight years transporting their daughter across town to schools in Ward 3 and completed the final four high school years as home educators. Today, Jacqueline is invested in finding solutions that help children get the best education experience possible near where they live. Jacqueline is gifted in hospitality and has the privilege of serving her church community, Anacostia River Church, in various ways. She looks forward to using her gifts and talents as she partners with CARE Anacostia.

Reading Interventionist at Ketcham Elementary School.

During her tenure as principal of two different DC public schools in Wards 7 and 8, Maisha Riddlesprigger consistently focused on improving student achievement, mental health support, and student outcomes. In her three years as principal at Davis Elementary School in Ward 7, Maisha doubled student proficiency rates in ELA and math. Similarly, she doubled ELA and nearly tripled math proficiency rates at Ketcham Elementary School in Ward 8. Maisha now serves as Head of Academics at Overtime Elite, and brings her previous experience and achievement in DCPS to the CARE Anacostia team.