Tanzania Thomas (she/her) is the Advocacy Corps Coordinator at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Tanzania oversees, coordinates and guides the work of the Advocacy Corps Program; a 10 month-long program that onboards up to 20 young adults organizing their local community around federal legislation. An alum of the Advocacy Corps 2020-2021 cohort, Tanzania organized her community to lobby for creating pathways to citizenship for undocumented youth, successfully scheduling a visit with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the issue. Prior to joining FCNL in this role, she has worked and organized in Quaker spaces facilitating conversations around prisons and policing through political education workshops and serving on her local meeting’s Welcoming Formerly Incarcerated Friends working group.
Tanzania is a graduate of Siena College with her B.A. in Psychology and French and a graduate of New York University with her M.A. in French Studies. Since completing her academic studies, Tanzania has worked in a variety of environments organizing, planning, and educating. She previously worked in event planning, supporting the preparation of convening hundreds of professionals in the civic, public and private sectors in New York City, as well as in education, working as a high school English teacher assistant in Montrouge, France. Tanzania has a deep passion for social justice, and is committed to creating opportunities to build community, cultivate political awareness, and inspire visionary thinking.