Kalimah Priforce

About Kalimah Priforce

Just a kid from Brooklyn, Kalimah Priforce (kuh-LEE-muh, PRY-force) is your friendly neighborhood hacktivist in Emeryville’s city council as a former serial entrepreneur and Bay Area pioneer of the “Learn to Code” movement before becoming California\'s first Haitian American elected official, and Democratic Socialist Co-Founder of the Alameda County Progressive Democrats.Utilizing \"hackathons” as breakthrough educational models, Kalimah served as one of the nation\'s foremost expert on low opportunity youth addressing the world’s biggest problems through tech innovation. In organizing Emeryville\'s first tenant union and neighborhood advocacy group, Emery Rising, he has emerged as a leading voice in the progressive populist movement to reshape policies that close class and digital divides harming the public\'s health and social safety net.At eight years old, he held a successful hunger strike against his Bedford-Stuyvesant group home to add books to its library. This drew the attention of Buddhist monastics who privately tutored him until the age of 14. By hacking his eighth grade attendance records, he was admitted to his dream school in Harlem. Upon discovery, his principal, Dr. Lorraine Monroe became his mentor as he inherited her lifelong mission to transform children\'s lives.Sold before his 20th birthday, he launched his first tech venture at 16. Driven by the traumatic loss of his eighteen year old brother to gun violence, he founded Qeyno (KEE-no) Labs, an Echoing Green funded social enterprise that introduced the first globally-televised hackathon to millions for the MSNBC mini-documentary,\"Swimming in Their Genius,\" and is the central figure for the award-winning indie film,\"Code Oakland.”As senior fellow for Van Jones\'s Dream.org, Kalimah presented the first hackathon, on behalf of Prince, to the Essence Festival for the 30th anniversary of \"Purple Rain,” and has been featured on Forbes, Black Enterprise, PBS, KQED, NPR, TEDx, and the front pages of USA Today. In helping to also form The Hidden Genius Project, an Oakland non-profit that trains young men of color in coding, Kalimah\'s work was recognized by the Obama White House as a Champion of Change.His upcoming memoir,\"How To Raise A Hacker,\" reveals his formidable journey from group homes to Silicon Valley boardrooms while also serving on the National Advisory Council for Forward Promise.A member of Oakland\'s historically Black, inclusive parish, St. Columba Catholic Church, Kalimah continues to bring mindfulness towards a life of public service.

Experience

1. National Advisor

   Forward Promise

   Mar 2017 — Present · Philadelphia, PA, US

   Forward Promise is a national program office (NPO) funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the nation\'s largest health philanthropic organization, by funding and supporting culturally-responsive healing practices that buffer the effects of historical and systemic trauma on boys and young men of color (BYMOC) Forward Promise strengthens organizations that advance systems change approaches that prevent and intervene against dehumanization. If it takes a village to raise a child, Forward Promise aims to raise healthy villages that heal, grow, and thrive.

Education

• Università per Stranieri di Perugia

  Italian Language

  2005 — 2005

• The City University of New York

  Bachelor of Arts (CUNY BA), Global Business Strategy (Minor in Urban Youth Studies)

  2006

• Shanghai University

  International Business and Chinese Mandarin

  2004 — 2005

• Berkeley City College

  Playwriting and Screenwriting

• University of Oxford

  Business Strategy & International Finance

  2006 — 2006

• USC Sol Price School of Public Policy

  EXEM Forum for Local Leaders, Public Policy Analysis

  2023 — 2023