Candidate for
Council Member; City of Oakland; Council District 3

Sean Sullivan has been a lifelong advocate for youth and those who have faced discrimination, and has worked to bridge divides in the community while creating real solutions for real people.

Born to a single mom in New York City, Sean understands the value and importance of good role models to help direct a child's life. For over ten years, Sullivan has worked at Covenant House, the nation's leading agency serving homeless youth. He helped create innovative employment training programs that allowed youth to access the workforce with life long skills at a livable wage.

Sullivan has led campaigns to build community service centers and state of the art homeless shelters for youth. In this work, Sean has spent countless hours working with citizens who were initially opposed to his projects, but with understanding and collaboration was able to bring people together. This dedication and hard work brought a new permanent center to Jack London Square last fall, which provides emergency and transition housing, job-training, and diversion programs to at-risk youth in Oakland. It is this type of consensus building and focus on real results that Sean hopes to bring to the Oakland City Council.

Sean came to this work after being raised in a household where the importance of faith, justice, equality and diversity were regularly reinforced. Sean's mom is the proud operator of an events support company that was started with a vision to employ students, single working moms and victims of domestic violence as they re-enter the workforce.

Sean put himself through college with work and student loans. Sean attended St. Bonaventure University where he was active in student government, student life, the campus radio station and various volunteer activities. In 1996, Sean met Dr. Maya Angelou whose inspiring words led him to a life of service. Her message about triumphing over adversity also helped Sean when he became the victim of a hate crime just a few months later. Since that time, Sean has been active in fighting discrimination and challenging prejudice. With this dedication, Sean served on the national board of Scouting for All from 2001 to 2003.

Currently, Sean is the board president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals-Golden Gate Chapter, representing ethical development professionals throughout the Bay Area. Sean led the most successful National Philanthropy Day in the Chapter's history, recognizing the diversity of the philanthropic community.

Sullivan serves on Alameda County's FEMA board, as treasurer of the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce and Labor, and is a member of HOPE, the Alameda County Food Bank planning group for local food distribution systems.

Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University in Journalism and Mass Communications, is certified in Non-Profit Management from Stanford University, and studied environmental science at Oxford University. Sullivan is a certified yoga teacher and has taught in West Oakland and various studios around the Bay.