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RISE TO THE
OCCASION
Prentice Parrish (MS M’00) is a commissioner
for the Mayor’s Commission on African
American Affairs in Washington, DC
When Prentice Parrish joined the Mayor’s Commission on African American Affairs in November 2019, he
knew he had a big job ahead of him: the commission
focuses on areas ranging from policy to programs to
community engagement. Parrish joined a committee
focused on economic empowerment.
Six months after joining the commission, when
George Floyd’s killing spurred the nation to widespread protests, he knew the country was at an inflection point. He also knew that he was in exactly the
right position to step up.
“It’s all related,” he says of the proposals that gained
traction as a result of the protests and the work that
the commission has focused on for years. “It was
pent-up frustration of the state and status of Black
people in the United States.” He ticks off grim statistics:
The unemployment rate for African Americans has
been historically higher than that of white people. The
median net worth for a white family is 10 times higher
than that of a Black family. Black families are 40
percent less likely to own a home than white families.
While there’s no silver bullet to transform those
numbers, he and his colleagues are tapping into an
appetite for change. “There’s been an awakening cognitively and more importantly emotionally for a lot of
people who didn’t understand the situation. This is a
unique opportunity to create programs and policies to
start turning some of these things around. It opens a
door of opportunity.”
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How he gets it done: “Everyone’s got something that
they can contribute. For me? Going out and being at
the front of a march isn’t necessarily going to be my
primary contribution. But the things I do with the
commission are how I can contribute.”
