Tyler Okeke

he/him/his

Tyler Okeke, 20, is a third-year student at the University of Chicago from Los Angeles and former Vote at 16 Youth Organizer at Power California. His politics and conviction are rooted in the lived experiences of not only his Nigerian parents but all African peoples on the continent of Africa and in the diaspora. He first became involved with Power California in October 2018, in his role as the student representative on the LAUSD Board of Education, when he was invited to speak at an early vote event. In April 2019, he worked with Power California to introduce a resolution to study the feasibility of expanding voting rights to sixteen and seventeen-year-olds for school board elections -- which passed unanimously.

That summer, he joined the organization as a youth organizer and helped build a statewide coalition to support local and statewide initiatives to expand voting rights to young people. Since then, he has spoken on numerous radio and print media platforms about the importance of youth civic engagement and speedy action on the issues young people care about -- racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, and rapid investment in systems of care, not systems of incarceration and punishment.

On-campus, Tyler is the Student Government Vice President of Advocacy where he established the Committee on Marginalized Student Affairs, is working to establish a Student Advocate Office to represent students in disciplinary hearings, and is working with student governments in the University of California system to double the Pell Grant. He is also president of the African & Caribbean Student Association, an intern at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, a Senior Writer for UChicago's political review -- the Gate, and Junior Editor of the Chicago Journal on Foreign Policy. Tyler would like to pursue a joint BA/MA in International Relations, attend law school, and lead a long, effective career advocating for justice here and abroad.