Cedric Jennings

Cedric Jennings has served since 2008 as the director of the DC Council’s Office of Youth Programs. There he has been tasked with developing and managing quality programming that educates and empowers youth to become agents of change in their communities through civic engagement. He previously served as a social worker with the DC Child and Family Services Agency and with the Progressive Life Center, which serves children who have been neglected and abused in foster care.

A native of Southeast Washington, Jennings is a graduate of Ballou High School, Brown University (BA in educational studies), Harvard University (master of education in human development and psychology) and the University of Michigan (master's in clinical social work). In 1998, he became the main subject of the national best-selling book, A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey From the Inner City to the Ivy League, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind. The book chronicles Cedric’s life growing up in DC, through his experiences as a student at Brown University. Currently, the book is required reading at numerous educational institutions across the country.