Andre Banks
Senior Advisor
Andre has spent the last 10 years building social movements that have shaped politics in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, he worked as the Deputy Director of ColorOfChange.org using online organizing to build a multi-racial movement in the U.S. around issues of racial justice. Andre managed the 700,000-member organization and led political and issue campaigns through the 2008 primaries and general election.
Andre got his start building a national network of student organizers concerned with economic justice at the AFL-CIO. An expanded focus on connecting national movements to global issues led him to Africa Action where he built a national constituency pushing for action on AIDS in the U.S. and in Africa. He moved on to build the media and public affairs department at the Applied Research Center, placing stories on hot button issues of racial equality in outlets as varied as the Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Weekly, National Public Radio and Agence-France Press. While there, he also led the strategy and managed the development of the online newsmagazine Colorlines.com, serving as its founding editor.
Andre has also led hundreds of trainings and workshops on campaign strategy, media outreach and the use of technology to (smartly) build social movements. An Ohio native turned Brooklynite, Andre spends a lot of time riding the A train with 1,000,000 of his neighbors every morning. He also has the second-best singing voice at Purpose, after Emmy Suzuki Harris.
Twitter: @andre_banks
